THE AMERICAISl BEE JOURNAL. 



169 



of the bee-fever, on the road to rear a 

 queen, in wliicli he lias succeeded, and 

 he is consequently well pleased. 

 Sydney, Australia, Jan. 19, 1882. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How to Deal Witli Ants. 



DR. G. L. TINKER. 



The small reddish ants that may be 

 found almost anywhere burrowing in 

 the ground, are a very troul)lesoine 

 pest to the bees. Although they do 

 little real mischief in warm weather 

 they are great depredators of the hives 

 in cool weather when the bees cannot 

 tly, forming long lines from their 

 nests to the hives with every return- 

 ing ant filled with honey. 



Two years since I noticed on a warm 

 April day a great ado among the ants. 

 In fact tlie ant queens were all com- 

 ing out of their lioles for a wedding 

 flight. They were about Jg inch long, 

 some witli, and some without wings. 

 They were reddish like the worker 

 ants and Hew about rather clumsily. 

 The ant drones which had preceded 

 the queens in coming out were small 

 blackish winged ants and inclined to 

 gather over little grassy plats about 3 

 feet from the ground wliere the air 

 would be swarming with them. 



Finding the queens mating with the 

 drones after the usual fashion of in 

 sects, it occurred to me if 1 would kill 

 them the annihilation would be about 

 as effectual as to destroy the queens 

 of the hive bees. I got a hoe and be- 

 gan to dig into a nest and found that 

 but few had yet come out and tlie 

 greater number were being nursed 

 and made ready by the workers with- 

 in two or three inches of the surface. 

 As the nests were easy to lind 1 bad 

 in the course of two hours killed a 

 great many hundred of them. Some 

 nests had only a few and some over 50 

 queens. 



The ant nuisance was immediately 

 abated and there were few to be seen 

 about the hives the following sum- 

 mer. Last spring I found only a few 

 nests and treated them with like re- 

 sults. Two or three boys might 

 easily clear out the ants from an acre 

 of ground in one afternoon, as the ant 

 queens only come out from 12 m. to 4 

 p. m. 



Two years ago the queens came out 

 about the 1st of April, but last siuing 

 not until the middle of April. They 

 may be looked for after the lirst two 

 or three days of hot sunsliine to warm 

 up the soil in the early part of April. 

 The lirst indication of the queens com- 

 ing, out will be the little clouds of 

 swarming drones. 



New rhiladelphia, O. 



For the American Bee Joamal. 



High Fence Around the .4piary. 



WM. C. CASSON. 



I have been very much interested 

 in Mr. Iledilon's articles on e.xtracted 

 honey until he came to that high 

 board ffiicf. to surrcuind the apiary, 

 and if Mr. lleddon will bear criticis- 



ing I shall object to that, and will 

 give my reasons why. It is a hin- 

 drance to tlie loaded bee on return- 

 ing home. 



When the bees emerge from the 

 hive and go in search of honey, they 

 will lind no trouble in scaling that 

 high fence. But in the middle of a 

 warm day, in cloudy, cool, windy 

 days, and just at the close of the day, 

 when they tly so slow and low, being 

 loaded down, often tacking to the 

 right and left, against a strong wind — 

 then to raise over the high fence, just 

 as they reach home, is a little too 

 much. 



In the month of April when our 

 little busy workers go forth and find 

 the lirst pollen, they are very eager 

 and will stay out until quite cool, to- 

 ward the close of the day. Any ob- 

 struction just as they begin to hover, 

 for a. place to alight, may cause them 

 to drop, which ends their day, for be- 

 fore morning they are gone. 



I liave one hive which is shaded by 

 my house after 4 o'clock, and I have 

 often picked up 40 bees from the 

 ground within 1 foot of the hive <ivith 

 their legs loaded down with pollen, 

 warmed them u)>. and had the pleas- 

 ure of seeing them go liome rejoicing. 



In the month of April bees are of 

 more importance than at any other 

 time in the year. A few bees in early 

 spring bear about the same I'atio to 

 success as seed potatoes do to the 

 whole crop. Our hives should be all 

 provided with slanting boards from 

 the front to the ground, so that all 

 that fail to alight can crawl up. 



Suppose that some authorities 

 should surround our homes with a 

 higli fence and provide steps up one 

 side and down the other and oblige 

 us to carry everything, even our wood 

 and water, overit. liow would we like 

 it? ,\Ir. H. may say we cannot fly; 

 this is true, but we can walk and 

 carry a burden up hill just as well as 

 they. 



Another objection is appearance. 

 The apiary should be a thing of beauty 

 — an ornament to llie naighborhood, 

 in which it is located. 



If Mr. II. should surround his apiary 

 with that higli fence, people as they 

 pass by may say Mr. H. has become a 

 bull tamer, or keeps the town pound. 



Addison, N. Y. 



Stl^I&^MMOM 



^'i/R'i£Tntf{i 



mxrx' 



New Foundation.— Seeing an article 

 by J. W. Porter, in the I5ee Journal 

 on " Fresh iNlade Comb Foundation," 

 let me say that my experience, and 

 that of a large number of other bee- 

 keei)ers, is decidedly in accordance 

 with Mr. Porter's views of the mat- 

 ter. So thoroughly convinced am I 

 of this, that I use no surjilus founda- 

 tion over 2 weeks, and no brood foun- 

 dation over .3 weeks old. This I know 

 entails considerable extra expense, 

 because it brings all the work, when 

 my apiary needs me, yet I know that; 

 the quality of the foundation more 



than pays for the extra cost. There is- 

 also a proper time to roll the sheets- 

 into foundation, and the fact is, that 

 the making of gooTl foundation is not 

 childs' play. T. L. Von Uoun. 



Omaha, Neb. 



(Jatliering Pollen. — Bees in this sec- 

 tion of Ohio are in jiriine condition;. 

 I have lost none. I put all but two In 

 my winter bee house on Dec. 31, 1881, 

 and put them out Feb. 14. My bees- 

 gathered their lirst pollen on Feb. 27. 

 I find plenty of brood in all stages. I 

 have 67 colonies all in good condition. 

 Leonid AS Cakson. 



Frederick, O., March 10, 1882. 



Forty-six Days Earlier. — There has- 



not been more" than 6 inches of snow 

 here this winter, if it had all been 

 added together. The coldest day 

 through the winter was .January 17th, 

 the mercury went down to 8- below 

 zero. It did not remain so long, for 

 the bees had frequent flights through 

 each month of tlie winter. I packed 

 26 colonies in straw and chaff, and 8 

 in a bank cave last November. All 

 wintered well. They carried in the 

 first pollen that I took notice of 

 March 2d. That was 46 days earlier 

 than they did last spring. There are 

 no Cyprian or Palestine bees in this 

 part "of the country. 

 Palmyra, Pa. "Hibert Clabk. 



Prospect Never Better. — Bees are 

 Wintering well, both in doors and out ; 

 and if those out do not come througn 

 safely it will not be from a lack of 

 "purifying flights." The weather has 

 been so mild that there was scarcely a 

 week in which they could not fly. Of 

 course. March and April must tell the 

 story of our wintering, but our bees 

 are all well now, and we think they 

 will come through "booming" from 

 present appearances. Certainly the 

 prospect was never better at this sea- 

 son. U. S. Burt. 



Brecksville, O., March 9, 1882. 



Returning Combs with Pollen. — I 



have a number of combs, extracted 

 last fall, which contain a great deal of 

 pollen. Will this pollen be cleaned 

 out by the bees, when I give tlie combs 

 back to them as soon as they can fly 

 freely, or is it not advisable to give 

 such combs to the bees V Will such 

 old pollen probably injure the beeg 

 and brood V Please answer in Bee 

 Journal. W. S. 



Grand Island, Neb. 



[Unless moldy, soured, or very hard, 

 give them to the bees. They will be 

 a valuable assistance in building up. 

 — Ed.J 



Wants a Queen Early.— I have a colo- 

 ny of Ijees the queen in which is un- 

 fertilized. Wherecan I getone about 

 the 1st of April V I have black bees, 

 and wish to Italianize them. 



Holland, Mich. M. Pei.on. 



[By referring to our advertising 

 columns you will get the desired in- 

 formation. — Ed.] 



