B.OBBEKY. 
35 
dear. In our State, I might say, when white clover appears, 
which is generally about the first of June. Some very ex- 
perienced bee-keepers recommend feeding bees in the spring 
even when they have honey enough, in order to induce 
breeding, even should it be but a tablespoonful a day. 
ROBBERY. 
My little friends, so industrious and noble in their general 
behavior, I am almost sorry to 6ay, are sometimes guilty of 
the heinous sin of robbing their neighbors, and that too 
in as shameless a manner as is too common amongst a much 
higher order of beings. The rich and strong prey upon the 
poor and defenceless, and that without mercy, although the 
case is not as many supposed that the attacking .party kill 
those they attempt to rob, and then take the booty. They 
adopt the modern gentlemanly way of robbing without 
taking life; the fighting is mostly done by the defendants. 
However well I may like non-resistance amongst human be- 
ings (especially where they are not pushed too hard), I can 
not but admire a colony that fights well in self-defence, and 
am not much afraid of their being overcome so long as they 
resolutely resist. When a colony in a normal condition is 
attacked, it has sentinels at every entrance to its citadel, and 
as Quinby expresses it, “every bee has full authority to act 
as jurors, judges, and executioners,” and no mining region 
lynch-law is more speedily executed than that of these self- 
instituted sheriffs. 
Like other rogues, robber bees are known by their haggard 
thievish appearance. They do not approach and enter a 
hive in a confident, self-satisfied manner, but appear agitated 
and suspicious, and like thieves generally, try to gain en- 
trance in some other way than the regular one. Bees onco 
addicted to robbery seldom or never reform, but retain their 
thievish propensity. Bees are ordinarily covered with a 
nice yellow down, which the scuffling incident to robbery, 
together with other means, sometimes wears off, they then 
present the appearance of a small black bee, which some 
have mistaken for a different variety, more inclined to rob 
than others. Robbery occurs only in the spring and in the 
fall, or at times when there is no honey to be had from flow- 
ers. When bees, as with some more intelligent creatures, 
