40 
BEE- CULTURE. 
hives. I, every season, open out and examine every comb in 
hundreds of hives. Early in the spring, long before the 
moths begin to appear, even in the most populous colonies, 
a considerable number of worms are found, almost invariably 
in the heart of the hive among the brood, eating their way 
between the heads of the young bees and the caps of the cells, 
making themselves a covered winding road, out of sight of 
the bees. All the young bees they pass over die, so that if 
one go five or ten inches it will destroy from twenty- five to 
one hundred young bees. This is why so many dead young 
bees are thrown out of the hives in the spring of the year. 
So soon as the worm has eaten enough to develop itself, it 
will leave the combs and try to get in some crack or under 
the hive, to spin its cocoon and become a moth or miller. Or 
when the bees find it burrowing among their brood, if they 
are numerous and thrifty, they will cut the combs away around 
it and get it out, and drop it on the bottom board, or fly clear 
away with it, as they cannot kill them by stinging. Bee- 
keepers now notice many worms, as the warmth from the ad- 
vancing season and the increased number of bees now in the 
hive are developing them, and apply to me to transfer them 
to a new hive to get rid of the worms. 
I do not, at this time, go to the pains of instructing them 
t|iat I consider this a good omen, as boils on a man indicate 
constitutional vigor. They are cleaning their combs. By the 
time I get them transferred to a movable comb hive, where, 
as a general thing, they should be, they see that their combs 
are about clear of worms. If the bees are scarce in a hive, 
the worms will collect into a mass and build webs. If the 
bees can muster strength enough, they will cut the combs 
away all around the web and drag them out. Combs may 
often be found with holes and scars made in them in this way ; 
but if the bees are not able to get them out, they will accu- 
mulate rapidly, soon consuming all the combs, and fill the 
hive with webs and cocoons, while large fat worms will even 
imbed themselves in the solid wood, so that I am frequently 
told : “You never saw such a mass of webs and worms as 
there is in one of my hives.” Whilst the fact is, I have 
seen them a great number of times, yet never relished the 
sight much. 
If, when the worms begin to mask their forces in a hive, 
.the combs containing them could be taken out and cleaned 
