Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY 



173 



bees. Dried puff-ball makes a smoke that subdues bees without injur}- to 

 tliem. 



224. Bee .Cloths, and Uow to Protect Bees from Them. — Xumcrous patents have 

 been taken out to sell bee-keepers, to keep tlie mollis out of the hives. All of 

 these contrivances fail in their object, or else have objections to them which 

 have prevented their general introduction. One uow before us consists of a 

 set of swinging doors, just such as we have often seen at cat-holes, hung at 

 the top so as to fall into place as soon as pussy gets through. For the bees, 

 a small tin, about the size of a dime, is hung in the entrance hole, which the 

 bee can push open, but the moth can not — that is, so says the patentee. 



Where open-end hives stand upon a bench, we have seen moths prevented 

 from injuring the swarm by raising the hive, during the moth season, about 

 half an inch from the bench. The theory of tiiis plan is, that themoth in- 

 serts her eggs between the bottom of the hive and bench, where they hatch, 

 and the bees can not get at the worms ; but if it is raised up, there is no op- 

 portunity for the moth to deposit her eggs where they will be safe. 



A cheap, good moth-trap is nuide in the following maimer: Take a piece 

 of thin pine board, or a shingle, a few inches square, and with your pocket- 

 knife cut three-cornered grooves on one side, and lay it, grooved side down, 

 on the bench under the hive. The moths will find a secure place from the 

 bees, and deposit their eggs, which you will find, or the worms, and destroy, 

 by looking at your traps every few days. 



Mr. Quinby recommends the following mixture as a moth-trap : Sugar or 

 molasses and a little vinegar and v^-ater, making the " contrast" agreeable — 

 the sweet and the sour. Put this in shallow dishes, saucers, or tin baking 

 dishes, and set them among the bees at evening. Kext morning, moths of 

 all kinds will be found in the liquid, aiul may then be strained out and de- 

 stroyed, and the mixture used the following evening. 



225. lutroduction of Bees into f aliforuia.— The honey-bee is not a native of 

 California. The credit of introducing them is dnc to a man by the name of 

 Shelton, who, after doing mucli for the interest of agricultural improvements 

 in that State, lost his life, while still a very young man, by the explosion of 

 a steamboat boiler on the Sacramento Eiver. lie imported, in March, 1S53, 

 the first bees into California, lie left New York with twelve stands, or 

 hives, and arrived with but one; from this one about one hundred and fifty 

 swarms were credited in 1S5S, and, of course, have largely multiplied since 

 that time. There have also been very large cxportations made by steamer 

 from Kew York. The Messrs. Harbison, of Pennsylvania, have been very 

 successful in shipping and selling swarms, and have also established an ex- 

 tensive apiary at Sacramento. The common price of some of the first stocks 

 sent to or produced in California has been fifty to one hundred dollars a liivo. 

 The lIarl)isons made their first shipment, we believe, in 1858-9. 



It has been tiiought singular that our people found no bees in California, 

 when thev were so abundant in Mexico and Cenlrai America. Since the 

 introduction of bees from New York, a California paper states tliat several 



