KNIQIIKS OF EEES. 237 



Others affirm that our colonies are too numerous to find 

 sufficient food. That neither of these reasons account for 

 the change, will be subsequently shown. Others lay all 

 the blame on the moth, and others still, on our departure 

 from the old-fashioned mode of keeping bees. 



It is undoubtedly true that the moth so super-abounds 

 in many districts, that no profit can be derived from 

 managing bees in the simple way which was once so suc- 

 cef sful. Ofiien the old bee-keeper, after hiving his. swarms, 

 never looked at them again until ' the Fall, when all 

 ' the colonies which had too few bees, or were too light to 

 survive the Winter, were condemned to the brimstone- 

 pit. Some of the heaviest were also kiUed for the sake 

 of their honey, and the very best were reserved for stock 

 hives. 



In a newly-settled country, where weeds are almost 

 unknown, tile farmer who plants his corn and " lets it 

 alone," may often harvest a remunerative crop. If, in 

 process of time, as the weeds increase, he continues to 

 plough and plant in the "good old way," he will only be 

 laughed at for complaining that the pestiferous weeds have 

 caused his corn to "run out." And yet, with equal 

 folly, many bee-keepers do not understand why plans 

 which answered when moths were unknown or were very 

 scarce, cannot be made to succeed at the present time. 



If the old plans had been rigidly adhered to, the 

 ravages of the moth, destructive as they must have been, 

 would never have been as great as they now are. The 

 use of patent hives has contributed to fill the land loith 



myriads in the noble groves and forests that skirt and intersect the prairies, a^d 

 extend along the alluvial bottoms of the rivers. It seems to mo as if these beaati- 

 fnl regions answer literally to the description of the land of promise — ' a land flow- 

 ing with milk and honey ;' for the rich pasturage of the prairies is calculated to 

 sustain herds of cattle as countless as the san la upon the sea-shore, while the 

 flowers with which they are enamelled render them a very paradise for the nectar- 

 seeking bee.'' — Washington Ieving, Tour on the Prairies^ Cha/p. IX. 



