ENEMIES OF BEES. 
237 
Others affirm that our colonies are too numerous to find 
sufficient food. That neither of these reasons account for 
the change, will be subsequently shown. Others lay all 
the blame on the moth, and others still, on our departure 
from the old-fashioned mode of keeping bees. 
It is undoubtedly true that the moth so super-abounds 
in many districts, that no profit can be derived from 
managing bees in the simple way which was once so suc¬ 
cessful. Often the old bee-keeper, aft er hiving his swarms, 
never looked at them again until the Fall, when all 
the colonies which had too few bees, or were too light to 
survive the Winter, were condemned to the brimstone 
pit. Some of the heaviest were also killed for the sake 
of their honey, and the very best were reserved for stock 
hives. 
In a newly-settled country, where weeds are almost 
unknown, the farmer who plants his corn and “lets it 
alone,” may often harvest a remunerative crop. If, in 
process of time, as the weeds increase, he continues to 
plough and plant in the “ good old way,” he will only bo. 
laughed at for complaining that the pestiferous weeds have 
caused his corn to “ run out.” And yet, with equal 
folly, many bee-keepers do not understand why plans 
which answered when moths were unknown or were very 
scarce, cannot be made to succeed at the present time. 
If the old plans had been rigidly adhered to, the 
ravages of the moth, destructive as they must have been, 
would never have been as great as they now are. The 
use of patent hives has contributed to fill the land with 
myriads in the noble groves and forests that skirt and intersect the prairies, a^d 
extend along the alluvial bottoms of the rivers. It seems to me as if these beauti¬ 
ful regions answer literally to the description of the land of promise — ‘aland flow* 
ing with milk and honeyfor the rich pasturage of the prairies is calculated to 
sustain herds of cattle as countless ns the snn Is upon the sea-shore, while the 
flowers with which they are enamelled render them a very paradise for the nectar- 
seeking bee.” — Washington Ibving, Tour on the Prairies , Chap. IX, 
