1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



31-i 



often done for convenience in fall feeding, so that 

 cattle may be turned into the fields, before the 

 crops are off, in the fall. Our answer to this is, 

 that this whole system of fall feeding on fields is 

 an error. We believe that it is a fair estimate, 

 that a good mowing field will, without being 

 fed at all, keep in grass l)etter for ten years, than 

 it will five if annually fed closely, late in au- 

 tumn. Soft lands are almost ruined by the 

 treading of cattle, and the short bulbous roots of 

 the herds-gra«s are pulled up and destroyed by 

 the feeding of neat cattle, that are not provided 

 hj nature, with teeth enough to cut the grass 

 evenly. It is better economy to feed our cattle 

 at the barn in the autumn, than tc allow them 

 thus to injure the crops of future years. We 

 would advise farmers, therefore, rather to re- 

 move the division fences which they already have 

 in their fields, to escape the temptation to do 

 what they know to be wrong, than to construct 

 others, for convenience in feeding their cattle 

 in their mowing fields. 



If a fair estimate could be made of the actual 

 cost of maintaining our unnecessary fences, and 

 of the wai5te of valuable wood and timber used 

 about them, so that each farmer should know the 

 amount of his tax annually for this object, we 

 think a great change for the better would soon 

 occur. 



THE BATTLE OF THE ANTS. 

 I was a witness to events of a less peaceful char- 

 acter. One day when I went out to my wood 

 pile, or ratlier to my pile of stumps, I observed 

 two large ants, the one red, the other much larg- 

 er, nearly half an inch long, and black, fiercely 

 contending with one anotlier. Having once got 

 hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled 

 and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking far- 

 ther, I was surprised to find that the chips were 

 covered with such combatants, that it was not a 

 dncHum, but a helium, a war ]»etvveen two races of 

 ants, the red always pitted against the black, and 

 frequently two red ones to one black. The le- 

 gions of these ^Myrmidons covered all the hills and 

 vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was al- 

 ready strewn with the dead and dying, both red 

 and black. It was the only battle-field which I 

 have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I ever 

 trod while the battle was raging ; internecine 

 war; the red republicans on the one hand, and 

 the black imperialists on the other. On every 

 side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet 

 without any noise that I could hear, and human 

 soldiers never fought so resolutely. I watched a 

 couple that were fast locked in each other's em- 

 braces, in a littlesunny valley' auiid the chips, now 

 at noon-day prepared to fight till the sun" went 

 down, or life went out. The smaller red cham- 



and, as I saw on looking nearer, had already- di- 

 vested liini of several of his members. They fought 

 with more pertinacity than bull-dogs. Xeitber 

 manifested the least disposition to retreat. It was 

 evident that their battle-cry was Conquer or die. 

 In the meanwhile there came along a single red 

 ant on the hill-side of this valley, evidently full 

 of excitement, who either had despatched his 

 foe, or had not yet taken part in the bat- 

 tle ; probaljly the latter, for he had lost none 

 of his limbs ; whose mother had charged him to 

 return with his shield or upon it. Or perhaps 

 he was some Achilles, who had nourished his wrath 

 apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his 

 Patroclus. He saw this unequal combat from 

 afar, — for the blacks were nearly twice the size of 

 the red, — he drew near Avith rapid pace till he 

 stood on his guard within half an inch of the 

 combatants ; then, watching his opportunity, he 

 sprang upon the black warrior, and commenced 

 his operations near the root of his right fore leg, 

 leaving tlie foe to select among his own members; 

 and so there were three united for life, as if anew 

 kind of attraction had been invented ■« hich put all 

 other locks and cements to shame. I should not 

 have wondered by this time to find that they had 

 tlieir respective musical bands stationed on some 

 eminent chip, and playing their national airs the 

 while, to excite the slow and cheer the dying com- 

 batants. 1 was myself excited somewhat even as 

 if they had been men. The more you think of it, 

 the less the diflerence. And certainly there is not 

 the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if 

 in the history of America, that will bear a mo- 

 ment's comparison with this, whether for the 

 numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and 

 heroism displayed. For numbers and for carnage 

 in was an Austerlitzor Dresden. Concord Fight I 

 Two killed on the patriots' side, and Luther Blan- 

 chard wounded? Why here every ant was a 

 Buttrick, — "Fire! for God's sake fire!" — and 

 thousands shared the fate of Davis and Hosmer. 

 Tliere was not one hireling there. I have no doubt 

 that it was a principle they fought for, as much 

 as our ancestors, and not to avoid a three-penny 

 tax on their tea ; and the results of this battle 

 will be as important and memorable to those whom 

 it concerns as those of the battle of Bunker Hill, 

 at least. 



I took up the chip on which the three I have 

 particularly described were struggling, carried it 

 into my house, and placed it under a tumbler on 

 my window-sill, in order to see the issue. Hold- 

 ing a microscope to the first mentioned red ant, 1 

 saw that, though he was assiduously gnawing at 

 the near fore-leg of his eneiu}', having severed his 

 remaining feeler, his own breast was all torn 

 away, exposing what vitals he had there to the 

 jaws of the black warrior, wliose breast-plate was 

 apparently too thick for him to pierce ; and the 

 dark carbuncles of the sufic'rer's eyes shone with 

 ferocity sucli as war only could excite. They 

 struggled half an hour longer under the tumbler, 

 and when I looked again the black soldier iiad 

 severed the heads of his foes from tiieir ijod- 

 ies, and tlieir still livino: heads were han!:;liio; on 



piou had fastened himself like a vise to his adver ,, „ _ ^^ ^ 



sary"s front, and through all the tumblings on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his sad 

 that field, never for an instant ceased to gnawj die bow, still apparently as liruilj- fastened as ever, 

 at one of his feelers near the root, having already and he was endcavuring with feeble struggles, 

 caused the other to go l)y the board; while the| being without feelers and with only the remnant 

 stronger black one dashed him from side to side,, of a leg, and I know not how many other wounds, 



