No. 1. 



Tlie Bee Moth. 



19 



We admit that we had a very different class of per- 

 sons in view when the sentiment alluded to was insert- 

 ed in thepagesot'theCabinet— those who do good for the 

 love of it, " hoping for nothing again ;" men who are 

 actuated by a spirit of self-devotion, not self-interest ; 

 and to sncli, it was our desire to direct the gratitude of 

 those who have luxuriated in the shade and on the 

 fruits of those trees which have been " planted by other 

 hands." We confess also, there was one of them who 

 stood conspicuous,— the father of the present Mr. John 

 Vaughan — to whom the citizens of Philadelphia are 

 indebted for the delicious shade of their beautiful 

 streets; it was he who planted that noble row of elms 

 which surrounds Independence Square, observing at 

 the time, " It is my desire that the citizens of the next 

 generation shall enjoy the luxury of a shady walk un- 

 der a burning sun." We are sure our intelligent and 

 interesting correspondent is quite right in the view he 

 has taken of the subject ; but we suspect there may be 

 another reason why the settlers of the west feel so lit- 

 tle care for planting trees— so many of them calculat- 

 ing on a removal "year after next." The feelings 

 which we desired to inculcate were those of Benevo- 

 lence and Oratiludc. 



" O say, what virtue of the great, 



Gives highest polish to their state? 



'T is that, which gladness can dispense 



To sorrow — sweet Benevolknce ! 



O say, v.'hat glory gilds the shed. 



And throws a halo round the bed 



Of Poverty — so low and rude ? 



'Tis the mild beam of Gratitude!" 



Ed. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Bee Moth. 

 Mr. Editor, — It would appear that " Bee- 

 breeding" is to share a Jarge portion of the 

 attention of the community the next year. 

 It is a deserving object, and might be made 

 botli profitable and agreeable, in proper situ- 

 ations and under careful management; but 

 neither will that or any other pursuit succeed, 

 unless it be well attended to and made a regu- 

 lar business. Already there are numerous con- 

 trivances to stop the ravages of the bee moth, 

 but to me, in this as in most other cases, it 

 seems by far better to prevent the evil by 

 keeping the bees strong and healthy; and it 

 is only a part of tiie system which I have 

 laid down for myself, to consider the moth 

 the effect, rather than the cause of the de- 

 struction complained of. I believe that the 

 moth has no desire to deposit its eggs in a 

 hive, until it knows by instinct that the 

 swarm is unhealthy ; by "the putricity which 

 is then engendered, it is taught that its ser- 

 vices will soon be required, according to that 

 beautiful theory so well set forth by Agricola, 

 " wherever animal or vegetable substances 

 are in the progress of decay, mouths are 

 found ever ready to convert dead matter into 

 food for living things." 



And this is no new idea; I knew, many 

 years ago, a person who kept from 20 to 30 

 hives of bees with uniform success, but he 

 was peculiarly attentive to the moths, and 

 when he saw them flitting around the entrance 

 of any particular hive, he knew that the bees 

 were sickly, and he would immediately re- 

 move them to a clean hive, by turning the 

 box which contarned them, placing upon it 

 an empty hive ; and by giving the lower box 



a few gentle blows, the bees would ascend 

 and take possession : this was done in the 

 evening, after the bees had returned from 

 their labours, and the next day they would 

 be found busily employed on their new pre- 

 mises, without any fear of the moth. Now, 

 it is all very pretty — these ingenious con- 

 trivances to deceive the moths by furnishing 

 them with large and convenient entrances to 

 sham boxes, brushed over with honey or wax, 

 while the bees are restricted to one small and 

 inconvenient hole of entrance — but I do not 

 consider that nature is so imperfect as to be 

 so easily bamboozled ; I believe the moths 

 know full as well as the man, when they are 

 inside the hive, and that they will not be in- 

 duced to deposit their eggs in an out-house, 

 where there is no food tor their young' when 

 they come into existence. I beg therefore to 

 repeat, I consider the moth the effect and not 

 the cause of the mischief; the sickness of 

 the bees and the putricity of the internal at- 

 mosphere of the hive being the true cause, 

 teaching them that the labours of their pro- 

 geny will soon be required to act the part of 

 the turkey-buzzard. Remove the cause, there- 

 fore, and the effect will cease — depending 

 upon it, that " when the constitution is in a 

 healthy state, there is little liability to infec- 

 tion of any kind." 



Let then, all those who enter the race of 

 bee-breeding be attentive to this, and by shift- 

 ing the swarms to other boxes so soon as they 

 perceive them attacked by the moth, they 

 will, I am persuaded, find that prevention is 

 much easier than cure. With me, there is 

 no doubt, the cause of sickness often arises 

 from the system of withdrawing the honey 

 by means of boxes and glasses placed on the 

 top of the hive, reducing the bees to the ne- 

 cessity of ever breeding in the same cells, by 

 which they become filthy and putrid ; I there- 

 fore much prefer to add another box below, 

 on removing one from above, according to the 

 plan proposed in that interesting little work, 

 " Bee-breeding in the West," which is quite 

 a manual of the art. In Weeks's late work 

 on the same subject, the evil here pointed 

 out is admitted to its full extent, but, strange 

 to say, it is proposed to be remedied only by 

 transferring the bees to another hive ; it is 

 said, " when bees have occupied one tene- 

 ment for several years, the comb becomes 

 thick and filthy by being filled up with the 

 old bread and cocoons made by young bees 

 when transformed from a larva to the per- 

 fect fly; and are so contracted that the 

 bees come forth but mere dwarfs, and cease 

 to swarm ;" and yet, by the use of the Ver- 

 mont hive, they are compelled to breed in the 

 same cells continually. It would appear, 

 therefore, that these patent palaces are con- 

 structed on false principles. Vih. 



