185' 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



369 



For the New England Farmer. 



BEES. 



In the AT. E. Farmer of June 6th, Mr. Cheney 

 asks, "What ails my bees ?" Your answer and advice 

 is so different from what I would give, (having 

 abundant experience in that line,) that I am in- 

 duced to offer a few remarks. I would say first, 

 that I have several hundred stock^^ and do not sup- 

 pose that a half dozen in the whole number are 

 exempt from the moth-worm. And yet I do not ex- 

 pect them to destroy a single stock ; neither do I 

 rhink it necessary, at present at least, to transfer 

 any to prevent destruction. The fact is, the moth 

 is often unjustly accused ; the real difficulty nine 

 times in ten, when losses occur, lies beyond the 

 moth-worms, and the loss of the stock ought not 

 to be attributed to them, any more than the death 

 of the horse or ox should be, when their putrid 

 carcass is consumed by the larva of the flesh-fly. 

 In one case, putrid flesh is the natural food, in the 

 other, the waxen combs of the bee-hive. The 

 mother, by her instinct, deposits her eggs where 

 her young will find proper aliment. An exposed 

 hive, containing combs without bees to protect it 

 during the summer months, is like animal flesh, 

 without life, and is sure to be sought out by the moth, 

 and its contents devoured. When no such stock 

 can be found, the next best place to deposit her 

 eggs, (for they must be deposited somewhere,) is 

 as near the entrance of the populous hive as she 

 dare venture — to enter among the bees of a thrifty 

 stock is too great a risk. Some of her eggs will 

 get among the combs of nearly all the stocks, 

 probably are carried in accidentally by the bees, 

 but on the method I will not speculate here. When 

 the stocks are good, the bees are continually dis- 

 lodging and woking them out. The worms often 

 work a passage through combs containing brood ; 

 the bees, to get at them, must unavoidably remove 

 some, — as in Mr. Cheney's case. 



The worm, to escape from the bees, gets under 

 the bottom of the hive, or any other place that will 

 afford protection from his tormentors. I have fre- 

 quently raised a hive that was standing close to the 

 bottom board, and found from twenty-five to fifty 

 secreted there. They are easily scraped out and 

 destroyed. I have no fears of such stock being de- 

 stroyed by them, if the bees are numerous ; and 

 the worms being found there, argues that the bees 

 have energy, or the worms otherwise would stay 

 among the combs. Many worms may be destroyed, 

 by laying split pieces of elder, with the pith scraped 

 out, flat side down under the hive. They will gath- 

 er under them to spin their cocoons, and may be 

 easily removed and killed. By thus destroying all 

 that can be found, Mr. Cheney's bees can probably 

 be saved without transferring, in which case, the 

 combs will not have to be removed, an item to the 

 stock worth twenty pounds of honey. I would fur- 

 ther say, that a stock so weak at this season as to 

 allow the moth to obtain access in numbers suf- 

 ficient to destroy the combs, would constitute a 

 family too small ever to make a stock when trans- 

 ferred, — something is wrong preceding the moth. 



This is not the season for extensive operations. 

 July and August are the worst months of the year. 

 A great many old stocks swarm too much, leaving 

 too few bees to defend the combs. Many of the af- 

 ter swarms are too small to repel them successful- 

 ly ; many of the old stocks and some of the swarms 



lose their queen ; they soon run down, and are quite 

 sure to be invaded and destroyed. Transferring 

 them is no advantage whatever. Several weak one& 

 should be united, and if they possess a queen, some- 

 thing njay be expected. 



Whenever a family of bees become reduced from 

 any cause, so that they are unable to cover their 

 combs properly, after say the 10th of July, a spee- 

 dy destriKJtion by the moth may be expected. 



The aparian who expects to succeed, should know 

 at all times the actual condition of every colony and 

 swarm. If no remedy can be applied to give it 

 courage or strength, it should be broken up at once, 

 and the contents saved ; unless he wishes to con- 

 vert it into a mammoth moth-brewer. There are 

 occasional instances where a stock has overs warmed, 

 and yet possess a healthy queen. By removing a 

 part of the combs, leaving only what the bees can 

 protect, it is son.etimes possible to save it, but it 

 requires very diligent attention, and after all, there 

 will be many failures to one successful effort. Uni- 

 ting the weak ones is usually the safest. 



The great secret of successful bee-culture lies in 

 knowing how to keep strong families — this involves 

 a full knowledge of their natural history, the study 

 of which some bee-keepers would find advanta- 

 geous. M. QUINBT, 



Author of Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained. 



St. Johnsville, A*. Y. 



For the New England Farmer. 



KIND TREATMENT TO HORSES. 

 "A merciful man is merciful to his beast." Eve- 

 ry wise man, every economical man of understand- 

 ing, is likewise merciful to them. Abusive treat- 

 ment of horses, and cruel management and usage 

 of them, are a waste and destruction of property; 

 whilst the kind care, and merciful and judicious 

 management of animals, preserve their spirits, and 

 strength and lives, and thus preserve their value. 



The horse is, by nature, well disposed ; is easily 

 trained, when treated kindly by a person capable 

 of instructing him ; by one that can impart to the 

 horse an idea of what he is to do, and how he is to 

 do what may be desired of him. He is also some- 

 what excitable, irritable and timid. Excitement 

 and fear are destructive and injurious to the animal 

 as to the human frame. The horse, especially, will 

 be more docile under kind than cruel treatment. 

 Whatever labors are performed and exertions made 

 under the whip, are usually so much to the injury of 

 the horse, thus forced to exertion. Whatever excess 

 of loading a horse is forced to draw, under the lash, 

 above what he can easily draw, is so much to his in- 

 jury. Whatever increase of speed is gained by the 

 rider or driver, by the aid or instrumentality of the 

 whip or spur, is only an advantage for the time be- 

 ing, and to the future disadvantage of the owner. 

 It is a wearing away of the strength and life of the 

 animal to force his speed beyond his voluntary and 

 natural swiftness of motion. To compel him to 

 draw more than he can easily draw, injures his val- 

 ue, also. It is economy, and wisdom, and human- 

 ity, and mercy, too, to carry light loads for the 

 team. If a person wishes to transport much weight 

 of materials, he should have a horse of suitable 

 size, or a number of horses, to move the load easily. 



If a person wishes to travel at the rate of ten 

 miles an hour, he should have an anim.al that can 

 transport him easily at that rate, and not keep a 



