164 



INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1903. 



REMEDIES FOR ANTS. 



V\n- treatment of large ant hills, see page 105. 



Gardeners, bee keepers and others are frequently unneces- 

 sarily alarmed at the presence of ants, ascribing injuries to them 

 of which they are not guilty. For instance, ants in our judg- 

 ment do not injure peonies, albeit they are seen on the stems and 

 buds sometimes in large numbers. A sweet "varnish"' covering 

 the buds attracts them, and as far as I can observe they very 



Fig. 102. — "Ants do not injure peonies." 



rarely bite the petals. • Nor need the bee keeper be annoyed, or- 

 dinarily, by observing ants going in and out of his beehives, pro- 

 vided that the colonies of bees so visited are not weak. The ants 

 seek the home of their cousins, the bees, for the sake of the 

 warmth of the hive, rarely, according to the observations of prac- 

 tical bee keepers, touching the honey. The bees, jealous of their 

 store, are quite able to make the ants cry for quarter should the 

 latter take undue liberties. 



