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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 15 



Temperance 



THE TEMPERANCE ATTITUDE OF GLEAN- 

 INGS. 



Wliile kind letters for the Home papers, 

 especially the temperance articles, are mat- 

 ters of daily occurrence — in fact, we often 

 get several of such in one day — once in a 

 great while we meet a bee-keeper who is 

 not in sympathy with temperance nor with 

 the temperance wave. I think it must be 

 almost if not quite a year since we have had 

 a letter like the one from the good brother 

 who sends the following: 



I just have received Geeanings for Oct. 1, and I 

 have reai your article on page 637, and have seen 

 that you are a strong prohibition man. That is 

 enough for me, and therefore send me your paper 

 no longer — not at all, not even a sample in future, 

 for I read no prohibition paper. I never any more 

 will see a number of your paper. Keep your prohibi- 

 tion paper for yourself. My subscription is just out 

 Oct. 1. I will be a free man, not bound by prohibi- 

 tion. Do you understand that? Respectfully, 



Altus, Ark., Oct. 6. Joseph Glanzmann. 



My good brother, while I believe in and 

 teach State-wide prohibition, I do not at 

 present belong to the Prohibition party. As 

 I understand it, the spirit of our great re- 

 public is to let the majority rule. If the 

 majority in any community want saloons, 

 I suppose they can have them or should 

 have them, as things are at present; and if 

 the majority prefer to have no saloons in 

 their midst or in their county, surely they 

 should be permitted to vote them out, and 

 in a like manner if the people of a whole 

 State should decide that they M'ant no liq- 

 uors nor liquor-traffic in that State, surely 

 the people should have the privilege of de- 

 barring them. I know that you people often 

 urge that it is unfair to make a large city 

 dry when the people of that city or county 

 by a majority decide to have it dry. Now, 

 this question is too large for the pages of 

 Gleanings. I will only suggest, however, 

 that where a county has to bear the expense 

 of the asylums and infirmaries that are 

 mainly peopled because of intemperance, 

 that county or State should certainly have 

 the privilege of overruling any county-seat 

 or great city. Please consider that the liq- 

 uor-trade is not an industry that builds up 

 any community. Am I not right? May 

 God help you, dear brother, to look at this 

 whole matter squarely and fairly and with- 

 out prejudice. 



ANTS, AND HOW TO GET RID OF THEM, ETC. 



In my hand is Bulletin No. 207, from 

 Berkeley, Cal., on the control of the Argen- 

 tine ant. This ant has proved to be so de- 

 structive in some parts of California that it 

 has decreased the valye of residence proper- 

 ty from 10 to 25 per cent. In California 

 there are about 40 separate colonies, from 

 one acre to nearly 2000 in extent. These 

 ants have already proven to be exreedingly 

 troublesome to bee-keepers; and this bulle- 

 tin says the directions for their extermina- 



tion will apply to all other varieties as well 

 as to this Argentine pest. We copy from 

 the bulletin as follows: 



WATER BARRIERS — CRESOL. 



Perhaps the best-known method of barring ants 

 out is the water barrier, such as is secured by setting 

 the table legs in cups of water. This is effective 

 against most ants; but the Argentine ant has no 

 difficulty in crossing water. Oil they can not pass, 

 but it is objectionable. We have found that the 

 addition of a very small amount of cresol, just 

 enough to make the water milky, renders water ef- 

 fective. The odor of cresol disappears in a day or 

 two, and the water will continue effective indefi- 

 nitely. The cresol has germicidal qualities that pre- 

 vent the water from becoming foul. Indeed, the 

 cresol water makes possible the development of a 

 system of ant-prooflng that is thoroughly practical 

 and efficient. 



DESTRUCTION OF NESTS WITH CARBON BISULPHIDE. 



In the above description we have referred to the 

 use of carbon bisulphide for the destruction of nests 

 of ants. In all the species where there are large 

 nests with a single oj^ening this is by far the most 

 satisfactory treatment. The plan is simply to pour 

 down a few ounces of carbon bisulphide, either in 

 the natural openings or in holes made by thrusting 

 in a crowbar and covering every thing with earth. 

 The gas formed by the evaporation of the carbon bi- 

 sulphide effectually destroys both young and old. 

 This method can be applied to any species where 

 the nest can be discovered: but in the case of the 

 Argentine species it becomes the least valuable of 

 any method, since the nests are usually scattered 

 almost everywhere over the whole surface of the 

 ground; and the treatment, to be effective, would 

 have to include the entire ground space for acres 

 about the house one intends to protect. 



ARSENICAL POISONING. 



We obtained by far the best results by the use of 

 a very weak solution cf arsenic and syrup. Most of 

 the commercial ant poisons commonly known as 

 ant jjastes consist of arsenic and syrup, but are made 

 very strong in arsenic. This kills the foraging ants 

 almost immediately. We found b5' reducing the ar- 

 senic to between one-fourth and one-eighth of one 

 per cent they would take large quantities of the ma- 

 terial to their nests and feed it to the young, and the 

 whole nest would be killed by a slow poisoning. 



The most convenient way of exposing the poison 

 to the ants is to use a large jar with a perforated 

 cover, and within it place a sponge saturated with 

 the ansenic solution. The ants will enter through 

 the perforations in the cover, fill themselves with 

 the arsenic solution, and carry it to their nests. 

 The sponge will hold enough poison to re(iuire two 

 or three weeks to empty it, and before that time 

 the ants will almost entirely disappear. 



The number of jars to use will depend upon the 

 abundance of ants. In the worst cases half a dozen 

 jars will serve for an ordinary private house and 

 lot; and if the ants are not very bad one jar may be 

 enough. In such cases it is well to place it in the 

 pantry or kitchen. 



The same remedy can be used for all the native 

 species of ants, and will be more effective against 

 them. 



• 



There is one species of ant that is exceed- 

 ingly troublesome on the island of Osprey, 

 Florida. The only remedy we found was to 

 keep chickens enough to keep them down. 

 Unless the chickens are permitted to be con- 

 stantly around the hives, these ants will 

 sometimes destroy strong colonies, and they 

 do it almost in a night. 



In regard to its attacks on bees we extract 

 the following: 



Its insidious attacks upon bee-hives has, at least 

 in one instance, put an amateur bee-keeper out of 

 business, and in two cases that have come to our 

 attention have become an equal menace in aviaries 

 by the attacks upon the nestlings; and, indeed, there 

 is considerable evidence that they will have an ap- 

 preciable effect upon native wild birds in the same 

 way. 



