96 



Bee Moth. — Homage to Virtue. — Steeping Smutty JVlieat. Vol. VI, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Bee Moth. 



In the first No. of the Cabinet, vol. 6, is an 

 article headed Tlie Bee Moth, vvhicli is, I 

 think, calculated to deceive the bee-keeper. 

 1 am no enemy to science, but I wish to see 

 il based on fair reasoning — then I am ready 

 to become a convert to the theory of any man. 



The ravages of the bee moth are notorious 

 in all sections of the country where they 

 have made their appearance, and are calcu- 

 lated to excite the apprehensions of bee-keep- 

 ers for the safety of their hives, and to urge 

 them to adopt preventive measures against 

 their depredations — but thus far I believe no 

 etfectual remedy has been discovered. The 

 theory laid down by your correspondent is, 

 that " the bee moth has no desire to deposit 

 its eggs in a hive, until it knows by instinct 

 that the swarm is unhealthy, and that the 

 labours of its progeny will soon be required 

 to act the part of the turkey-buzzard :" and 

 the only remedy he proposes is, to transfer 

 the swarm to a new box so soon as the moth 

 is observed flitting around the entrance of 

 any particular hive — but it is reasonable to 

 ask, will this simple transfer restore the bees 

 to health] Besides, all experience in the 

 transferring of bees to new hives, goes to es- 

 tablish the important fact, that when swarms 

 are transferred to new hives, it must be done 

 in the early part of the season, when there is 

 time for the bees to collect sufficient honey 

 for their maintenance, or they will die of 

 starvation, unless they are provided with food 

 by their keepers ; and no prudent man will 

 transfer his bees to new hives at any other 

 season, after he becomes acquainted with 

 this fact. 



But, is it true, that the moth will deposit 

 its eggs no where but in the hive? I could 

 produce many witnesses to prove that it fre- 

 quently lays its eggs on the outside of the 

 hive, particularly if there be crevices or 

 cracks about it, as well as on the bottom of 

 the liive, and in the corners formed by the 

 projection of the top board. The straw-hive 

 also furnishes more proof on this point — it 

 was the custom formerly to place a cap of 

 Btraw over the hives, the ends extending 

 down the side of the hive nearly to its lower 

 edge, but it was found that the moth crept 

 into the ends of the straw covering to depo- 

 sit its eggs, and the worms became so nu- 

 merous that it was found necessary to dis- 

 pense with the straw covering on this account. 

 Now, in my opinion, it is the nature of the 

 bee moth, like other insects, to (deposit its 

 eggs in the vicinity of the food adapted to 

 the wants of its young — the silk worm on the 

 leaves of the mulberry, the green fly on the 

 roots and branches of different kinds of grain, 



while the food of the butterfly is as various 

 as its different species ; its habits, however, 

 being peculiar in one respect — it always 

 avoids putrid and fetid matter as food ; and 

 the bee moth is of this species. 



In view of this rational and common-sense 

 aspect of the case, the writer of the present 

 article conceives that he has succeeded in 

 fabricating a bee-box that will obviate at 

 once all these difficulties; meet most effect- 

 ually all that is required to preserve our 

 swarms in perfect health and vigour, and, by 

 the most simple of all means — the peculiar 

 construction of the bottom of the hive — af- 

 ford a remedy against the destructive ravages 

 of the bee moth — a desideratum, he conceives, 

 hitherto unaccomplished. 



Application has been made for a patent for 

 the invention, and due notice will be given 

 where the hives may be obtained ; it being 

 intended to deposit one at the office of the 

 Farmers' Cabinet, for inspection. P. 



Philadelpliia, Sept. ]5, 1841. 



Homage to Virtue. 



When Cambray, the metropolis of the 

 See, and the place of residence of Archbishop 

 Fenelon, was the seat of the war which was 

 carried on by the French and English and 

 their allies at the beginning of the last cen- 

 tury, the French army naturally vied one 

 with the other in showing respect to this ami- 

 able pastor ; but veneration of his name and 

 character was not confined to his country- 

 men, for he was no less respected by the en- 

 emy. The Duke of Marlborough, Prince 

 Eugene and the Duke of Ormond anticipated 

 his safety and his wants by all kinds of civil- 

 ity — they sent detachments to guard his mea- 

 dows and his grain ; they caused the crops to 

 be transported to Cambray, lest they should 

 be seized and carried oft' by their own for- 

 agers; and when any party of the enemy 

 had learned that he was about to take a jour- 

 ney within his Diocese, they sent him word 

 that he had no need of a French guard — 

 that they would escort him themselves! 

 Such a commanding power has virtue over 

 all hearts. 



Steeping Smutty Wheat. 



Arthur Young sowed 14 beds with the 

 same wheat-seed, which was black with smut. 

 The first bed was sown with this wheat with- 

 out washing, and had 377 smutty kernels. A 

 bed sown with seed washed in clear water, 

 produced 32.'3 smutty kernels; washed in lime- 

 water, 43 ; in ley of wood-ashes, 31 ; in ar- 

 senic and salt mixture, 28; in lime-water, 

 four hours, 2; in ley, four hours, 3; in arse- 

 nic, four hours, 1 ; in ley, 12 hours, none; in 

 the same ley, 24 hours, none ; in lime-water, 

 24 hours, none. 



