THE ENEMIES OF OUR HONET-BEE. 153 



apiary profitable ; besides, the expense incident to all enter- 

 prises of the kind is far from trivial, and then to find all in 

 vain — nothing but loss — is very disheartening. My advice 

 to everybody is simply this : Take care, in the first instance, 

 to secure your first stocks from a healthy apiary, and do 

 not employ or use any foreign honey in feeding your 

 colonies — syrup, after all, is the best and most reliable 

 food ; and be careful in introducing any new queens. 



THE ENEMIES OF OUR HONEY-BEE. 



The domestic honey-bee has many enemies to contend 

 against of one kind or other ; man and beasts, insects and 

 reptiles, together with birds, are all sworn enemies to the 

 industrious, toiling bees, but the worst enemy of all is 

 man. Other foes may destroy great numbers of bees, 

 and rob them of an immense quantity of honey, but he 

 slays at once the whole colony. Other enemies may take 

 a pound or so of honey, but he is so greedy and selfish as 

 to take the whole contents of the hive. I cannot do 

 better to illustrate this part of my subject than quote the 

 words of a recent writer upon this theme : " Finally, the 

 worst enemy of bees is man. There is the barbarous, 

 cruel, and ungrateful treatment of the brimstone-match. 

 The little innocents have toiled all the summer. They 

 have thrown off a swarm — after the example of the Church 

 of Scotland, which, by way of showing its internal strength, 

 threw off a capital swarm in 1843 — they have recovered 

 all the effects of their secession, and amassed abundance 

 for future days. The bee-cide felon called man digs a pit, 

 lights four ounces of brimstone inside of it, and deliberately 

 sets fifteen thousand bees, queen and all, above its really 

 and truly infernal fumes, — suffocates and burns the un- 

 happy martyrs, and then subscribes to various charities. 



