272 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



HOW TO 



KILL ANTS 



the living plant lice in their nests, putting them 

 on crop roots and moving them to new pasture 

 when the old is used up. It has been found that 

 the corn root louse depends for its existence on a 

 small brown ant and the way to destroy the louse 

 is to make way with his ant friend who uses him 

 as productive livestock. 



Ants, like bees, live in organized communities, 

 At the head of each colony is one or more queens 

 who keep up the supply by laying multitudes of 

 eggs. On this account it is not possible to de- 

 stroy a colony of ants by catching or killing the 

 workers which are always running around 

 looking for trouble. We must put some- 

 thing in the nest that will reach the queen. 

 The best material for the purpose is bi-sulphide 

 of carbon, or fuma. To destroy the nest put one 

 or two ounces of fuma into the ground at the top 

 and around the nest, and cover with a sheet of 

 paper and dirt. The gas will go down into the 

 ground and kill everything it reaches. Bi-sul- 

 phide of carbon is explosive and if you light a 

 cigarette when handling it you will probably not 

 live to care whether the ants do damage or not. 



THE EFFECT 

 OF EARTH- 

 WORMS 



Because angleworms are usually found in 

 rich soils or because Darwin wrote about how 

 they had helped form new soils, many believe 

 they are harmless or even useful. In some parts 

 of the West angleworms get too numerous in the 



