FOOD 119 



in it. Then if it is stacked or piled up, it gives off this 

 moisture, or sweats. After this it is drier than before 

 and threshes easier and keeps better. All farmers know 

 this. After the grain is hulled we store the kernels and 

 carry the chaff out, just as farmers do. 



CECIL. I see. And if you didn't put it through a sweat 

 before threshing, the kernels would go through one after- 

 ward and spoil. Wise, aren't you? 



ALBERT. I see you wait until the grain falls to the 

 ground before you search for it. 



ANT. Not always, as you will find later. 



ALBERT. We boys used to gather nuts in the cast and 

 store them away for winter, just like you do. 



DOROTHY. Why go so far for seed? Food must be 

 getting scarce. 



ANT. This time of year most plants are dead, and their 

 seeds have blown away or have walked away, or have dug 

 or bored themselves into the ground, or have been eaten. 

 So the seeds are hard to find, and there are but few living 

 weeds to secrete fluids for ants. 



ALBERT. I see the Carpenter and several other insects 

 getting something off the green plants around dwellings. 



KENNETH. There are only three in our family. So I 

 can hardly imagine a thousand or two of your ants march- 

 ing up to the lunch counter to eat. It must take a good 

 deal of flour. And, since you have no colony mill to grind 

 your seed, you have to rasp the flour off the grain with 

 your mouth parts. Nixey on your flour mills for me. 



ANT. All living things have to hustle to make a living 

 or there will soon be no more like them. So, fossils are all 

 that is left of many a once living race. You think your 

 inventions (improvements) are symbols of civilization, but 



