| Show ANTS VS BEES many good cointa pot have been brought out through the agitation of tola this ant queSt question IOD abey have come as a new enemy or peet peat to the bue kepers in some localities within the last two or three beart hence some gome of our bee keepers have jost boet many of their bees before they woke up to the fact that too the ants were injuring their bees out ut of about wo two hundred bee beeke kepers pera that I 1 have visited this summer I 1 have found ants in from 20 to 26 places and in a lew few places they wb ware very troublesome I 1 visited one man three times and not until the ants had dt more than naif of his hers bees could I 1 convince him of the havoc they were making but he Is now keeping them triona off as I 1 haveard have and bt b says bay 8 that the leea are getting along all right while I 1 have not been able to find and anything yet that will exterminate them ent entirely troi I 1 have succeeded eded in keeping them from the hives hive by making stands to set get the hives on if the ground la is nearly level I 1 take six posts about a toot foot long with three cross pieces and two long scantling tor for each stand thou then I 1 paint a two inoh inch ring around each post I 1 first tseu tar but it dries too quick dowalter No walter waltor many t after putting on two or three costs of tar to form a boby I 1 used a mixture of about lard 8 10 axle grease 8 10 tar and a little ivr white lead the ants wona wont go over hie abie it will keep oft off a million as easy ft a one after afier it has hai had two wo or three costs coats it will keep them oil five or six elx weeks Booi ellmes without renew log ing it if it levery is very hot bog and there Is 1 lit ller tle or no shade add a little more tor tar and white lead since I 1 have used this mixture I 1 have nut but lost any bees with ants except ones once in a white while one that they may catch on the ground if they once got get hold of a bee they never lot let go while there is auy any life left then ants anta have been having things hinge pretty much their own way wai long enough we have a few red ants also some large flying ones but it is these little black polito pests that are a terror to our bees one kind la is less lees than i of an inch long the other is about 3 16 of an inch I 1 have heard that some one wrote iu in one of our bee time ago that the ants did riot not ii jure the bee because the bee carried them off this is a mistake while it is true that the bee often flies off with the ant the tho journey ends in the death of the bee the little villain that thai gets a free ride is ready for action wherever he way may laud land kume people think the bees have a tendency to spread the ants iu in this way one thing to is certain when they bouce auoe got get started in a hive they soon clean out the bees been if they are left alone and then they have a picnic carrying off the hooey honey of course eacle ant carriea but a small load but bui they generally get force enough to make short abort work of it while I 1 have millions of ants ante left yet that I 1 would be glad t dispose of at any price I 1 not think that I 1 have over one tenth as many as I 1 had last year I 1 have tried a greal many ciany things that I 1 have seen in print such as polso anu so forth I 1 have caught a great many with honey and water but the flies aiau afisu like it and crowd la in the pan or pail while the ants ante being of a greedy and pu pugnacious nature as they run abou arou around no the pal pail never miss a cnance to make mak a dash at the fly but they miss th the fly by and their hold at the same time lime I 1 have caught a mass of aunts half an inch thick thlu this way also many yellow I 1 jackets lokets a and ii d moths moth a there has been a great deal of complaint this year by some or of our bee keepers keeper of the destruction caused by those geilow jackera crets or wasps and also of the moth neither of those these posts heuts can do any harm if the swarms of bees aro are all strong especially if the entrance to the hive is curtailed to about three fourths 0 an inch I 1 had a weak swarm the tho first of any which were attacked by these there yellow jackets I 1 saw that to th latter were getting the best belt of the fight when I 1 examined the hive I 1 found the bees eshad hail a fertile worker but no queen I 1 stuck them into another hive then the yellow jackets tried their best beat to 10 get into the other hives but without success the few that did succeed in getting in were soon eoon killed and carried out again the only advantage the yellow jacs eta edff have is in that they get abou arou around ad earlier I 1 in the morning than the bees but it the bees been are strong they will soon get rid of them but return rei urn to the ants ante again ibave I 1 have had the best beat success with boiling water and burning with coal oil slacked lime aiau coal ashes are good to spread round around to keep the ants away brombe vicinity of the hives while we have auts auto here in utah our friend dato I 1 of california knocks us out entirely botti for size and quantity we gracefully surrender our claim and wish mr dayton success in his efforts to exterminate them E 8 |
