270 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JUNB 



gradually to the genial air of spring until they 

 have revived into life, and then place them upon 

 leaves or roots, where they will find sap suitable 

 for their nourishment. 



Since the alxive related incident occurred, it has 

 been no uncommon thing for me to see ants at- 

 teudiLig upon aphis. \V'hen I have pulled up ra- 

 dishes or young beets in the garden, I have fre- 

 quently found a cluster of small aphis upon the 

 roots, and seen small ants take them in their 

 mouths, and hasten to a place of safety, and ap- 

 pear quite as anxious to save their property as 

 their lives. I have never seen an ant take an 

 aphis from its family circle and place it upon a 

 leaf by itself to found a new colony ; and yet I am 

 as certain that they do do it, as if I had been an 

 eye-witness of the fact. I have frequently seen on 

 my woodbines a single apis, on a fair leaf, half a 

 foot above its fellows, and in two days after that, 

 there would be a cluster of young ones around it, 

 that could hardly be covered with a ten cent piece; 

 the aphis could hardly have got away from its 

 companions without assistance, for they are not 

 travellers until they have wings ; and they sel- 

 dom liave those until autumn. 



In conclusion, I have little to say in favor of 

 ants. I cannot point to any good deed they do, 

 beyond their untiring industry. Of their evil 

 deeds, they pile up the eartli and make it unsight- 

 ly and troublesome, and furiously attack those 

 that disturb them, and almost every housekeeper 

 is more or less annoyed with them among the eat- 

 ables in her pantries and closets ; they bite and 

 mutilate our choicest and sweetest fruits, besides 

 being extensive breeders of aphides. Some natu- 

 ralists say tliat different clans of the same species 

 carry on furious and exterminating wars with each 

 other, and that many of them are slave-holders, 

 and rob tlie neighboring tribes of their servants. 



I have told my story, and as "dominion has been 

 given to man, over every creeping thing that 

 creepeth upon the earth," I leave the case for the 

 gentlemen to decide, whether ants are worthy of 

 life or not. 



Of the aphis, I have no knowledge to impart be- 

 yond what was written by my late husband eight 

 years ago. I therefore send the following extract 

 from an address delivered by tlie late Judge Dar- 

 ling before the Agricultural and Horticultural So- 

 cieties of New Haven county, and city, in 1845. 



"The plant louse, (aphis) is to be seen on the 

 underside of the leaves of almost every species of 

 plant. And there is appropriated to almost every 

 species of plant its distinct species of aphis. Thus 

 the cabbage-louse is wholly unlike that of the 

 peach, which again is quite different from that of 

 the plum. Tliey exist of every color, gi-een, black, 

 blue, brick red, brown and crimson, — of all sizes, 

 from that of a pea-bug to that of a mite, just visi- 

 ble, naked, or covered with meal or wool. Trees 

 are not ofcen killed by them, but they are checked 

 in their growth, and made to become crooked and 

 deformed. When the plant-lice fasten themselves 

 upon the roots of iierbaceous plants, as some spe- 

 cies do, they prove fatal. The ladies may have 

 observed their China asters, in particular, to turn 

 yellow, stop growing, and finally perish without 

 any visible cause. The grower of watermelons, 

 too, sees the leaves of his vines become smooth 

 and glassy, and after .a few days die. This is 

 caused by the aphis on the roots of the aster and 



melon. The powers of increase given to this in- 

 sect cannot be contemplated withmit amazement. 

 Reaumur, from the most careful observation, es- 

 timated that a single aphis might be the progeni- 

 tor of near sis thousand millions in one summer. 



"Well might Dr. Darwin fear that 'their count- 

 less numbers might in process of time destroy the 

 vegetable world.' And yet perhaps there is no 

 insect so completely in our power as this. We have 

 only to put in practice the great rule of farmers, 

 to do everything at the proper time, and we can pro- 

 tect our plants wholly from this insect with little 

 labor. You see to-day, a plant-louse upon the 

 leaf of a cherry tree ; you neglect to destroy it, 

 and to-morrow, there are 25 — in 22 days more, 

 there are 50,000, and in one day after that, there 

 are more than 100,000. A touch of your finger 

 on the first day of the month, may save you there- 

 fore the lalior of a week with soap-suds and syr- 

 enges at the end of the month. Destroy the first 

 that come in the spring, and the business of Jdlling 

 plant-lice is finished for the season. We are in- 

 formed by Huber, that the ants of Switzerland 

 take into their keeping several species of the plant- 

 louse, which they tend with the utmost care for 

 the sake of their honey, as a dairyman tends his 

 cows for their milk. We have evidence that the 

 small brown ants, which you see coursing up and 

 down the stems of cherry and peach trees with 

 great animation, take charge of some of our plant- 

 lice in a similar manner, particularly those on the 

 cherry tree, and those on roots. Accordingly the 

 aphis generally are first to be found very near to 

 the ground. There search them out and destroy 

 them. If unfortunately they escape your atten- 

 tion, till they have multiplied to a considerable ex- 

 tent, you may still master them with proper ap- 

 plications. One of the best of these for trees, is a 

 strong solution ofivhalc oil soap. The ends of the 

 branches ?nay be bent over and held in the soap-wa- 

 ter about a fourth of a minute. A small paint brush, 

 dipped in the wash, may be used in some cases, 

 especially on cabbages, and on the branches of 

 pear trees infested with that species, which col- 

 lect about the buds and produces a black rust. 

 Common soap-suds, warm and strong, will serve 

 to kill the aphis, but it is apt to kill the leaves al- 

 so. A decoction of tobacco is a sure destroyer of 

 the aphis. It cannot be used upon leaves, but 

 nothing perhaps is better to pour around the roots 

 of plants, when those are infested by the insect. 

 Ladies may call upon their friends who use cigars, 

 to puff the smoke upon their rose-bushes, and thus 

 'do the State some service.' Several insects are 

 appointed by Providence to assist us in keeping 

 the aphis in check. Two only will be noticed at 

 present. One is the speckled bug, about the size 

 and shape of a half-pea, called by children, lady- 

 bird, (Ooccinella.) The other is a beautiful green 

 fly, (Chrysopa ;>er/a,) with eyes of gold and wings 

 of lace, but fetid almost as the squash bug. The 

 eggs of this fly are hung by threads, alwut a quar- 

 ter of an inch long, to the underside of leaves. 

 You will be careful not to Imrm those useful in- 

 sects." Very respectfully yours, 



Mrs. Noyes Darling. 



New Haven, Ct., April 15, 1853. 



To Correspondents. — One more word to our 

 valued correspondents, to make their articles brief. 

 We have twenty communications on hand now, 



