112 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



clots, having sixteen legs. When 

 first hatched, it is not much thicker 

 than a thread, but attains its full 

 size in aliout three "n-eeks. The 

 moth is ahout three fourtlis of an 

 inch long, of a dusty gray color, 

 dashed -^vith pm-plish brown, the 

 female being somewhat darker and larger than the male. The 

 wings, which slope back flatly, are notched, and tm-ned up a lit- 

 tle at the end. The moth lays her eggs in the dirt or crevices 

 near the mouth of the hive, or enters at night and deposits 

 them in the chinks inside. In about two weeks the small 

 thread-like worm is hatched, whit-h soon becomes covered with 

 a silky tube, spun from the wax on which it feeds. Keeping 

 itself always incased in this, where the bees' stings can not 

 penetrate, or masked by a thick coating of wax, which prevents 

 their approach, it labors incessantly to destroy the cells which 

 the bees h.a\e so industriously and skillfully built. Two broods 

 are hatched in a season, and if neglected through the summer, 

 the strong silken cocoons or webs become, by the beginning of 

 fall, very numerous in the infested hives, and almost the whole 

 of the comb broken and defiled, so that at length the bees are 

 wearied and (biven out. In hot ami dry seasons they are 

 most troublesome, especially to weak swarms. 



The presence of the bee worm in a hive may be known by 

 the wax-dust and black castings of the worm lying upon the 

 floor. If the C{uantity of these is small, a cai'eful examination 

 of the upjier parts of the hive, destroying the worms as you go, 

 may suffice ; but if large, showing that the enemy is in consid- 

 erable force, 3'ou had better drive the bees, that is, provide a 

 hive of the same size, put in plenty of rests or cross-sticks, 

 and wash the inside with hop tea sweetened to a sirup ; early 

 in the evening, before the bees get very sleepy, having closed 

 the mouths of lioth hives, turn the old one bottom upward, and 

 ([uickly fit the new one o\-er it ; drum upon the outside of the 

 foi-mer, and the bees will leave it. Before morning, place the 

 new hive upon a new, clean stand, with food upon it sufficient 

 for a week ; shut in the bees for that time, and for the second 



