BRE-KEEPEU'S MANUAL. 317 



the spring. A little ale or wine, and a little fine salt mixed 

 with the honey or syrup, is good. A shilling spent in 

 feeding, often produces a dollar before the season is over. 



SUMMEE MANAGEMENT. 



After the swarming season is over, nothing can be 

 done, of consequence, but to keep the apiary free of 

 weeds, and protect the bees, as much as possible, from 

 the inroads of insects. From the 1st of July, to the 1st of 

 September, is the season of spiders and the moth. Spi- 

 ders will nightly weave their webs around the hives ; 

 and the apiarian should almost daily pass around the 

 apiary with a brush in hand, to destroy them. The only 

 enemies to bees we have to fear in this country, are spiders, 

 wasps, king-birds, and the bee-moth. Wasps are of little 

 account. Spiders make sad havoc, if left undisturbed. 

 King-birds will destroy thousands of bees in a season, if 

 no means are taken to destroy them ; but all the»above 

 enemies united, sink into insignificance, when compared 

 with that terrible destroyer, the wax or bee-moth. 



THE BEE-MOTH HOW ERADICATED. 



This insect is of a whitish, or brown grey color, 

 and somewhat smaller, generally, than the ordinary mil- 

 lers that flit around a candle at evening. They are the 

 most nimble insect known. They will dart among the 

 bees, in and around the hive; and before a bee has time 

 to turn her antennae towards them, they are out of reach. 

 If one attempts to kill a moth when resting by day, on 

 the outside of the hive, by quickly putting his finger on 



