BEE CULTURE. 223 



keepers ; and thus for the want of a control over the interior 

 of the liive, bee-keeping has been abandoned by many persons 

 for various reasons, but by far the larger number on account of 

 the moth. 



The moth has been the enemy of the bee for more than one 

 thousand years. Aristotle, Virgil, Columella and other ancient 

 writers, mention its depredations. It is about sixty years since 

 it first attacked the bee on this continent ; it showed itself in 

 the eastern part of Massachusetts in the year 1800 ; in 1805 it 

 was in Connecticut. 



In 1812 it first appeared in Pennsylvania ; in 1830 it reached 

 Cincinnati ; some twelve or fifteen years later it arrived on the 

 Mississippi. And thus, like civilization, cholera and the potatoe 

 disease, it has taken its way westward. How it was brought to 

 this country no one knows, but for a time wherever it appeared it 

 nearly destroyed the bees. At first it was more fatal than it has 

 been since, as the bees were taken completely by surprise, and 

 were totally unprepared to resist ; but as with men so with bees, 

 " new occasions teach new duties ;" after recovering from the 

 first panic, the bees set about fortifying their positions, and have 

 ever since taken such precautions as, with the assistance of their 

 owners, have enabled them in some measure to overcome the 

 evil. If a swarm was reasonably strong, they might prosper ; 

 but woe to those who had lost their queen, or from some other 

 cause became reduced in numbers; the moth entered the hive, 

 commenced its work, and the bees after a few days of contest, 

 gave up in despair. Instead of flying from the hive with a 

 merry song in pursuit of honey, they crawl sluggishly around 

 the entrance as though some great calamity had overtaken them. 

 Day 'after day they appear less in numbers, and soon they all 

 disappear. Upon opening the hive, instead of finding the beauty, 

 order and regularity described by Shakespeare, we find ruin, 

 desolation, worms and filth. 



Huber and Bevan both remark that the moth is more likely 

 to attack old swarms than new ; but we have had more damage 

 done to new swarriis than old ones by this pest. A few years 

 since we put a good swarm in a hive, and examined tliem every 

 day, as- should always be the case. In about ten days, discov- 

 ering indications of the moth, we immediately opened the hive 

 at the bottom, and destroyed a number of worms ; by doing this 



