378 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



November 



fluids will enter. The problem is to 

 find when this takes place. So far 

 we have been unable to determine 

 this point. 



Our results would indicate that if 

 the mating of queen bees is to be 

 controlled it must be done in some 

 other way than the one followed by 

 us. 



University Farm, St. Paul, Mmn. 



Argentine Ant 



By W. A.Pryal. 



CALIFORNIA had lots of good 

 things, in fact, there were no 

 bad features about the State, it 

 may be said, until it became civilized. 

 Don't understand me to intimate that 

 the State has no good things now; it 

 has, and "slathers" of them, but, as 

 has been too often the case, the in- 

 troduction of a better life has 

 brought a corresponding lot of trou- 

 ble. This we have seen in the islands 

 of the Pacific, where the introduction 

 of clothes, for one thing, has a fatal 

 effect, so to speak, upon the natives. 

 And in this country, as the natives 

 were not able to live up to the ways 

 of the whites, it rather caused them 

 to cease living, as we know. 



In bringing to our shores plants, 

 fruit and merchandise from foreign 

 shores, to cater to the modern wants 

 of our population, we have, unfortu- 

 nately, brought in a lot of evil. Leav- 

 ing out maladies of the human flesh, 

 when the dread microbe is brought 

 in contact with it, we have numerous 

 insect pests that came across the 

 seas and are now doing irreparable 

 damage to our crops. These pests 

 were not purposely introduced, but 

 smuggled their way here accidentally 

 in importations of one thing or an- 

 other. Thus we have what is called 

 the San Jose scale, the great pest 

 preying upon many fruit trees. It 

 has been wrongly called after the 

 fair California city, where it was first 

 discovered in this country, when it 

 should, I believe, have been named 

 after China, from whence it came. 

 And there are others. 



Yes, now we have the Argentine 

 ant, which was brought here by way 

 of New Orleans. It is overrunning 

 the whole State and householders 

 have a hard time fighting it, as it is 

 far more of a nuisance than the com- 

 mon little black ant. They live with- 

 out the house, usually in the earth. 

 But if one gets into your house and 

 finds food to its liking, it will be only 

 a short time before there will be 

 swarms of them in the pantry or 

 ■ kitchen cooler. This ant is smaller 

 than the well-known black house 

 ant; it is more lively, and is ever- 

 lastingly foraging. It seems as if it 

 is all nerves and its main duty in 

 this world is to hunt food. When 

 killed or "squashed" it does not emit 

 a pungent odor, as does the common 

 ant; an odor which makes the killing 

 of the latter ant, about a beehive the 

 signal for the bees to become irate 

 and go pell mell for everything with- 

 in reach and sting promiscuously. 



I have found this formula for their 

 extermination effective: One pound 



of sugar dissolved in a quart of water 

 to which 125 grains of arsenate of 

 soda is added. This should be boiled 

 and strained, and when cooled used 

 to saturate sponges, which are then 

 set in the ants' runs. It is best to 

 put the bait in empty cans that have 

 small holes punched in them, so that 

 only the little ants may enter. The 

 poison is dangerous and should be 

 kept out of the way of animals and 

 bees. I have used one-half honey 

 and one-half sugar instead of the 

 amount of sugar above mentioned. 



In a recent issue, the Rural New 

 Yorker recommends this : "Equal 

 parts of sugar and tartar emetic 

 moistened with water, placed in shal- 

 low, small dishes, outdoors or in the 

 house, will attract ants for two rods. 

 They eat today and die tomorrow." 

 This is a poison and care should be 

 used, as with the arsenate of soda. 



On a visit to Mr. J. E. Wing, a 

 queen-breeder in Santa Clara County, 

 this State, I wondered at the way he 

 had his hives suspended. He told me 

 the Argentine ants bothered the bees, 

 especially in the queen-rearing hives. 

 It was the first time I had seen these 

 insects. Now they are common even 

 where I live, near the Oakland- 

 Berkeley line. Timbers 2x4 or 3x4- 

 inch are set upright in the ground to 

 the height of three or four feet and 

 at distances apart to suit the weight 

 that they are to carry. A cross piece 

 of sufficient strength is nailed on to 

 form a cross so that wire may be 

 dropped from the end of each arm. 

 This wire is then used to support 

 scantling which carries the hives, as 

 shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion. Care has to be taken that the 

 hives do not touch the uprights or 

 that grass or other obstructions do 

 not come, in contact with the carrier 

 or its freight. The "scaffold" is sim- 

 ple and effective. I presume some- 

 thing should be done to "offensive" 

 the wires, else, should the ants find 

 their way down, they would soon be 

 coming in droves. These ants are the 

 greatest foragers of the ant tribe, 

 and if there is food about they will 



soon find it, if it is accessible. So, 

 beware. 



Oakland, Calif. 



Sweet Clover in the 

 west 



North- 



By R. A. Morgan. 



I STARTED in the bee business 

 in the year 1870, in Buffalo Coun- 

 ty, Wisconsin, and since that 

 time have had all the ups and downs 

 of the business. I feel now that bee- 

 keeping has emerged from that nar- 

 row field of activity into its real 

 sphere. This change has come to 

 stay, and I am going to point out one 

 of the causes, at least. 



In 1886 I moved from Wisconsin to 

 Dakota Territory, and for ten years 

 the honey I got was a mixture of 

 dandelion, milkweed and goldenrod. 

 White clover was unknown here and 

 alfalfa was in its infancy. 



In 1890 a young man by the name 

 of Thomas Chantry came to Vermil- 

 lion from Iowa. We talked over the 

 honey problems of this northwest. 

 Mr. Chantry suggested introducing 

 sweet clover into this region. We de- 

 cided to try it from Sioux City north- 

 west toward Yankton. 



We sowed the seed along the roads 

 at night. Sweet clover was considered 

 a noxious weed by some of the farm- 

 ers, but there was one man, M. L. 

 Mikelson, who had 600 acres of land 

 near Meckling, South Dakota, who 

 stood up for sweet clover. He de- 

 clared it to be the best forage and 

 honey plant known. He was to do 

 our experimenting, Mr. Chantry was 

 to sow the seed and I was to try to 

 make myself heard. I talked with 

 the editor of the Dakota Farmer and 

 was informed that the bee business 

 had not advanced enough as yet to 

 be worthy of consideration. So I 

 wrote a few articles for the Poultry 

 Journal of Mitchell, South Dakota, 

 and later for the Dakota Farmer. 



In 1907 I visited Washington, D. C, 

 and while there called on Dr. Phil- 

 lips and talked the matter over with 



CIRCUMVENTING THE ARGENTINE ANTS. 



