242 ENEMIES OF BEES. 



conceit, or credulity of the public, often find the readiest 

 purchasers. To describe a tithe of the wonders of the bee- 

 hive, even those most thoroughly demonstrated, is, in the 

 estimation of many of the oldest bee-keepers, to deserve the 

 name of a fool, a liar, or a cheat. 



CHAPTER XII. 



The Bee-Moth, and other Enemies of Bees. Diseases of Bees. 



Of all the numerous enemies of the honey-bee, the Bee- 

 Moth, (Tinea mellonella,) in climates of hot Summers, is by 

 far, the most to be dreaded. So wide spread and fatal have 

 been its ravages in this country, that thousands have aban- 

 doned the cultivation of bees in despair, and in districts 

 whicti once produced abundant supplies of the purest honey, 

 bee-keeping has become a very insignificant pursuit. Con- 

 trivances almost without number, have been devised, to 

 defend the bees against this insidious foe, but still it continues 

 its desolating inroads, almost unchecked, laughing as it were 

 to scorn, at all the so-called " moth-proof" hives, and turn- 

 ing many of the ingenious fixtures designed to entrap 

 or exclude it, into actual aids and comforts in its nefarious 

 designs. 



I should feel but little confidence in being able to make 

 bee-keeping, in our country, a certain and profitable pursuit, 

 ■if I could not show the Apiarian in what way he may safelv 

 bid defiance to the pestiferous assaults of this, his most im- 

 placable enemy. Having patiently studied its habits for 

 years, 1 am at length able to announce a system of manage- 



