164 
THE farmer’s manual. 
lure, nature’s choicest nectar ; man, ungrateful man, 
in wanton spite of all his boasted reason, robs the 
Bee, and makes her life the forfeiture. But I forbear, 
man is now becoming more civilized ; the researches 
of^he Apiarian have not only taught him how to share 
with the Bee the rich rewards of her toils, without 
destroying her life, or even abridging her enjoyments, 
but how to promote the enjoyments of the Bee, and 
become her protector. 
The mouse, of all kinds, the rat, the toad, and the 
ant, are amongst the common enemies of the Bee. 
The attention of man, in fixing his Apiary, may 
guard the Bee, generally, against these common ene- 
mies ; but birds, which also are generally the enemies 
of the Bee, who catch him, and devour him in his 
flight, are out of the reach of man. and generally go 
unpunished; except the king-bird and wood-pecker, 
who hover about the Apiary, to feed on the Bees, 
they may be carefully watched and destroyed. The 
spider, also, is an enemy to the Bee, the same as the 
bird, not to feed on the honey like the mouse, and the 
ant, but to entrap the Bee in his web, and feed on 
him. The spiders enter the hive when the weather is 
cold, and the Bees have lost their energies, spin their 
web, and thus obtain their prey. The wasp is, also, 
an enemy of the Bee ; he surveys the hive in summer, 
and wherever he finds a crevice, enters and robs the 
hive, and feeds on the honey. The wasps collective- 
ly, sometimes attack weak hives, the same as robbing. 
Bees, and rob the swarm. Mr. Huisb adds, I do not 
know a move efficacious method of destroying wasps’ 
nests than sulpliur. The wasp, the humble Bee, and 
honey Bee, all feed upon the same food ; for this rea- 
son, the two first should be driven as much as possible 
from the neighbourhood of the Apiary, particularly 
in September and October, when the herbage of the 
fields fails, they then are driven by hunger to rob the 
hives. 
Watch your Bees close at this season, or they may 
