242 
THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
Almost anything hollow will often, for a series of years, 
be successfully tenanted by bees. To see hives, with 
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 in 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 
aspect of the bees plainly indicates that there is trouble 
of some kind within, and the bottom-board will be cov¬ 
ered with pieces of bee-bread mixed with the excrement 
of the worms, which looks like grains of gunpowder.\ 
♦ It is very common to hear bee-keepers speak of having 11 g >od luck,” or “ bad 
luck,” with tlieir bees; and, as bees are managed, success or failure often seems to 
depend almost entirely upon what is called “ luck.” 
t Inexperienced bee-keepers, who imagine that a colony is nearly ruined when 
they find a few worms, should remember that almost every old stock, however 
strong or heulthy, has some of these enemies lurking about its premises. 
t When bees in the Spring prepare their cells for brood, the bottom-board is 
often covered with small pieces of comb and bee-bread; but if these are not mixed 
with the black excrement, they are proofs of Industry, instoad of signs of ruin. 
