ENEMIES OP BEES. 2J:7 



bee, was introduced its natural enemy, created for the spe- 

 cial purpose, not of destroying the insect, on whose industry 

 it thrives, and whose extermination would be fatal lo the 

 moth itself, but that it might gain its livelihood as best it 

 could in this busy world. Finding itself in a country 

 whose climate is exceedingly propitious to its rapid increase, 

 it has multiplied and increased a thousand fold, until now 

 there is hardly a spot where the bees inhabit, which is hot 

 infested by its powerful enemy. 



I have often listened to the glowing accounts of the vast 

 supplies of honey obtained by the first settlers, from their 

 bees. Fifty years ago, the markets in our large cities were 

 much more abundantly supplied than they now are, and it 

 was no uncommon thing to see exposed for sale, large wash- 

 ing-tubs filled with the most beautiful honey. Various rea- 

 sons have been assigned for the present depressed state of 

 Apiarian pursuits. Some imagine that newly settled coun- 

 tries are most favorable for the labors of the bee : others, 

 ihat we have overstocked our farms, so that the bees can- 

 not find a sufficient supply of food. That neither of these 

 reasons will account for the change, I shall prove more at 

 length, in my remarks on Honey, and when I discuss the 

 question of overstocking a district with bees. Others lay 

 all the blame "upon the bee-moth, and others still, upon our 

 departure from the good old-fashioned way of managing 

 bees. That the bee-moth has multiplied most astonishingly, 

 is undoubtedly true. In many districts, it so superabounds, 

 that the man who should expect to manage his bees with as 

 little care as his father and grandfather bestowed upon them, 

 and yet realize as large profits, would find himself most 

 wofully mistaken. The old bee-keeper often never looked 

 at his bees after the swarming season, until the time came 

 for appropriating their spoils. He then carefully " hefted" 



