AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



Official Report of Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of Patent Office, for 1859-60. 



Soon after Mr. Mahan was refused a 

 commission as aforesaid, he sailed on a 

 voyage to visit Dr. Dzierzon and the 

 Baron of Berlepsch, and obtained Ital- 

 ian queens of both these noted apiarists. 

 On his return homeward, he shipped his 

 bees and took passage in the vessel in 

 which were a few colonies of bees for- 

 warded by Dzierzon, as per order of 

 "Wagner and Colviii. Mr. Mahan suc- 

 ceeded in landing the first living Italian 

 bees that ever buzzed on the Amerian 

 Continent — and he was the first who 

 bred Italian queens in America. He re- 

 turned from Germany in September, 

 1859. The Wagner and Colvin bees 

 did not survive the winter of 1859-60. 



Mr. Mahan continued to hall from 

 Philadelphia until late in 1861, and I 

 had relations with him as late, I think, 

 as 1862. I lost sight of him while en- 

 gaged in army matters, and have sup- 

 posed that he died. 



Mr. Huntington, it must be, is also 

 mistaken in his mention of Mr. Lang- 

 stroth being a resident of New Jersey in 

 1859 — the year after he removed from 

 Greenfield, Mass., to Oxford, Ohio. Mr. 

 Langstroth mentioned In the American 

 Bee Journal, page 82, 1881, that he 

 "called upon Mr. Mahan on my way" 

 en route from Oxford to Flushing, N. Y., 

 via Philadelphia, "he [Mr. Mahan] be- 

 ing joint owner with me of a large in- 

 terest in my patent hive. He gave me a 

 graphic account of his visit to the apiary 

 of the Baron von Berlepsch, from whom 

 he obtained a queen." He "obtained" 

 a few queens, as I have said, of Ber- 

 lepsch and Dzierzon. 



Be it ever remembered that Mr. 

 Phineas J. Mahan was the first who 

 made a voyage to Europe expressly to 

 obtain Italian bees, and brought them 

 hither — the first to land them on this 

 continent alive, and the first who bred 

 Italian queens in this country ; and he 

 was the inciter of the undertaking in 

 founding the current American Bee 

 Journal. 



Eichford, N. Y. 



How to Destroy Burrowing Animals. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY A. C. TYRREL. 



Mrs. Atchley desires to know how to 

 "rid her apiary of skunks." Trapping 

 has been recommended as the "best 

 way," but every one knows, who has 



trapped or shot the " varmints," that 

 the perfume emitted when they are thus 

 killed is more pungent, penetrating and 

 lasting than Lundborg's celebrated ex- 

 tracts. If she knows where the animals 

 burrow, asphyxiate them with bisulphide 

 of carbon, which is the cheapest, sim- 

 plest and most effective method yet de- 

 vised for destroying the pests, and all 

 other burrowing animals. The method 

 of using it as recommended in the report 

 of the Secretary of Agriculture for 

 1892, briefly stated, is as follows: 



"About three table-spoonfuls for prai- 

 rie-dogs, or two table-spoonfuls for sper- 

 mophiles, should be poured upon a bunch 

 of rags or waste, which should be imme- 

 diately placed within the mouth of the 

 burrow, and the burrow closed. (Crude 

 bisulphide is much cheaper and better 

 than the pure article.) Care should be 

 taken in using it, as it is both inflamma- 

 ble and explosive. 



" Its efficacy depends on the fact that 

 its vapor is heavier than air, and when 

 introduced into burrows, flows like water 

 into all the recesses. This fact should 

 be borne in mind in using it on sloping 

 ground or in cases where there is reason 

 to suppose that the holes contain water, 

 as unless the poison is introduced at the 

 highest opening of the burrow, a certain 

 part of the hole will remain free from it, 

 and here the animal may take refuge. 

 If the holes contain water, this may act 

 as a water-trap, preventing the diffusion 

 of the vapor." 



As to the above being an effective 

 method of destroying prairie-dogs, I can 

 testify of my own knowledge. A friend 

 in two seasons succeeded in depopulat- 

 ing a large "prairie-dog town" on his 

 farm, and I believe there is not a dog 

 alive to-day on the premises. This land 

 now produces good crops, which but a 

 few years ago was overrun by dogs and 

 rattle-snakes. 



It has proved to be "a safe and an ef- 

 fectual means of putting an end to the 

 constantly Increasing inroads of the 

 ground-squirrel upon the grain-fields of 

 the State" (California), says Prof. E. W. 

 Hilgard, of the University of California, 

 who originated the bisulphide method of 

 destroying burrowing mammals. 



Gardeners, bee-keepers and others in 

 this State, who have had their gardens, 

 orchards and vineyards destroyed by 

 pocket-gophers, will find speedy relief if 

 the remedy be properly applied — the B. 

 Carbon route to the happy burrowing 

 grounds will not fail. 



Farmers can kill prairie-dogs, wolves, 

 rabbits and ground-squirrels much more 



