256 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



found on the leaves and other parts of trees infested. They are the most partial to the 

 green aphis, and with a few strokes of their antennae " tap " the insects, till they yield 

 small clear drops of "honeydew." Ants take care of aphides, fight for their possession, 

 and carry their eggs to their nests for hatching. Truly they are wise in their own interest. 

 They remove aphides from depastured trees to fresh feeding ground, seeking only their 

 own profit. Cultivators may, therefore, banish the idea that ants devour aphides. 

 They are simply scavengers, subsisting on insect secretions. They enjoy sweet fluids. 

 Apples and pears do not escape their attention, whilst they delight in ripe cherries, 

 apricots, nectarines, peaches, and plums. Thus ants are antagonistic to the interests of 

 cultivators. They encourage the fruit grower's enemies, eat or spoil his best fruits, and 

 damage, if not destroy, the prospect of crops by preying on the organs of fructification 

 in blossoms, sometimes denuding peach and other flowers of fruit trees of their stamens, 

 and thus doing irreparable injury. 



Black ants are troublesome pests in fruit houses. They get into woodwork and eat it 

 away, and make their abode in any snug place. From the dawn of spring or the com- 

 mencement of forcing, they swarm upon leaves, shoots, and branches, and carry gum 

 parasites about that may in due course be injurious. The Brown Ant (Formica fusca) 

 infests fruit houses, but keeps away from borders liberally supplied with liquid manure. 

 Brown ants hold the "blacks" as slaves; they cannot live together on equal terms : 

 therefore, structures are seldom infested with both pests ; but the brown ants travel long 

 distances to feast on ripe apricots, nectarines, peaches, and plums. The Yellow Ant 

 (Formica flava) infests orchards more than gardens. Partridges delight in the larva? 

 or pupje of ants. Other birds prey on ants, but nothing short of annihilation should 

 content the fruit grower. 



Preventives are usually applied too late. A line of coal tar drawn along the base of 

 a wall just below the branches prevents the ascent of ants so long as it remains moist ; 

 a mixture of two-thirds resin and one-third sweet oil melted, keeps moist much longer 

 and neither ants nor snails can pass over it. Ants, however, often come from the top of 

 the wall downwards, and therefore the sticky barrier should be placed along the top also. 

 Traps of partially-picked bones laid in the haunts of the ants are quickly covered with 

 them, and can be thrown into boiling water. A sponge partially saturated with treacle 

 has the same effect in attracting them. A garden pot smeared with honey or treacle 

 inside, and inverted over the nest, is soon covered with ants ; if held over the steam from 

 boiling water they will soon be rendered harmless. Guano, when fresh, sprinkled on 



