196 



NEW ENGLAND F A R IM E R 



DEC. 30, 1S3.') 



To the Trustees of UiB Massachusett.'i Agricultural Society : — 



GentleiTiei! : — For four suminei'S past, I have 

 liad an experiment in hand on the suljject of rai- 

 sing bees, and preventing the ravages of the bee- 

 moth. As its resnks, thus far, have l)een satisfac- 

 tory to myself, I will present you with its det.'iils, 

 and if you thinli it offers a " satisfactory mode of 

 preventing the ravages of tlie moth," and may, by 

 publication, or otherwise, be instrumental in pro- 

 moting the interests of domestic economy, it is at 

 your disposal. 



I prepared for the ex])eriment in the spring of 

 1831, by making a bee house about seven feet 

 .stpiare in the south-east corner of my corn house 

 chamber. The partition on two sides is of double 

 planking laid so as to break joints ; on the other 

 two sides of the rooin, a ceiling of boards is put 

 on the inside of the studs and also of the rafters 

 of the building, to counteract in some measure 

 the effect of severe heat or cold, or sudden changes 

 in the weather. A small door is made for en- 

 trance on the inside, secured by a hasp and staple. 

 The whole is of rough materials, but made sub- 

 stantial ; tight enough to keep out mice, and dark. 

 The cost of labor and materials was about six dol- 

 lars. The floor of the chamber is about eleven 

 feet from the ground, and three feet below the 

 eaves of the house. Near the centre of the room 

 was placed a frame or stand, for the recejitiou of 

 the hive, about three feet high," made of four up- 

 right pieces of scantling fastened together with 

 rounds, and of such dimensions that the hive 

 divested of its floor board might rest by its cor- 

 ners, on the tops of the scantling, in notches about 

 an inch deep cut from their inside corners, 'i he 

 top of the stand is about on a level with the top 

 of the beam, along which — fronting the south — 

 an aperture about a foot long and half an inch 

 wide is cut through tiie lining and outside boards, 

 for the passage of the bees, and pieces of thin 

 board are laid from the stand to the beam for 

 them to travel on. 



The object, so far as respected the moth, was 

 to see if bees would not protect themselves from 

 its ravages, without any other care than placing 

 the hive, where they would be likely to have an 

 eye upon its outside, and in a situation favorable 

 for its defence. And this arrangement was adopt-, 

 ed from an opinion that bees thus situated would 

 probably extend their combs around upon the 

 outsides of the hive, in which case the millers, 

 unless they were able to contend successfujly 

 with the bees on open ground, would have to 

 seek some place other than their favorite one, the 

 outsides of the hive to depositc their eggs. If 

 they were compelled to take the latter course, the 

 jioints of connexion between the hive and other 

 objects being small and few, would render it more 

 ditlicult for the young worms to find their way to 

 the hive, whiie front the same causes defence on 

 the part of the bees against all such intruders 

 would be more easy. 



Having the preiuisfs thus arranged, in April I 

 purchased a hive of bees of a farmer a fesv miles 

 distant, who had about half a dozen swarms t uit 

 had been kept over winter. His hives were mere 

 boxes of rough boitrds. The crevices, or joiut.s, 

 if they could he called such, were large and oi)en 

 on the outside and well fitted to accoimnoilute the 

 millers vvith places of deposite for their eggs in 

 the immediate neighborhood of the comb ; aplaco 



which, of all others, they seem most anxiously to 

 seek, as aflbrding the bejit and perhaps the oidy 

 prospect of good living to their young progeny. 

 He had never lost any swarms by the moths, and 

 was not aware that any were about his hives until 

 two or three were drawn from a crevice in the 

 hive ]itirchased, which was considered second or 

 third best ; some of his swarms appeareil rather 

 weak at the time, and I have since learned that 

 they were all destroyed by the worms and moths 

 before the close of the next season. 



In examining my jiurchase after it was brought 

 home, I found apparently a good swarm of bees, 

 and the hive filled with condj. A few moths and 

 worms also were found in the crevices and under 

 the edges of the hive, which were destroyed. 

 The hive was then removed from its fioor, and 

 placed on the stand in the bee house. The bees 

 had, ]irevious to this time, (as I believe is usually 

 the case where the hive stands on a floor, or is 

 exposed to the wetither,) confined their attention 

 to the inside of the hive. They now commenced 

 operations on the outside ; and in a few days 

 every crevice and joint was sealed up, and every 

 rough place on the outer surface, that might pos- 

 sibly afibrd accommodations to the millers was 

 varnished over. A small piece of board that in- 

 advertently Jiad been left on the top of the hive 

 cost them considerable labor ; before it was dis- 

 covered they had glued it down to the hive with 

 a close joint, and unfitted it in every, respect for 

 the use of an enemy which was even then in 

 possession of a part of the interior of the hive. 

 Of this fact, at the time, I had not a suspicion. 

 As far as could be seen after they were placed on 

 the stand and the lower parts of the combs ex- 

 posed to view, all appeared right, and the bees 

 went cheerfully to work. They were visited al- 

 most daily for some weeks, in which time they 

 commenced lengthening down their old combs 

 and building new ones on the outsides of the 

 hive. In one of these visits, a few dozen of bees 

 were observed clustered together on the face of 

 one of the combs, as far up as could be well 

 seen, actively engaged with and about something, 

 the nature of which I could not well determine. 

 In another day or two, however, the matter was 

 more fully explained by something six or eight 

 inches in length, dangling from the place of op- 

 erations ; this was removed with a stick, and 

 found to be a mass of web. Intermingled with 

 the web were worms, moths, empty cocoons, and 

 dead bees. Most of the bees were fastened firmly 

 with web by their heads to the cocoons or cots of 

 the moths, in a transverse position, and ajipeared 

 as though they had been entangled and slain, and 

 their juices extracted by the moth. In some in- 

 stances, three or four were fixed on to one moth, 

 alongside by side as he lengthened out his slicil ; 

 that nearest his head fresh and evidently a recent 

 captiirt!. 'i'lie whole of the webs, with the mat- 

 ters .-ipMertainitig, which the bees let down frotn 

 the hive in a few days time, I thought would, if 

 loosely thrown in, have nearly filled a quart niea- 

 snr<!. 



Aft<'r the expulsion of tlie moths, the bees con- 

 tinued their usutil operations, and from that i)eriod 

 to the present time .seem to have suffered no fur- 

 ther injury or serious molestation from those in- 

 sects. 



For the two last seasons thedoorof the bpe house 

 has been left open during warm weather, to give 

 the boos a free passage out through an open win. 



dew; their place of enlrauce not being large 

 enough to accommodate their increase of num- 

 bers, 'i his has given the millers free access to 

 the interior of the house at all lionrs ; and that 

 they have been present, is shown by the worms 

 and moths found in and about the f]oor at the foot 

 of the stand beneath the hive, and about the ceil- 

 ing near the place of entrance ; but all their at- 

 teni|)ts at the hive .seem to have been frustrated. 

 The supervision and vigilance of the bees ha» 

 been extended as well to the outside as to the in- 

 side of their doniicil. In the spring of 1833, four 

 small boxes were placed on the top of the hive, 

 inverted, with a corner of each projecting over 

 for the admission of the bees, in the hope that 

 they would fill them with honey. Those boxes 

 reiTiain unoccupied to the present time, the bees 

 preferring to build below the hive rather than 

 above it, but every joint about them, inside and 

 outside, however nice it might be, has been sealed 

 over with tlie most jealous care, and tfie whole 

 made fast to the hive in the closest manner. In- 

 deed it would seem that unless they have been 

 taught necessary measures by experience, their 

 instinctive " half-reasoning minds " have dictated 

 a course of jiroceeding, that is not only in itself 

 best calculated, but instituted solely, for the jiur- 

 pose of defeating the intentions of the miller. I 

 cannot but regard it now as a fortuntite circum- 

 stance that there were moths in the hive at the' 

 commencement of the experiment, as that fact, in 

 connexion with the result, goes farther than al- 

 most any other could go to demonstrate fully that 

 bees are equal to the task of defending themselves 

 from its ravages. For most certainly, if a given 

 situation will enable them to expel a large number 

 which have jireviousiy effected a lodgement in the 

 interior of the hive, the same situation, will enable 

 Ihem to dislodge individuals in their earliest ap- 

 proaches ; and that their exertions will always be 

 measured only by their ability in the case, there 

 is perhaps little room to doubt, liie quantity of 

 honey taken from the hive in the three past sea- 

 sons would altogether amount to not far from 25 

 lbs. ; this was cut from the outsides of the hive, 

 and is probably a very small part ef what ndght 

 have been taken with safety, or of what is now 

 oil hand, and may be justly thought a small re- 

 turn. It will be recollected, however, that the 

 object was not to get the greatest qtiantity of 

 honey in a given short period of time ; but to 

 make an experitnent with reference to the moth ; 

 and a few pounds more or less could not be con- ■ 

 sidered a compensation for defeat, or hazard of 

 defeat, in the main object ; as would have been 

 the case by taking too much and starving the bees 

 — an event that happened to a neighbor of mine 

 a year since. 



Bees will probably be more industrious, if their 

 stores on hand are moderate, but it is a cruel al- 

 ternative, to lucseut them, near the close of the 

 season, with being either worked to death, or 

 starved to death, as in the case referred to. A 

 dilemma of that nature might easily be obviated 

 by taking the honey in the spring, after the bees 

 are able to get a supply from abroad, instead of 

 taking it in the fall, as is usual. And iirobahly all 

 over what thoy want to carry them through the 

 winter, may thus be taken from year to year with 

 safety, and at the same time it may operate as u 

 sufficient corrective for the idleness which old 

 swarms, » rich and increased in goods," are said 

 to manifest. Not having previously kept bees. 



