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 CHAPTER XV

ROBBING IN THE APIARY

A CAUSE OF DEMORALISATION

moral law seems to be as potent among the bees as among men, and if the law be broken there is a moral penalty attached. Nothing demonstrates this more fully than robbing in the apiaries, for as soon as it begins utter demoralisation ensues. All legitimate work is stopped, and all the energies of the bees are devoted to ill-gotten gain and in fighting with each other, or attacking anything or anybody that comes near them. One of the signs of this demoralisation is that robbing makes the bees very cross. The experienced bee-keeper can detect robbing by the angry humming which prevades the apiary, which is a sound as different from the ordinary contented hum of the working bee as martial music is from a pastoral symphony.

WHY BEES ROB

Bees rob for the very human and natural reason that the stores gathered by the hard work of others are coveted and are more easily stolen than earned by labour. When dealing with bees we must always remember that the interest of the individual centres 164