3 1 4< Mode of exiirjmtmg Ants 



The point of dispute between Mr. Wilson and myself is 

 simply this : he has asserted that this climate is superior to 

 England for the production of fruits and garden products ; 

 and, as a proof of this assertion, he has given us a list of 

 thirteen kinds of fruits and vegetables said by him to require 

 artificial aid in England, but not so in this country. The 

 question, therefore, to be decided is, whether the success of 

 these thirteen kinds of vegetables in this country is a sufficient 

 proof of its superiority of climate. The next point of dispute 

 is, whether Mr. Wilson is correct in stating that all these 

 tliirteen kinds require artificial aid in England, but do not 

 require such in this country. 



I differ from you in opinion, when you assert that " more 

 may be done in the open air in America, in the cultivation of 

 culinary fruits and vegetables, than in England ; and as much 

 by protection, by forcing, and by artificial climates." My 

 opinion is, that more culinary fruits and vegetables are 

 brought to perfection in the open air of England than here, 

 and that less can be done here by forcing and by artificial 

 climates than in that country. What are the culinary fruits 

 and vegetables that grow in this part of America that do not 

 grow in England ? I remain, Sir, &c. 



New Yo}-k. Nov. 16. 1829. Thomas Hogg. 



Art. XX. On the iiijurious Effects of Ants on early forced Peach 

 Trees, with the Means adopted hy ixhich they ivere extirpated, 

 and the Crop of Peaches saved. By Mr. Joseph Thompson, Jun., 

 Welbeck Gardens, Nottinghamshire. 



Sir, 



In more than forty years' practice of my father, this is the 

 first instance in which he has known ants to injure the bloom 

 of peach trees. I beg to offer you a statement of the case, in 

 hopes that it may be useful, and become a satisfactory answer 

 to the various queries made on the subject of ants from the 

 first to the sixth volume of your Magazine. 



The earliest peach-house was shut up, and small fires 

 applied on alternate evenings, after the 25th November; the 

 tree roots in the outside border had been excited for some 

 days previous. The fires were increased, and humid air ap- 

 plied, after the 6th of December. On the 10th some few ants 

 were observed traversing the trellis in quest of their natural 

 food produced by the aphis.* But as great attention had been 



* The wonderful ortlinances of nature relative to the association of 

 I^orniicje and A'phides are related by Kirby ond Spence in their Introduc' 

 Hon to Entomology, vol. ii. p. 88. 



