WASPS TO EXTIRPATE. 273 



torn-tit and sparrow, are bee-killers. The chief 

 difficulty lies with the moth, the ant, and the wasp, 

 in Autumn. When the moth has obtained a con- 

 siderable footing, the bees will quit their hive. The 

 prey of the moth is supposed to be the pollen, or 

 bee-bread, in store, and the heterogeneous refuse 

 attached to the wax. 



A timely renewal of hives appears to be the only 

 real remedy to join the bees to another hive, and 

 save the little left by the depredators. The too fatal 

 sign, according to Huish, of a hive taken possession 

 of by the moth, is an inaction of the bees, during 

 ten days or a fortnight, whilst the bees of other 

 hives are in activity. The ascent of ants may be 

 prevented by TARRING the lower part of the hive 

 pedestals, and constantly repeating it when too dry. 



In a thickly cultivated country, like England, it is 

 an enormous scandal to breed and feed WASPS, when 

 the fact is known, that to destroy a queen wasp in 

 in March or April, is to prevent the hatching of a 

 whole nest. Thus, if all the queen wasps in a 

 country were destroyed, the whole race would be 

 exterminated, and had effective measures been taken, 

 as with wolves formerly, our country might at this 

 day have been as free from wasps as wolves. The 

 mother wasp is known by her superior size and 

 greater brilliancy of colour beyond the common 

 wasp. In a season between 1788 and 1792, wasps 

 being in immense multitudes, I very soon killed fif- 

 teen hundred with my own hands, but could per- 

 suade no neighbour to follow my example. Merely 

 stopping up the outlets of a wasp's nest, is not at 



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