MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES.-NO. 5. 
343 
I do not believe that the planter is any very great 
sufferer, so long as half a crop is made generally. 
There is another worm about which I should 
like to speak, but am not yet prepared, nor have I 
space here. It is known as the Boll or Bore-worm. 
It commits great havoc on the young boll, eating 
out all of its contents, and, of course, destroying it. 
I suppose I speak within very safe bounds, when 
I say, that twenty per cent, of all the bolls formed 
upon the plant—you must know that not more than 
half the blossoms on a plant become bolls, but drop 
off, calyx and all, before they reach that stage— 
have been cut off by this worm. It is the larva 
of a moth. Of its history I shall speak when 
better prepared. It is most injurious in low, rich 
lands. 
I am, at this time, cutting a second crop of hay 
from my meadow, such as you never saw, I feel 
confident. I hope to get in a third crop, by and by. 
Thomas Affleck. 
Ingleside, Adams County, Miss., Sept. 9th, 1846. 
MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES.—No. 5. 
The ground around and under the hives should 
be kept free from weeds and grass. A hard smooth 
surface is best, as many a weary bee, on returning 
home, fails in reaching the alighting board, and 
falls to the ground, in which case, should the 
ground be encumbered with long grass and weeds, 
they might become entangled, and thus fall a prey 
to the hosts of spiders that infest such places. Nor 
is it any better for the safety of the bees, to have 
the ground in a loose mellow condition, as is the 
case when the hoe is carelessly used in cutting up 
weeds. In this state of the soil, such bees as fall to 
the ground, soon become covered with dust, and 
are unable to rise. The best way to kill the grass 
and weeds, is to saturate the ground in the spring 
with boiling hot brine, which will effectually put a 
stop to vegetation. This being done, lay a strip of 
hoard along in front of your hives, as a rising 
point for bees that return home heavily laden and 
fall around the hives, which often does occur, and 
if you will take the trouble to watch them, you will 
perceive that they often fail to get upon the wing, 
until they ascend some small eminence, from which 
they take a start, and regain the hive. This may 
he considered a small matter by many, yet our 
success in every branch of business consists in our 
attention to the minutiae of our object, which in the 
end shows forth a triumphant result. Suppose by 
our neglect of cleaning around our hives, we lose 
the small number of ten bees per day, the result 
would be as follows :—frofn the first of April to the 
first of November, we have 214 days, and a loss of 
2,140 bees ! It is by such means that so many fail 
in their success with bees, and eventually “ run 
out,” as it is termed. 
There is another consideration which merits our 
attention. Whoever has had a prosperous colony 
of bees, must have often seen large clusters of bees 
hanging in inverted cones from the bottom-boards ; 
and perhaps he has frequently seen them fall to the 
ground by their own gravitation, or the force of the 
wind. It is particularly necessary on this account, 
that the grass and weeds around the hives should 
be extirpated. Whenever I perceive any of my 
hives liable to such a result, I crop a few handfuls 
of grass and spread it directly under the hives, and 
whenever the clusters fall, they are protected from 
the dirt, and the bees adhere together (if at night or 
during a storm), till the rays of the sun call 
them forth. 
In the months of May and June hundreds of bees 
are seen running upon the ground, in a disabled 
condition, endeavoring to rise upon the wing, but 
without success. This always takes place during 
the height of the breeding season. For several 
years, I attributed it to the fighting of different 
stocks. I could see the bees engaged in deadly 
strife, as I supposed, but I have since found that 
what appeared to me to be a combat between bees 
of different hives, was only the turning out of 
doors of such imperfect bees, as had been brought 
into existence in their respective hives. This fact 
was shown by the removal of a hive, for the pur¬ 
pose of producing an artificial swarm. I found the 
same quantity of disabled bees around the hive so 
removed, in a few hours after its removal, showing 
that they had no connection with any other hive. 
The Enemies of Bees .— The moth, or universal 
enemy of the bee, is the only enemy that we need 
fear in this country. The wasp and the king-bird 
sometimes make havoc among them, but every 
enemy sinks into insignificance when compared 
with the wax-moth. Its first appearance is in May 
or June It is of a grey or whitish color, similar to 
the millers that flit around the blaze of a candle, 
though not so large. It remains inactive during the 
day, but as soon as twilight sets in, it sallies forth 
from its hiding-places, and seeks out the weakest 
stock or swarms of bees for its operations. Hav¬ 
ing gained an entrance, it winds its way up the 
side of the hive that is the least protected, and 
having gained the summit, or a secure location, 
some distance from the bottom of the hive, it there 
deposits its eggs upon the surface of the comb, 
which in a few days are hatched out, by the inter¬ 
nal heat generated by the bees, and become white 
worms or caterpillars. They at once commence 
weaving around themselves a white silken sub¬ 
stance, as a protection against the bees. They then 
commence cutting away the combs and building 
galleries for their own use, from which they put 
forth their heads for food in every direction. Their 
heads are covered by a helmet impenetrable to the 
sting of a bee. When the bees perceive these in¬ 
sects thus at work, they commence cementing them 
in, and confining them to their original location, 
and consigning them to starvation, which is easily 
done, if there are but few of them, but in cases of 
weak stocks, with constant lodgments of the moth, 
they are soon undermined, and giving up in despair, 
they either leave the hive, or dwindle away in 
inactivity. The symptoms of the depredations of 
the moth may be known by the falling of particles 
of comb upon the bottom-board of the hive, of a 
brown color. By hanging the bottom-board of the 
hives on wires, one can see at once whether his 
bees are in danger from the moth. The best time 
to look is in the morning, and if you find a consi¬ 
derable covering of particles of comb, such as the 
gnawing of worms would be likely to make, and 
you find this for several mornings in succession 
you may expect that the destroyer is at work 
