338 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



A Battle Between Bees and Red Ants. 



C. NOEL EDDOWES. 



•^^N your December issue I noticed 

 Jl an article by Mr. H. E. Hill on 

 bee-keeping in the tropics. As I 

 have kept bees in the tropics for about 

 thirteen years, first as a hobby in the 

 north of the Argentine Republic, and 

 for five years in Jamaica for business, 

 I feel I can say something of value on 

 the subject. 



In the first place, bee-keepers from 

 the temperate zones seem to forget they 

 are in the tropics and try to manage 

 their bees as they do in the North. Ex- 

 perience has taught me that outside of 

 the fundamental facts of bee-keeping, 

 things are very different. 



Mr. Hill speaks of ants. T suppose 

 he refers to the red ant ; if so, I will 

 give my experience here. The red ant 

 trouble depends very much on the race 

 of bees you keep. I have found the 

 golden Italians, including those of four- 

 bands and upwards, are not as good at 

 fighting red ants as three-band Italians 

 or Carniolans. 



I had a colony of four-band Italians; 

 these bees when attacked by ants ran 

 into the hive and huddled together in a 

 frightened heap on the combs, leaving 

 the entrance free to the ants. 



Three-band Italians do not do this. 

 Carniolans are better. If some ants 

 get into a hive of Carniolans there is a 

 roaring fight on at once. The best bees 

 in my home apiary I find are a cross 

 between Carniolans and three-band Ital- 

 ians. 



I will give you a description of an 

 attack of red ants on these bees and 

 the result. 



THE B.\TTLE. 



One evening, after sundown, I went 

 to the apiary and saw some red ants 

 preparing for an attack. The moon- 



light was falling full on the front of 

 the hive, so I saw plainly. The ants 

 collected very quietly around the en- 

 trance, packed shoulder to shoulder right 

 around, until there must have been 

 over a thousand of them, when one of 

 the big fighting ants nipped a bee's 

 hind leg. The bee being of the sort 

 that is full of fight, turned round and 

 "sailed into" that ant, the result being 

 commotion. In an instant the bees of 

 that hive, instead of running in as the 

 four-band Italians did, came out and 

 blackened the front of the hive and 

 flight board and all the ants decamped, 

 the place being too hot for them. Next 

 night they tried it again with the same 

 result and then gave it up. 



BEES KILLING QUEENS. 



Another point I have learned at the 

 expense of the loss of many queens, 

 that is, that you cannot take honey here 

 from the bees by the New Mexican 

 way, for if you throw the bees onto 

 the top of the brood frames they will 

 get busy crowding down and balling 

 their queen. I lost many queens by 

 doing this till I found that it must not 

 be done here. 



I made the acquaintance of ]\Ir. W. 

 C. Morris when he was here, and if he 

 studies bee-keeping in the tropics and 

 does not try to manage bees on the 

 same lines as he does in Yonkers, N. 

 Y., he may hit upon some good notions, 

 as bee-keeping in the tropics is not so 

 far advanced as in the North. 



GOOD RESULTS OBT.MNED. 



As to results, I have got on an aver- 

 age — taking good and bad years — £l 

 per hive net ($5.00). I have to ship 

 my honey away, as local consumption 

 is practically "nil." I clear 4.7 cents 

 per pound net. 



