It is very annoying, and sometimes gets neighbors in
contention, when perhaps neither is to blame, farther than ignorance of
the matter.

NOT PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD.

A person keeping many hives must expect to be accountable for all
losses in his neighborhood, whether they are lost by mismanagement or
want of management. Many people suppose, if one person has but one
stock, and another has ten, that the ten will combine for plundering
the one. There are no facts, showing any communication between
different families of the same apiary, that I can discover. It is true,
when one family finds another weak and defenceless, possessing
treasure, they have no conscientious scruples about carrying off the
last particle. The hurry and bustle attending it seldom escape the
notice of the other families; and when one hive has been robbed in an
apiary, perhaps two-thirds of the other families, sometimes all, have
participated in the plunder. One family, if it be large, is just as
likely, and more so, to find a weak one among the ten, and commence
plundering, as the other way.

IMPROPER REMEDIES.

Notwithstanding it is common to hear remarks like this, "I had a
_first-rate_ hive of bees," (when the fact was he had not looked
particularly at his bees for a month, to know whether it was so or not,
and if he had, very likely would not know,) "and Mr. A.'s bees began to
rob them. I tried every thing to stop it; I moved them around in
several places to prevent their finding the hive. It did no good; the
first I knew they were all gone--bees, honey, and all! The bees all
joined the robbers." Now the fact is, that not one _good_ stock of bees
in fifty, will ever be robbed, if let alone; that is, if the entrance
is properly protected. This moving the hive was enough to ruin any
stock; bees were lost at every change, until nothing was left but honey
to tempt the robbers; whereas, if left on its stand, it might have
escaped.

A great many remedies have been given me gratis, which, had one-half
been followed, would have ruined them. The fact is, with many people,
the remedies are often the cause of the disease. The most fatal is, to
move them a few rods; another, to close the hive entirely, (very liable
to smother them); or, break out some comb and set the honey to running.
There are some charms that affect them but little any way. Probably
there are but few bee-keepers able to tell at once, _when bees are
being robbed_. It requires the