In 1812 it first appeared in Pennsylvania, in 1830 it reached Cincinnati; some 12 or 15 years later it arrived on the Mississippi. And thus, like civilization, cholera, and the potatoe disease, it has taken its way westward. How it was brought to this country no one knows, but for a time wherever it appeared it nearly destroyed the bees. At first it was more fatal than it has been since, as the bees were taken completely by surprise, and were totally unprepared to resist ; but as with men so with bees, "new occasions teach new duties;" after recovering from the first panic, the bees set about fortifying their positions, and have ever since taken such precautions as, with the assistance of their owners, have enabled them in some measure to overcome the evil. If a swarm was reasonably strong, they might prosper; but woe to those who had lost their Queen, or from some other cause become reduced in numbers, the moth entered the hive, commenced its work, and the bees after a few days of contest, gave up in despair. Instead of flying from the hive with a merry song in pursuit of honey, they crawl sluggishly around the entrance as though some great calamity had overtaken them. Day after day they appear less in numbers, and soon they all disappear. Upon opening the hive, instead of finding the beauty, order and regularity described by Shakespeare, King Henry 5th, act 1, scene II :

"For so work the honey bees;

Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king, and officers of sorts:

Where some, like magistrates connect at home;

Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;

Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,

Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;

Which pillage they, with merry march, bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor:

Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;

The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy, yawning drone."

We find ruin, desolation, worms and filth. Huber and Bevan both remark that the moth is more likely to attack old swarms than new; but we have had more damage done to new swarms than old ones by this pest. A few years since we put a good swarm in a hive, and examined them every day (as should always be the case.) In about ten days, discovering indications of the moth, we immediately opened the hive at the bottom, and destroyed a number of worms; by doing this every morning for a week we succeeded in getting rid of them, and the hive has ever since been prosperous, and we believe they could be exterminated in this way. But by using the hive which we shall describe hereafter, the bee-keeper need have no fears of the moth. As we remarked previously, the neglect to swarm offers no objection to bee-keeping, for we can now multiply our swarms indefinately, whether the bees are inclined to swarm or not, and although it is a pleasant sight to the beekeeper to stand by a hive and see the bees crowding out to swarm, and filling the air with their merry gambols,

"See where with hurried step the impassioned throng
Pace o'er the hive, and seem with plaintive song

To invite their loitering Queen; now range the floor,
And hang in clustered columns from the door;
Or now in restless rings around they fly,-
No spoil they sip, nor load the hollowed thigh.
E'en the dull drone his wonted ease gives o'er,
Flaps the unwieldy wing, and longs to soar;
Up mounts the chief, and to the cheated eye
Ten thousand shuttles dart along the sky;
As swift through ether rise the rushing swarms,
Gay dancing to the beam their sunbright forms;
And each thin form still lingering on the sight

Trails, as it shoots, a line of silver light.

High poised on buoyant wing, the thoughtful Queen

In gaze attentive views the varied scene;

And soon her far-fetched ken discerns below

The light laburnum lift her polished brow,
Wave her green leafy ringlets o'er the glade,
And seems to beckon to her friendly shade.
Swift as the falcon's sweep, the monarch bends
Her flight abrupt; the following host descends
Round the fine twig, like clustered grapes they close
In thickening wreaths, and covert a short repose."

Evans.

Yet we are satisfied that to permanently increase our swarms

we must resort to

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING,

for if we depend on our natural swarms, unless we watch the hives during the swarming season, we shall lose a large portion of our swarms; for the time occupied by a swarm in leaving the hive and clustering, rarely occupies more than ten minutes, sometimes not half as long. Sometimes they leave the hive and fly some distance, and after they have gone or have clustered, there is nothing like an even chance of our knowing they have swarmed, even if we examine the hives; and for this reason, among others, bee-keepers for more than fifty years have experimented on artificial swarming. Till within a short time the process has been so complicated that it required more time and knowledge than the mass of the beekeepers had at their command. But thanks to the genius and experiments of Rev. L. L. Langstroth, (who formerly resided in our county,) the process is now so short and simple that any person keeping bees can accomplish it. Perhaps a relation of our own experience in this matter will here be in place. In 1861 we had a swarm which was hived in 1855, (a second swarm;) during the six years, it had filled the body of the hive, but had furnished us with neither swarms or honey. Having studied Langstroth's method, we invited a friend early in June to come and assist us in the "kill or cure" process. He gladly complied with the invitation, as he had a hive in about the same condition, but he did not believe we could succeed in making a swarm.

On a warm day, about 11 o'clock, when the bees were flying thick, we took the hive from the stand, carried it about twenty feet back and turned it bottom up, having previously stopped the entrance. We then placed a similar hive (empty) on the stand in its place, that the bees which were abroad might enter it; we then opened the bottom of the inverted hive, no bees flying out, as they were completely stupefied with fear; we placed a box the size of the hive on it, and tied a cloth around the joint to prevent any bees from getting out. We then drummed with sticks on the sides of the hive; after a few minutes' drumming, the bees commenced going up, and when we thought we had enough for a swarm-having a glass in the box covered with a slide-we removed the box, the bees clustering in the top like a natural swarm; we then having a sheet spread upon the ground, struck the box down upon the sheet, emptying the box entirely, and then sprinkled the bees with water from a watering pot to prevent their flying. Then placing a hive for them as for a natural swarm, we moved the old hive back to its place on the stand, so that any stray bees might enter it. Shaking the bees from the decoy hive, which we had placed temporarily on the stand, all the returning bees entered the old hive, none leaving. When the driven swarm had entered the new hive, which they did very kindly-it contained no comb or anything to entice them-we moved the old hive about thirty feet, and placed the new swarm where the old one had stood, and the process was complete, having occupied about forty minutes. So well satisfied was our incredulous friend, that he concluded to operate on his hive the next day if we would assist him. Now for the result. The new swarm went to work immediately, and in twelve days filled the hive, holding one bushel, and the same season gave us twenty lbs. of nice honey. The next season they threw off a very large swarm the 25th day of May, and two afterwards that

season.

The old swarm, after recovering from their depression occasioned by the loss of their queen, raised a new queen, became

as populous as before, and made thirty pounds of honey for our use that season. I dreaded the operation previous to doing it, as I had never seen anything of the kind, but it was very easy and a complete success. I have since done it alone several times, and it has always worked well; but I would advise every one who undertakes it for the first time to have assistance. This is certainly an easy method of making swarms; but easy as it is there is a way to do it much easier, and that is by using the

MOVABLE COMB HIVE,

invented and patented by Rev. L. L. Langstroth. In this hive all the comb is built in moveable frames, which are suspended from the upper part of the hive, and can be taken out and replaced with the utmost facility. Every one acquainted with bees knows that, if left to themselves, they build their combs in a very irregular manner; but in this hive, the combs are built with perfect regularity; we can have them made of any thickness, but it is best to have them all of one thickness, so that we may change them from one hive to another, thus-If we find in the month of November that one swarm has not honey enough to carry them through the winter, we can take two or three frames from a hive that has a surplus and put them in the weak hive in place of their empty frames; if we wish to make a swarm at the proper season, we take a few frames containing broad comb with the bees adhering, and put them in a new hive, and if we wish for more bees, shake a few from other frames, and we have a new swarm, as bees will never leave brood comb; they immediately raise a queen and go on with their work. To mention all the advantages of this hive would require considerable space; we think any beekec per examining it will be convinced that it is the hive. Langstroth, in his very valuable book, the "Hive and Honey Bee," gives sixty-one reasons why he considers his hive an improvement on the old fashioned hive, among them is his facility for getting rid of the moth. All we have to do when