3i6 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. [Ch. vi. 



hives is to have as narrow an entrance as the bees can 

 do with. If a stock is not very weak in numbers the 

 bees will be well able to guard a small aperture, and can 

 repel the attacks of these insidious and merciless rob- 

 bers. On this account the entrance to our cottage hive, 

 as described at page 114, may be used. 



The bee-keeper is interested in preventing the in- 

 crease of wasps ; it is. therefore a good practice for him 

 to set a price on queen wasps in the spring, the death of 

 one of them at that time being equivalent to the destruc- 

 tion of a whole nest. 



Should nests be found in the neighbourhood of an 

 apiary, their annihilation must be accomplished either 

 by blowing them up with gunpowder — an operation well 

 understood by most country lads — or any other effectual 

 method. The late Mr. Payne recommended that a 

 small quantity of gas tar should be put into the. mouth 

 of a wasps' nest, and if then covered with earth, the total 

 destruction of the wasps will be accomplished without 

 further trouble. But to use blazing straw for the purpose 

 is always dangerous in country districts. We have lately 

 heard of a very ingenious and successful mode of entrap- 

 ping and killing wasps. Place some sugar or strongly 

 sweetened compound on the ground in a garden, and 

 place over it a square hand-glass, wedged up an inch or 

 so all round. On this glass, which should have an open- 

 ing at the apex, lodge . another, but a sound one. The 

 wasps, attracted by the sweets, will soon crowd under 



