INJURY EFFECTED BY THE FIELD MOUSE. 295 



their bees with the means of making their attacks. Some- 

 times, the hives are placed so close to a hedge or paling, that 

 the ants, the earwigs, and the spiders have, as it were, a ladder 

 provided for them, by which they can ascend into the hive ; 

 at another time, the hives are placed so near to the ground, 

 if not on the ground itself, that the slugs, the snails, the 

 lizards, and other vermin can obtain easy access to the hive, 

 and carry on their depredations unknown to the careless 

 proprietor. A snail is a vile enemy of the bee, not so much 

 for the quantity of the provisions which it consumes, as for 

 the injury which it commits to the combs. The creature, 

 except in the winter is seldom at rest, and invigorated by 

 the warmth of the hive, it crawls over the combs, leaving 

 behind it its track of slime, which is so hateful to the bees, 

 that rather than endure it, they will leave the hive altogether. 



The single pedestal is one of the best preventives against 

 the attacks of almost every enemy ; to ensure success, how- 

 ever, the bottom of it must be covered over with some 

 unguent, such as pitch or tar; or a piece of sheep's skin 

 with the wool on, will be found, of all preventives, the 

 most efficacious. 



It is in the winter that the attack of the mouse is most 

 to be dreaded, and therefore every means should be taken 

 for its destruction. It is however the field mouse, more 

 than the common house mouse, which takes up its winter 

 quarters in a hive, and, therefore, we generally keep some 

 traps of the following construction in the immediate vicinity 

 of the apiary. Let a pea be soaked in water, then draw a 

 thread through it, and tying the two ends to two small 

 sticks, place them in the ground the exact width of a brick ; 

 the brick is then, like an inclined plane, placed gently upon 

 the thread, when the mouse coming to eat the pea, gnaws 

 away the thread, on which the brick falls, and kills him. By 

 means of this simple trap, we have killed three and some- 

 times four mice in one night. 



