906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



FIG. 4.-GERMAN WAX-PRESS USED AS AN 



UNCAPPING-CAN; HONEY RUN INTO 



TANK IN ROOM BELOW. 



SAVE YOUR COMBS. 



The Moth-miller not an Unmixed Evil ; the 



Best Way to Circumvent the Evils of 



the Pest. 



BY E. F. HOLTERMANN. 



Every summer valuable combs — yes, even 

 frames — or hives are destroyed by the larvu' 

 of the wax-moth. I do not look upon the 

 wax- moth as entirely an enemy to bee-keep- 

 ing, as there is no doubt that they render 

 harmless many a bee-tree, hive, or other re- 

 pository in which the bees have bviilt combs 

 and in which the disease foul brood lingers. 



When the farmer wishes to destroy a weed 

 he studies its life-history and strikes at the 

 vulnerable points. In the butterfly we have 

 an insect which loves light and air — it is of 

 the day. In the moth we have illustrated to 

 us a creature in many respects the opposite 

 of the butterfly. It loves darkness, quiet, it 

 does not like a free circulation of air. In 

 colder or more northerly districts the eggs, 

 larvae, and moth are pretty well destroyed 

 by a low temperature. In other cases the ma- 



jority of the eggs are saved in hives 

 where the heat of the bees has 

 kept it from being destroyed by 

 the normally low temperatui'es. 

 This being the case, as a rule the 

 lirst combs which fall a victim to 

 the bee-moth are brood-chambers 

 in which the bees have died during 

 winter or spring. How shall this 

 be prevented? 



Instead of doing as, years ago, 

 1 did, and as many instruct now, 

 closing up the brood-chambers and 

 supers, keeping the moth from en- 

 tering as far as possible, I now let 

 the air circulate freely through the 

 combs, letting the light in, and 

 thus making non-existent the fa- 

 vorite conditions of the moth. 



Last year, owing to the failure 

 of the white-honey crop with some 

 8000 combs, without a bee upon 

 them for ten months, I did not lose 

 one from the moth, but they were 

 put in supers or hives with the bot- 

 tom- boai'd and cover removed 

 piled up thus C3 CH under cov- 

 er, and sun- CH CH CD light indi- 

 rectly and air directly given access 

 to them. The combs were, of 

 course, kept apart in each super 

 or brood-chamber. This is the ex- 

 perience of other years, and to me 

 the bee-moth is no longer a trou- 

 blesome pest under such condi- 

 tions. 



I may say, however, that I sent 

 out a dozen hives with combs hav- 

 ing cover and bottom boards, and 

 the entrances closed, all being 



FIG. 5.— HONEY MEANS HEALTHY CHILDREN. 



