ENEMIES OF BEES. 249 



If liowever, the old plan had been rigidly adhered to, the 

 ravages of the bee-molh would never have been so great as 

 they now are. The introduction of patent hives has con- 

 tributed most powerfully, to fill the land with the devouring 

 pest. I am perfectly aware that this is a bold assertion, and 

 that it may, at first sight, appear to be very uncourteous, if 

 not unjust, to the many intelligent and ingenious Apiarians, 

 who have devoted much time, and spent large sums of mon- 

 ey, in perfecting hives designed to enable the bee-keeper to 

 contend most successfully against his worst enemy. As I 

 do not wish to treat such persons with even the appearance 

 of disrespect, I shall endeavor to show just how the use of 

 the hives which they have devised, has contributed to un- 

 dermine the prosperity of the bees. Many of these hives 

 have valuable properties, and if they were always used in 

 strict accordance with the enlightened directions of those who 

 have invented them, they would undoubtedly be real and 

 substantial improvements over the old box or straw hive, 

 and would greatly aid the bee-keeper in his contest with 

 the moth. The great difficulty is that they are none of 

 them, able to give him the facilities which alone can make 

 him victorious. No hive, as I shall soon show, can ever do 

 this, which does not give the complete and easy control of 

 all the combs. 



I do not know of a single improved hive which does not 

 aim at entirely doing away wilh the old-fashioned plan of 

 killing the bees. Such a practice is denounced as being al- 

 most as cruel and silly as to kill a hen for the sake of ob- 

 taining her feathers or a few of her eggs. Now if the 

 Apiarian can be furnished with suitable instructions, and 

 such as he will practice, for managing his bees so as to 

 avoid this necessity, then I admit the full force of all the 

 objections which have been urged against it. I have never 



