BEES 
queen being selected to continue egg lay- 
ing. Eventually the diseased apiary be- 
comes, by the removal of the developing 
prood and the death of the old bees, re- 
duced to nothing None of the queens 
should be saved nor should any of the 
adult workers be returned to the healthy 
aplary. 
A combination of the sulphur cure with 
the last plan mentioned—that of getting 
rid of the disease through the removal of 
brood combs from affected colonies—is 
really, all in all, the best procedure. When 
a fairly strong colony has been made up 
by shaking the adult bees of two or more 
together and this removed to an isolated 
locality, the application of sulphur may 
be made before any brood has been start- 
ed. It is well, also, to replace the queen 
with a vigorous one from stock entirely 
unrelated to the diseased bees. Should 
any signs of the disease reappear, con- 
stant removal of the brood should be fol- 
lowed, as mentioned in the preceding 
paragraph. 
Other bacterial diseases, though exist- 
ing, have developed only very locally or 
have been too limited in the amount of 
injury inflicted to require special mention 
here. 
Insect and Other Enemies 
The bee or wax moth (Galleria mellon- 
ella Linn.) is regarded by those unfamil- 
iar with modern methods in bee keeping 
as a very serious enemy to success in 
this work. It was frequently such when 
only the common black bee was kept and 
the old way of managing, or rather of 
trusting to luck, was followed. But with 
the better races now introduced and with 
improved hives and methods, and espe- 
cially with the care that is now given to 
have no colonies queenless Jong at a time, 
the wax-moth larvae are no longer re- 
garded with great concern. 
Spiders, toads, and lizards destroy, in 
addition to many injurious insects, also 
some bees, and should be tolerated in the 
vegetable garden rather than in the 
apiary. 
Swallows, kingbirds or bee martins, 
mice, skunks, and bears only occasionally 
commit depredations in the apiary. 
599 
Properls constiucted hives enable the 
bees to limit in a great measure the in- 
jurv which these various enemies might 
infiict, and the avoidance of overswarm- 
ing, with care to insure the constant pres- 
ence of a prolific queen and a supply of 
food suited to the needs of the colony at 
the time, will keep it populous and there- 
fore in shape to repel attacks or to make 
good most of the unavoidable losses. 
Robber Bees 
Robbing is sometimes a more serious 
matter, although a little careful attention 
just at the right time on the part of the 
bee keeper would avoid all serious trouble 
on this score. When bees find nothing to 
gather during weather when they can still 
fly out they are easily tempted to appro- 
priate the stores of weaker colonies. Ex- 
posure of combs of honey at such times 
may even occasion a combined attack 
upon a good colony otherwise quite able 
to take care of itself. It is then that the 
greatest destruction ensues, for such a 
colony will defend itself vigorously, and 
a pitched battle, with perhaps 50,000 or 
60,000 Amazons on either side, leaves the 
ground literally strewn with dead and 
dying. 
If the invaders conquer, every drop 
of honey is taken from the few vanquish- 
ed that are likely to be still alive; and 
in turn the despoilers invariably fight 
among themselves as to the possession of 
the booty. When the robbing takes place 
during the absence of the owner, the con- 
dition of the robbed colony may not at- 
tract immediate attention, and during 
warm weather moth larvae gain full pos- 
session of the combs within a few days. 
When this condition is observed, the 
whole damage is very likely to be at- 
tributed to the moth larvae. Colonies 
that have been left queenless for some 
time, and those weakened by disease or 
by overswarming, are especial marks for 
such attacks. Of course these defecis 
should be remedied whenever observed, 
but meanwhile, if legitimate field work 
is likely to be interrupted, every colony 
should be assisted in protecting itself 
