i64 THE FARMER'S MANUAL * 



ture, nature's choicest nectar; man, ungrateful man, 

 in wanton spite of all his boasted reason, robs the 

 Bee. and makes her life the forfeiture. But I forbear, 

 man is uow becoming more civilized ; the researches 

 of the Apiarian have not only taught him how to share 

 with the Bee the rich rewards of her toils, without 

 destroying her life, or even abridging her enjoy- 

 ments, but how to promote the enjoyments of the 

 Bee, and become her protector. 



The mouse, of all kinds, the rat, the toad, and the 

 ant, are amongst the common enemies of the Bee. 

 The attention of man, in fixing his Apiary, may 

 guard the Bee, generally, against these common ene- 

 mies ; but birds, which also are generally the enemies 

 of the Bee, who catch him, and devour him in his 

 ilight, are out of the reach of man, and generally go 

 unpunished ; except the king-bird and wood-pecker, 

 who hover about the Apiary, to feed on the Be6s, 

 they may be carefully watched and destroyed. The 

 spider, also, is an enemy to the Bee, the same as the 

 bird, not to feed on the honey like the mouse, and 

 the ant, but to entrap the Bee in his web, and feed 

 on him. The spiders enter the hive when the wea- 

 ther is cold, and the Bees have lost their energies, 

 spin their web, and thus obtain their prey. The 

 wasp is, also, an enemy of the Bee ; he surveys the 

 hive in summer, and wherever he finds a crevice, en- 

 ters and robs the hive, and feeds on the honey. The 

 wasps collectively, sometimes attack weak hives, the 

 same as robbing Bees, and rob the swarm. Mr. 

 Huish adds, I do not know a more efficacious method 

 of destroying wasps' nests than sulphur. The wasp, 

 the humble Bee, and honey Bee, all feed upon the 

 same food ; for this reason, the two first should be 

 driven as much as possible from the neighbourhood 

 of the Apiary, particularly in September and Octo- 

 ber, when the herbage'of the fields fails, thev then 

 are driven by hunger to rob the hives. 

 Watch your Bees close at this season, or they may 



