The best antidote for stings is the application of water in which salt has been dissolved—a heaping teaspoonful of salt to a teacupful of water. Bathe the affected part freely, and in severe cases take a swallow of the salt and water into the stomach. Avoid rubbing or irritating the stung part. Be sure to extract the sting immediately, as the longer it remains the more serious will be the consequences.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BEE MOTH.
IN some localities the bee moth is said to be very destructive, yet I regard the depredations of this insect as much less to be feared than some bee-keepers suppose. The bee moth is the agency provided by nature for returning back to the earth the contents of any hive when left by the bees, in the same manner that the flesh fly is the means provided for returning to the earth the carcase of any animal.
I do not believe that a strong, healthy stock of bees was ever attacked and destroyed by the bee moth. The stock must from some cause become reduced in numbers, so there are not bees enough to cover all the comb, before the moth will make an attack. But when the comb is unprotected, the moth follows the instinct of its nature, and deposits her eggs in it. The bees from some cause keep decreasing, and the moth continues depositing her eggs in the vacated comb, until the entire comb of the hive is a complete mass of vile worms, the progeny of the bee moth.
About this time the bee keeper notices for the first time, (for, if he is keeping bees on the old plan, he lets them take their own course, believing if he meddles with them, they will "run out,") that something is wrong with that hive. So he examines them, and finds the combs a mass of webs, with hundreds of moth millers among the combs, and the combs themselves filled with vile worms. "Ah!" he says, "the bee moth has destroyed that swarm of bees;" when in fact the bee moth had no more to do with bringing about the loss than the maggots, found in the carcase of a nice lamb destroyed by dogs, had to do with destroying the life of the animal. "Oh," says some wise bee keeper, "I know better than that, for I have seen the bee moth flying about my hives and trying to get in." Very well; I have seen the flesh fly circling about live animals, but think you there was any danger from them, as long as the animal was in health? Not a bit. Neither is there any danger from the bee moth, if you keep your stocks of bees strong and healthy. But if you have weak or diseased stock, or have honey in boxes in warm weather unprotected by the bees, look out for the bee moth.
Fumigate with sulphur all combs taken from hives in warm weather; immediately after which, seal up closely in well-made hives or boxes, to prevent access by the moth miller. All combs taken out late in the fall, and kept through the winter in a place where they will be liable to freeze, may be sealed up so the moth cannot gain access to them, and the contents will keep safely through the next summer. Freezing destroys the vitality of the moth eggs. Fumigating with sulphur, as directed in "Care of Box Honey in Warm Weather," will destroy the moth worms, and prevent damage to the combs, if they receive attention within a few days after the eggs are hatched; but if the worms are suffered to remain for any considerable length of time, the combs will be badly damaged, if not entirely ruined. In protecting honey or empty comb from the bee moth in warm weather, every bee keeper should recollect that eternal vigilance is the price of success! With the Controllable Hive and new system of bee management, the true condition of stocks is known at all times. The stocks are very populous in July and August, which is the time the bee moth is most numerous about the hives. I never had a stock damaged by the bee moth since I adopted my present system of bee management.
CHAPTER IX.
ROBBING.
