APRIL.
Clean the hive-boards for the last time, and supply food, if required, as before directed. The Wax-moth, that redoubtable enemy to Bees, appears this month; they may be seen frequently at twilight running upon the outside of the hives: destroy them as much as possible, and, as Huish says, "frighten not away the Bats that fly about the hives, for they destroy numbers of them." A full supply of small hives, boxes, glasses and adapters should now be provided, old ones cleaned, or new ones purchased. A few large hives also should be ready, for if from inattention to giving room and ventilation, a swarm should be compelled to leave their hive, they will be wanted.
Weak hives are now very subject to an attack from robbers, the best protection that can be afforded them is the slider page 18, with the help of which three or four Bees will guard the entrance more effectually than many times that number without it.