disposition and the ability to engage in useful labors. They are like
nations that are impoverished by mutual assaults on each other: or in
which the apprehension of war, exerts a most blighting influence upon
every branch of peaceful industry.

I place very great reliance on the movable blocks which guard the
entrance to my hive, to assist colonies in defending themselves against
robbing bees, as well as the prowling bee-moth. These blocks are
triangular in shape, and enable the Apiarian to enlarge or contract the
entrance to the hive, at pleasure. In the Spring, the entrance is kept
open only about two inches, and if the colony is feeble, not more than
half an inch. If there is any sign of robbers being about, the small
colonies have their entrances closed, so that only a single bee can go
in and out at once. As the bottom-board slants forwards, the entrance is
on an inclined plane, and the bees which defend it, have a very great
advantage over those which attack them; the same in short, that the
inhabitants of a besieged fortress would have in defending a pass-way
similarly constructed. As only one bee can enter at a time, he is sure
to be overhauled, if he attempts ever so slyly to slip in: his
credentials are roughly demanded, and as he can produce none, he is at
once delivered over to the executioners. If an attempt is made to gain
admission by force, then as soon as a bee gets in, he finds hundreds, if
not thousands, standing in battle array, and he meets with a reception
altogether too warm for his comfort. I have sometimes stopped robbing,
even after it had proceeded so far that the assaulted bees had ceased to
offer any successful resistance, by putting my blocks before the
entrance, and permitting only a single bee to enter at once: the
dispirited colony have at once recovered heart, and have battled so
stoutly and successfully, as to beat off their assailants.

When bees are engaged in robbing a hive, they will often continue their
depredations to as late an hour as possible, and not unfrequently some
of them return home so late with their ill-gotten spoils, that they
cannot find the entrance to their own hive. Like the wicked man who
"deviseth mischief on his bed, and setteth himself in a way that is not
good," they are all night long, meditating new violence, and with the
very first peep of light, they sally out to complete their unlawful
doings.

Sometimes the Apiarian may be in doubt whether a colony