THE CLEVER FAMILY OF ANTS 59 



So far as we know, these ants were the very 

 first gardeners in the world, and very good 

 gardeners they are. They are very particular 

 in the care of their mushrooms. They plant the 

 slips just the right distance apart to give each 

 room to grow. They never let the parasol grow 



After Wheeler 



Fig. 26. Food mushrooms from the A tta gardens 



out at the top of the mushroom stalk. The stalk 

 is kept cut back nearly to the roots. When it is 

 trimmed like this the mushroom forms little white 

 balls. These little ''cabbage-heads" are what the 

 Attas want (Fig. 26). The workers eat them and 

 feed them to their babies. 



The special job of the smallest Atta workers 

 is to keep the mushroom garden weeded. If 



