144 FARM SPIES 



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to it. Should anything have destroyed the trail 

 you would lose your way and be as much nettled 

 as the ant. There ! watch that ant crossing from 

 one row to the other/ ' he said, pointing to an ant 

 crawling on the soil; "she does not go in a straight 

 line and doesn't it look as if she is following an old 

 trail ? Let us see if there is any sense in my thinking 

 so." The entomologist then rubbed his fingers over 

 the ground in front of the ant, and sure enough, 

 when she came to his finger-mark she stopped and 

 was vexed. 



"Now," continued the entomologist, "think of 

 a harrow or some other shallow tool going through 

 this row, how it must confuse the ants and how im- 

 possible it must then be for them to care for the 

 aphids. I have often thought how the ants must 

 smile when a farmer does not cultivate as he should. 

 To control this aphid is a case of humbugging an 

 ant. The best way is to rotate crops intelligently, 

 and to give thorough shallow cultivation when the 

 plants are young." 



It was now late in the afternoon and the people 

 started for their homes. 



Since this meeting in Joe Gardner's cotton-field 

 many of the farmers of that section have greatly 

 improved their lands by intelligently rotating the 

 crops and giving cotton rapid shallow cultivation 

 when it is young. George Elliott, the county demon- 



