88 
BEE-CULTURE. 
become desperate, when they will pile over each other and 
struggle and fairly squeal to get into the hive. Any opera- 
tion involving risk from robbery, is best to be commenced in 
the evening, just in time to be completed before dark. The 
bees will then have the wasting honey licked up by the 
morning, and those of them that have been cowed into non- 
resistance will have time to rally. 
Prevention is better than cure. As weak and queenlcss 
colonies are the ones always attacked, leave none such unpro- 
tected, as they are always temptations. A hive set up on 
blocks, that the bees may get in on all sides, is as objection- 
able as to have a city unfortified iu time of war. Bees will 
not rob while the flowers yield honey freely, but in the 
spring and fall be careful. 
By observing the foregoing rules the bee-keeper need 
seldom if ever loose bees by robbery. 
THE BEE-MOTH. 
The bee-moth has the reputation of being the arch-enemy 
of bees. It first made its appearance in this State about 
thirty-five years since. For a feft years after, its ravages 
seemed greater than of late years. 
Like the fly which deposits its eggs in fresh meat that her 
young maggots may have plenty of appropriate food, so the 
bee-moth follows the bee and deposits her eggs on or near 
the combs, which is the natural food of her larvm or worms. 
They never eat honey, but wax exclusively. Honey in the 
combs is a great hindrance to their progress, and combs im- 
mersed in honey would be entirely safe from them. 
They will developc from the' fegg to the full-sized worm in 
a few days among the empty combs, if the weather is warm. 
Cold weather retards their development. Eggs may remain 
in the hive from fall until spring without hatching. This 
seems to be the manner in which they are preserved over 
winter, as the moth seldom appears before June. 
If empty combs are left exposed to the severe freezing of 
winter, the moth eggs will generally be destroyed, and the 
combs can be kept for swarms. 
When it is desired to keep empty combs, destroy the eggs 
and worms iu them by placing them in a closo box or barrel 
