1.58 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



entrance. As the bees increased, they be- 

 gan to show a decided aversion to having 

 two families in the same honse although the 

 unts were evidently inclined to be peaceable 

 enough, until the bees tried to "push " mat- 

 ters when they turned about and showed 

 themselves fully able to hold possession. 

 The bees seemed to be studying over the 

 matter for awhile and iinally I found them 

 one day taking the ants one by one and car- 

 lying them high up in the air aiui letting 

 them drop at such a distance from their 

 home that they would surely never be able 

 to walk back again. The bees, as fast as 

 they became good strong colonies, drove the 

 ants out, and our experience ever since, has 

 been that a good colony of bees is never in 

 any danger of being troubled in the least by 

 ants. One weak colony after battling awhile 

 with a strong nest of the ants, swarmed out, 

 l)ut they might have done this any way, so 

 we do not lay much blame to the ants. 



Ants frequently kill the young grape vines, 

 and young plants and trees of different 

 kinds, and it may be well therefore to know 

 how to get rid of them pleasantly and easily. 

 I really can not feel like recommending 

 boiling water, if we can get along otherwise, 

 besides the danger of killing our vines, &c., 

 by its use. It is well known that where 

 things do not please them, they are much 

 disposed to "pull up stakes" and "ab- 

 scond " very much in the way the bees do, 

 and the simplest way we know of inducing 

 them to do this, is to sprinkle powdered bo- 

 rax about their hills. After the first rain, 

 you will see them forming a "caravan" lug- 

 ging their larvae, stores. «S:c., to a i)lace where 

 they are not annoyed by the disagreeable 

 soapy borax. Spots in our apiary where 

 they have been on hand every season for 

 years, have been permanently vacated after 

 (»ne application of this simple remedy. If 

 they make troublesome "trains" running 

 into the pantry, honey house, cS:c., you are 

 to follow them them to to their nest, and 

 there ai)ply the borax. As I have said be- 

 fore, I have not been able to discover that 

 ants have any particular liking for honey, 

 and! should take very little trouble to drive 

 them away, unless they got into the liquid 

 honey and got drowned or something of that 

 kind. By making their Jiabits and instincts 

 a careful study, we shall probably get at the 

 readiest means of banishing them, and we 

 may also discover that they are no enemy 

 after all, as has often. been the case with 

 many of the insect and feathered tribes, 

 l^et us try Lo be as neighbitrly as we c:in con- 



sistently, with all these wonderful little 

 creat\u"es, that in a certain sense are fellow 

 travellers in this world of ours. 



ARTiriCIAL FASTURAGIS. Al- 

 though there is quite a trade springing up 

 in seeds and plants to be cultivated for their 

 honey alone, and although we have about 

 4000 young basswood trees of our own, 

 growing finely and promising to be the basis 

 of a honey farm at some future time, yet we 

 can at present give little encouragement to 

 those who ex\)ect to realize money by such 

 investments. .There is certainly, a much 

 greater need of taking care of the honey 

 that is almost constantly wasting just for 

 lack of bets to gather it. A held of buck- 

 wheat will i»erhaps occasionally yield enough 

 honey to pay the expense of sowing, as it 

 comes in at a time when the bees in many 

 places would get little else ; and if it does 

 not pay in honey, it certainly will in grain. 

 If one has the money, and can afford to run 

 the risk of a failure, it is a fine thing to 

 make some accurate experiments, and it 

 may be that a farm of one or two hundred 

 acres, judiciously stocked with honey bear- 

 ing plants, trees and grains, would be a suc- 

 cess financially. It has been, much talked 

 about, but none si) far as we knov.', have 

 ever put the idea in practice. To beginners 

 we would say : plant and sow all you can 

 that will be sure to i>ay. aside from the hon- 

 ey crop, and then if (hat is a success, you 

 will be so much aliead ; but beware of in- 

 vesting much in seeds that are for plants 

 l)roducing honey and nothing else of value. 

 Alsike. and white Dutch clover, buckwheat, 

 rape, nnistard and the like, it will do to in- 

 vest in ; but catnip, mignonette. Rocky 

 mountain l)ee plant, etc., etc., we would at 

 present handle rather sparingly. It should 

 be borne in mind that we can hardly test a 

 plant, unless we have one or more aerea of it 

 in blof)m, and that small patches do little 

 more than to demonstrate that the blossoms 

 contain some honey, giving us very little 

 clue to eitlier (juantity or i|nality. Bees will 

 work OH l)l()ssoms, and at times with great 

 apparent industry, when they are obliged to 

 make hunih'eds of visits and consume hours 

 of time, in getting a single load; we there- 

 fore should be intimately acquainted with 

 the interior of the liive, as well as the 

 source from whicli the bees are obtaining 

 the honey, before we can decide what is 

 profitable lo sow as a honey plant. 



By way of encouragement, we may say 

 that l)oth plants and trees xmder thorougli 

 cultivation, yield ho'.iey in nuich larger 



