THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



53 



Ants in the Apiary. 



BY MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



The question was asked at the Inter- 

 national Bee Association, "What would 

 keep ants from eating up the bottom 

 boards of hives ?" Two persons ans- 

 werad : "To paint the bottom of the 

 hives with hot coal tar, also to sprinkle 

 the ground with powdered corrosive 

 sublimate." 



I will give a little of our experience 

 in the former part of our bee-keeping. 



We found the little red and black 

 ants quite trjoublesome, not so much 

 to the bees as to ourselves. The little 

 black ants would run up the corners 

 of the hives and rear immense 

 numbers of young on top of the brood 

 nest, between the quilts if there was 

 a double quilt on top of the bees. In 

 that case we would gather up the 

 quilts as quickly as possible and run 

 out of the apiary with them and beat 

 them off, killing as many as we could, 

 being careful not to let them run up 

 our sleeves as they pinched very 

 annoy ingly. We returned, put on 

 quilt or a board and usually not many 

 would return. Sometimes we would 

 find a small cluster in the dummy 

 by the side of the brood nest. 



But the great annoyance was in 

 their building immense hills uuder the 

 alighting board and the hive, until 

 the hives were imbedded, and if left 

 long enough dirt would be carried in- 

 to the hive. We sowed 'their hills 

 many times with large quantities of 

 salt, which seemed to do no good. I 

 think they picked it up and carried it 

 away, and as this happened at an out 

 apiary we did not like to bother to get 

 hot water to i-cald them. They became 

 very troublesome. 



Some of the mounds would be in 

 or near the center of the apiary where 

 we wanted the hives to remain. 



When we would remove the alight- 

 ing board on the hive ho as to disturb 

 their nests, they would attack the bees, 

 two or more ants hanging to each bee, 

 which seemed to put them in agony, 

 and they would fly around and around 

 in a circle, seemingly unable to arise 

 from the ground for a moment. The 

 bees seemed afraid of them and would 

 scatter or cluster very quickly when 

 there were many ants. If there were 

 but few the bees would pick them up 

 and fly away with them. 



We found to mix London purple or 

 Paris green through their nests under 

 the alighting board and hives, would, 

 for a while, destroy the most of them, 

 but as it is very poisonous great care 

 should be taken not to use it where 

 the bees could get to it, as it would 

 stick to their limbs and might be 

 tracked over the combs. I should 

 think insect powder would be safer to 

 use, poisonous to insects but not to 

 birds and animals or any creature 

 with lungs. 



The best way to drive ants away 

 was to raise the hive entirely from the 

 ground by putting a brick under each 

 corner, and dispense with alighting 

 boards that touch the ground, except 

 in swarming time. For a while they 

 would work around the bricks, but not 

 badly. Ants are much worse in old 

 orchards or woods where there is de- 

 caving roots and stumps of trees. 



If it was not for the danger of loos- 

 ing our clipped queens when the bees 

 swarm we would dispense with alight- 

 ing boards that reach to the ground 



