218 Of the various Enemies of Bees, 
Of the former, we need fay nothing here, 
having already given fufficient directions in 
the preceding part of this work, how to guard 
again{t cold, famine, robbers, and mice ; and 
fhall, therefore, proceed to point out fome of 
the latter. : 
Wasps are great enemies to bees, efpecially 
in warm dry years; and thofe hives that are 
near plantations, where they often refort, are 
the greateft fufierers by them. In my neigh- 
bourhood, wafps are {eldom very troublefome, 
except that fometimes a mother wafp will ap- 
pear before a hive in May, and offer to goin; 
but her hoarfe voice and ftrange drefs foon dif- 
cover her to the bees, who banith her from their 
habitation. I know not if any hive in my neigh- 
bourhood was ever much hurt by wafps; but, 
a few miles diftant from this, fundry hives 
have been fometimes confiderably the worie of 
them. : 
The beft way to extirpate waips is to deftroy 
their Queen or mother, in fpring, wherever fhe 
can be found , for wafps, in this refpect, as well 
as in fome other particulars, refemble bees ; and 
therefore, when a mother wafp is killed, a whole ° 
neft of them is in effect deftroyed. Their nefts, 
however, fhould alfo be carefully fought out, 
and 
