THE farmer’s manual. 
165 
be ruined before you are aware, and thus your hopes 
of the season be blasted in autumn. 
The toad is the natural enemy of Bees, as of the 
wasp, and common fly, and will catch them indis- 
criminately, particularly in warm weather. He should 
be driven from the vicinity of the Apiary. A little gar- 
lic rubbed about your hives, will guard them against 
the ravages of the ant. 
The moth is an enemy of the Bee. It is the ca- 
terjiillar, which, in a certain state, gnaws our trees, 
books, paper, &c. Strong hives can protect them- 
selves against the moth ; but weak hives are some- 
times injured and ruined. The moth, in the butterfly 
state, infests the hives in April and October, and by 
her dexterity deposits her eggs amongst the comb, 
and dies. From every egg a smooth caterpillar 
bursts forth of a pale white, its head brown and sca- 
ly. It encloses itself in a little web of white silk, 
which it attaches to the combs, and in which it finds 
its food by iirojecting its head beyond its case. 
When the food around it begins to fail, it prolongs its 
silken web, which, though a mere thread at the be- 
ginning, becomes almost insensibly as large as a quill. 
This insect, having attained its growth, submits to the 
metamorphosis common to all caterpillars ; it quits 
its residence, retires to one corner of the hive, or de- 
parts from it ; spins a white covering, emerges as a 
butterfly, copulates and re-enters the hive to deposit 
its eggs as before. I have been the more particular 
in describing this insect, because, next to man, he is 
the most destructive enemy of Bees. Mr. Huish 
states with confidence, that in sixteen years, the moth 
has destroyed more than a fifth part of his hives an- 
nually. Mr. Huish continues the subject of the moth 
much more extensively, both as to its manner of 
laying its eggs, in and out of the hive, and the 
manner by which they are introduced carelessly by 
the Bees into the hive, where they are hatched with 
the other eggs ; the substance upon which the moth 
