Reply to Mr. Worthington’s Inquiry.
Mr. Editor:—I see in the June number, page 264, Mr. Worthington asks how to examine bee stores, &c., in the American hive. Here is the way I do. Remove the cap and honey box; blow a little smoke through the slot in the top bar of frames, to quiet the bees; remove the movable side, and with your pocket knife, you can easily run the blade between the top bars, loosening them; lift out the frames, placing them in a skeleton frame made to hold them; and in this way you see exactly the condition of your bees. In returning the frames to the hive, you have only one place to watch to prevent killing bees, that is the top.
J. W. Sallee.
Pierce, Mo.
If asked how much such contrivances against the moth will help the careless bee-man, I answer not one iota; nay, they will positively furnish him greater facilities for destroying his bees. Worms will spin and hatch, and moths will lay their eggs, under the blocks, and he will never remove them. Thus, instead of traps, he will have most beautiful devices for giving effectual aid and comfort to his enemies.—Langstroth’s “Hive and Honey Bee.”
[For the American Bee Journal.]