1869. 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



375 



— do not admit of practical demonstration, I re- 

 spectfully solicit that before such changes are 

 ordered by the Department, a hearing may be giv- 

 en to experts who represent different interests — to 

 the friends as well as the enemies of the wool tariff. 

 This course was adopted by the Department in the 

 analogous case of adopting the standard samples. 

 And the wool growers' and manufacturers' com- 

 mittees, on that occasion, objected to all the select- 

 ed samples of one particular number or variety, 

 and caused others to be substituted ; and this oc- 

 curred in the case of a most important variety, be- 

 cause, as Mr. Bond himself stated, it more nearly 

 than any other variety in the cai)inets touched the 

 dividing line betioeen carpet and clothing wools. 

 Some other partial and minor changes were also 

 made. To the propriety of all the>e alterations 

 Mr. Bond assented — thus practically acquiescing 

 in the view that the opinions of a body thus consti- 

 tuted are entitled to more conlidence than the 

 opinions of a single side or single individual. 



If this claim is manfully insisted on by the 

 ■wool growers of the United States, we have 

 little doubt that Secretary Bout well will grant 

 them or their representatives, as well as brok- 

 ers and manufacturers, an opportunity to be 

 heard on questions which so directly affect 

 their interests. 



black: ants. 



A good housekeeper near by is constantly an- 

 noyed with "black ants" in her pantry. They in- 

 fest the sugar box and cake jar, and are a source 

 of troubli:- wherever found. Can you prescribe a 

 "good riddance" for them, and much oblige a con- 

 stant reader of the Farmek. James Foot. 



Pittsfield, Mass., June 2, 1869. 



. Remarks. — There are about as many ways to 

 get rid of the black ants as there are to get rid of 

 the "shakes" in a fever and ague neighborhood. 

 "We will name a few, and you may take your 

 choice for experiment. 1. Procure a large sponge 

 wash it clean and press it dry. This will leave 

 the cells open. Then sprinkle fine white sugar 

 into it and place it where the ants congregate. 

 They will collect in the sponge. Then dip it into 

 scalding water and thus destroy the ants. But as 

 hot water injures the sponge, its immersion in cold 

 water may answer. Repeat the process till the 

 pantry is cleared. 2. Take about a spoonful of 

 common painter's red lead and mix with molasses 

 enough to make a thin paste. This will catch 

 some and disperse the balance. 3. Fill one or 

 more common tea cups half full of sweetened 

 water, place them on the shelves, and large num- 

 bers of the ants will tumble in and be drowned. 

 4. Ants are very fond of walnuts. Remove the 

 sugar, &c., temporarily from the pantry, and put 

 a quantity of walnuts or shelibark nuts on plates 

 and put them in the closet. The ants will soon 

 collect in myriads on the plates, then turn nuts 

 and ants into the fire, and repeat as long as they 

 collect on the nuts, then put powdered camphor 

 into their holes and crevices, and they will all dis- 

 appear. 5. Spread thick molasses on a piece of 

 brown paper, then sprinkle on a little arsenic, and 



place it in the way of the ants. Cobalt and mo- 

 lasses are also sometimes used. But if you do 

 not succeed in driving them away, you can make 

 a low stool for your sugar barrel or tub, with each 

 leg in an old blacking box or other cup or dish 

 partly filled with tar or oil, keeping the tub or 

 barrel a little distance from the sides of the pantry. 

 But, after all, there is this consolation about the 

 black ants, they are not half as bad as the little 

 red ones, which we believe are never seen wliere 

 the black ones abound. As affording a hint to 

 those who are fighting ants, the followingj-emarks 

 on their intelligence and habits by B. Jaeger, in 

 his "North American Insects," may be of interest. 



"If one ant discovers a closet where are sweet 

 articles, such as fruit or sugar, it quickly returns to 

 its fellows for the purpose of acquainting them of 

 its discovery, and in a very short time whole 

 swarms of them will arrive with the discoverer to 

 divide the spoils. They go out in companies, also, 

 to drink, of which they are very fond ; but if one 

 of them is disturbed in SrO doing he communicates 

 the fact immediately to all the rest by pushing the 

 one nearest him, who passes on the news in the 

 same way to all the rest, when all receiving the 

 sign run to the hill ; but if any one is not attentive 

 to such admonition, he is seized by the legs and 

 dragged to the hill. In general, they give signs 

 to one another in all their operations by their an- 

 gular or elbowed antennas, which work somewhat 

 like the old French telegraph. With their an- 

 tennae they also express their friendship and love, 

 as we may see when we observe them caressing 

 one another, or their friends the plant-Uce." 



While combating what we regard as pests, we 

 cannot but admire, not only the industry of the 

 ant, which is commended as an example to the 

 sluggard by Solomon, but the wonderful instinct 

 manifested by some species. Dr. Lincecum, as 

 quoted in "Homes without Hands," gives the fol- 

 lowing account of a large brownish ant found in 

 Texas, which he calls the Agricultural Ant. 



"When it has selected a situation for its habita- 

 tion, if on ordinary dry ground, it bores a hole, 

 around which it raises the surface three and some- 

 times six inches, forming a low circular mound, 

 having a very gentle inclination from the centre 

 to the outer border, which on an average is three 

 or four feet from the entrance. Around the mound, 

 the ant clears the ground of all obstructions, and 

 levels and smooths the surface to the distance of 

 three or four feet from the gate of the city, giving 

 the space the appearance of a handsome pavement, 

 as it really is. 



"Within this paved area not a blade of any 

 green thing is allowed to grow, except a single 

 species of grain-bearing grass. Having planted 

 this crop in a circle around, and two or three feet 

 from the centre of the mound, the insect tends and 

 cultivates it with constant care, cutting away all 

 other grasses and weeds that mav spring up among 

 it, and all around outside the farm-circle to the 



