1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



433 



them, the source of all the trouble ; but in Cal- 

 ifornia this may not be practicable, and, more- 

 over, the nest may be inaccessible, or, to coin 

 a word, not " findable." Certain red ants, 

 very small ones, in this country have a fash- 

 ion of making a way into the pantries of the 

 housewives ; and it is sometimes very difficult 

 if not impossible to find their nests. Giving 

 them a mixture of syrup and any one of the 

 poisons you name, would probably " fix 'em" 

 — the visitors as well as their baby brothers 

 and sisters. It would be well worth trying, 

 anyhow. 



I said it was our recommendation to find 

 the nest and destroy it. With a crowbar or 

 sharp stick make two or three holes ; and if 

 the nest is a large one make three or four 

 through the nest about a foot deep. Into each 

 hole pour about a tablespoonful of bisulphide 

 of carbon, then stop each hole with a plug of 

 earth. In a day or two, not only the ants but 

 the nest, including all the eggs and larvae, will 

 be " fixed " so they will do no more harm. 



Hearing recently that gasoline and coal oil 

 would answer in place of the dangerous bisul- 

 phide of carbon, — dangerous because it is so 

 explosive — I la.ely tiied several nests, making 

 holes in them, but using larger quantities of 

 coal oil in some cases and gasoline in others. 

 Either liquid I found would cestroy the nest, 

 but not so quickly and perhaps not so surely 

 as the bisulphide. If the holes are made a 

 foot deep, and three or four tablespoonfuls of 

 kerosene are put in each hole, the grass prob- 

 ably will not be killed. But if any of the 

 liquids are spilled or poured on top of the nest 

 the grass will be killed, leaving a great brown 

 spot. 



With regard to pure-food legislation, while 

 I partly agree with you it strikes me that Mr. 

 Abbott's method, or the plan recommended by 

 the pure-food congress that recently met in 

 Washington to do away with the adulterations 

 in food, is much more practicable. We should 

 all be very glad if the making of glucose could 

 be prohibited absolutely. If it is used for any 

 honest purpose, and if it is ever sold for what 

 it is, in a retail way, then I should like to 

 know when and where ; but if we would de- 

 stroy an evil, we can not always do it with one 

 fell swoop. To attempt to prohibit its manu- 

 facture at this stage of the fight would delay 

 legislation for years to come, as the makers of 

 it with their millions could put up a powerful 

 lobby that would probably kill any bill calcu- 

 lated to annihilate their interests. 



It is much more feasible at present to pass a 

 law that will prevent the selling of certain food 

 stuffs except under their real names. If the 

 bottle or package containing glucose must be 

 labeled " glucose," there will be little demand 

 for the article, because consumers, if they 

 knew what they were ' buying, would let it 

 alone. 



Do not, for the sake of pure food just now, 

 attempt to throw cold water on the intelligent 

 efforts that have already been put forth. Let 

 us take what we ca?i get rather than try to get 

 too much anil get nothing. 



Your scheme of requiring that a government 

 stamp should be placed on all glucose mix- 



tures may be all right ; if so, its advocacy 

 comes too late. Better get behind and push 

 the ball that has already started to rolling. 



If I could have my way I would have alco- 

 hol in every form wiped off the face of the 

 earth. True, it has some legitimate and prop- 

 per uses in the arts ; but so far as I am con- 

 cerned I could easily forego its legitimate use 

 for the sake of forestalling absolutely the aw- 

 ful abuses of it; but experience teaches us that 

 the only way to fight a gigantic evil of this 

 kind is to cripple and curtail it little by little 

 here and there in various ways. — Ed.] 



THINGS WORTH KNOWING. 



Modern Appliances vs. Old. 



BY MRS. A. J. BARBER. 



since the beginning of the new year I have 

 been looking back over the nine years that I 

 have been with the bees, and taking stock, so 

 to speak, of the points that I have proved to 

 my own satisfaction. I have been in the bee- 

 business, first, because it was necessary that I 

 should have some money-making business 

 that I could attend to while caring for my 

 home and family ; and, second, because I 

 loved the work, and felt sure that I could do 

 better in it than any thing else that would not 

 require more capital to begin with. 



In the nine years I have never had a failure. 

 Last year was a short crop. There was a long 

 drouth, and water failed for irrigation. We 

 had not quite 9000 lbs. of both comb and ex- 

 tracted honey from 130 colonies, spring count. 



Now, the points that I have proved to my- 

 self are these: 



That careful, patient work and management 

 are essential to success. 



That comb and extracted honey can be pro- 

 duced with profit from the same apiary at the 

 same time. 



That the wax and vinegar may be made to 

 pay the cash expenses of such an apiary. 



That with the exercise of a little ingenuity 

 and forethought two apiaries of from 150 to 

 200 colonies of bees can be managed by a wo- 

 man and a little boy, with but very little oth- 

 er help except in hive-making or nailing up 

 fixtures. 



That one who makes a business of bee-keep- 

 ing should take all the best bee-papers and 

 keep up with the times. 



That the person who depends on luck gen- 

 erally has bad luck. 



I have proved, in an experience of six years 

 as inspector of bees for this county, that the 

 treatment of foul brood can not be made too 

 thorough, and that the best use to make of 

 honey from infected colonies is to burn it or 

 bury it very deeply. 



I have also settled the hive question, for 

 myself at least. The eight-frame Dovetailed 

 is my choice. I have followed the Roots, and 

 have adopted all their improvements but the 

 new supers and plain sections. I am still us- 

 ing the supers, sections, and section-holders 

 that were the latest thing in 1890, when I be- 

 gan bee-keeping. 



