TUE UIVE AND JIONEY-BEE. 
'242 
Almost anything hollow will often, for a series of years, 
he successfully tenanted by bees. To see hives, nitli 
large, open cracks, whose owners are ignorant and care¬ 
less, bidding defiance to the moth, may, at first sight, 
impair confidence in the value of any precautions. While 
stocks often flourish m such log-cabin hives, others, in 
costly “ Bee-Palaces,” are frequently devoured by the 
worms—their owner, with all the newest devices in the 
Apiarian line, being unable to protect them against their 
enemies, or to explain why some colonies, like the chil¬ 
dren of the poor, appear almost to thrive upon neglect, 
while others, like the offspring of the rich, .are feeble, 
apparently in exact proportion to the care lavished on them ♦ 
I shall now explain why some stocks flourish in spite of 
neglect, while others, most cared for, fall a prey to .the 
moth, and shall show how, in suitable hives, and with 
proper precautions, the moth may be kept from seriously 
annoying the bees. 
A feeble colony being unable to cover its combs, they 
are often filled with the eggs of the moth, and, frequently, 
their owner becomes aware of their condition only when 
their ruin is completed. But how, can the novice 
know when a stock, in a common hive, is seriouslyf in¬ 
fested with these all-devouring worms ? The discouraged 
a.spect of the bees plainly indic.ates that there is trouble 
of some kind within, and the bottom-board will be cov¬ 
ered with jiieces of bee-bread mixed with the excrement, 
of the worms, which looks like grains of <jimpowder.\ 
* It Is very common to hoar bcc-keepers speak of having “g )od luck,” or “bad 
luck,” with their bees; and, as bees arc managed, success or failure often seems to 
dep.-nd almost entirely upon what Is called “luck.” 
t fne.xperlcnced beo-keopers, wlio imagine that a colony is nearly ruined when 
lliey rtnd a few worms, should remember that almost every old stock, howevc^ 
slnmiror healthy, has .some of these enemies lurking about its premises. 
t When bees in the Spring prepare their colls for brood, the botfoin-board is 
olien covered with small pieces of comb and bee-bread; but if tho.se are 
Willi the black excreuieiil, they are proofs o/ ludiistry, instead of signs of ruin. 
