The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA.. NOVEMBER, i876. 



Vol. VIII. No. 11. 



ANTS DESTROY CATERPILLARS. 



" The Bclgiiin dllicial jdumnl, rcfcniiig to 

 the ignorant conduct of those wlio destroy :dl 

 kinds of l)irds and insects indiscriminately, 

 insists on the necessity of children in primary 

 schools being taught to distinguish between 

 useful and noxious in.sects, and thus to exer- 

 ci.se their destructive facultiesagainst tlie hitter 

 only. The writer proceeds to say th.it the ant, 

 which is very disagreeable and inconvenient 

 in many respects, does excellent .servicer in 

 chasing and (lestroyingeateriiillars. A farmer 

 who had noticed this fact and had hiscabliage 

 literally devoured by caterpillars, at last hit 

 upon the expedient of having an ant-hill, or 

 rather nest, such as abound in i)ine forests, 

 brought to his cabViage plot. A sackful of 

 pine knots, abounding in ants, was obtained, 

 and its contents thrown around the infested 

 cabbage jilants. The ants lost no time, but 

 immediately set to work ; they seizeil the 

 c<aterpillars by their heads. The next d.ay 

 heaps of dead caterpillars were found, but not 

 one alive, nor did they return to the cabbages. 

 The value of the ant is well known in Ger- 

 many, and, although their eggs are iu great 

 request as food for young partridges, pheas- 

 .ants and nightingales, there is a line against 

 taking them from the forests. The ant is in- 

 defatigable; it climbs to tlie very tops of trees, 

 and destroys an immense (piantity of noxious 

 insects.'' 



We entirely commend the idea of using dis- 

 crimination in the destruction of insects, and 

 we are as entirely in sympathy with the sen- 

 timent of children, not only iu jici'mtuj/, but 

 also inscro/i(?'(i7/and /k';//) schools, being taught 

 to exercise their destructive faculties against 

 the noxi(uis kinds only. We have advocated 

 these views for many years, and have all along 

 been urging that if an intelligent discrimina- 

 tion were exercised iu the destruction of in- 

 sects, the labors attending their diminution or 

 extermination would be correspondingly facil- 

 itated. As an iustauci', it has been fully dem- 

 onstrated tliat there are at least twent}- spe- 

 cies of insects, which, in one way or another, 

 prey upon the eggs and the lanrr of the de- 

 structive "Colorado rotato-beetle," and to 

 discriminate in favor, of these will certainly 

 afford a great help to their usefulness. 



The following paragraph from the October 

 number of Field <md Furest, p. (il), illustrates 

 that an additional species of these parasitic 

 insects has been discovered, and time may yet 

 develop a sullicient number to "checkmate" 

 tlie Colorado beetle entirely. 



" Euschistes jinnctipm. — This insect has been 

 winning a name in Virginia, by preying upon 

 the Colorado potato-beetle. We do not 

 remember seeing its name iu the list of the 

 foes of the ' Spearman' before, and so hasten 

 to enroll it." 



This insect is one of the true Bugs {Hcm- 

 iptera) and is allied to the "Spined Soldier- 

 bug" (^-Irina Siiinnsn) and maj' be regarded as 

 an additional i)arasitic hel]). 



But, in the application of artificial remedies, 

 either as a liipiid or a powder, or in setting a 

 self-operating trap for them, it is almost im- 

 possible tf discriminate where the good and 

 bad are mingled together, even if we are ac- 

 quainted with the ditTercnt species. And as 

 to a trap, we cannot control the kind or num- 

 ber that may fall into it. The only compen- 

 sation in such a case is, that in destroying all 

 — both friends and foes — the extermination of 

 the latter will not necessitate the presence of 

 the former — having nothing more for them to 

 do, we can dispense with their labors 

 altogether. 



The greatest use in being able to discrimi- 

 nate between noxious and iimoxious insects, 

 by learning to identify the species, as well as 

 to acquire a knowledge of their habits, trans- 



formations, and modes of life, is in this, that 

 we may thus know exactly what to think and 

 do when we meet them. It will relieve us 

 from unnecessary fears and anxieties in regard 

 to them, and facilitate the labor of destroying 

 our foes and shielding our friends.^' Entomo- 

 logical ob.ject lessons from a practical teacher, 

 lectures on their hahits, their forms, their 

 whereabouts and their peculiar structures, in 

 connection with a scientitically named and 

 classilicd cabinet, in all of our schools, would 

 go very far towards imparting the neces.sary 

 knowledge on this important subject. If it is 

 deemed necessary to impart such knowledge 

 to I lie iiupilsof our schools as will (jualify them 

 for merchants, mamifacturers, mechanics, en- 

 gineers, lawyius, doctors, and other arts and 

 professions, it cannot be less important to in- 

 struct them in matters so nearly related to 

 agriculture, as practical entomology is now 

 considered. 



As to the Ant, however, as a destroyer of 

 cat(U'pillars, we cannot say that we have much 

 confidence in their efflciency. It is true, ants 

 generally seem to manifest a fondness for ani- 

 mal food ; and a frog, a squirrel, or other 

 small animal, buried in an ant-hill, may be 

 nicely skeletonized in an incredibly short 

 space of time ; but, ant-hills are not always 

 nor everywhere accessible. Moreover, ants 

 are fonder of saccharine substances than they 

 arc of animal food, and it is our opinion that 

 if they discovered acolony of ^4^;/»'fZsdiseh.arg- 

 ing " honey-dew," in a garden, they would 

 never touch a caterpillar or anything else, as 

 long as the saccharine fiuid was supi)lied. We 

 have often noticed ants dragging dead insects 

 or fragments of dead inseets towards their 

 cells, but we never noticed that they were 

 particularly destructive to live insects, un- 

 less it might have been a mutilated or ener- 

 vated .specimen. Fossorial and .solitary wasps 

 arc in the habit of supjdying their young 

 with the bodies of pretty large caterpillars, 

 which they in some manner paralyze, and upon 

 whicli their young subsist. But suppose we 

 succeed in transferring an ant-hill to our 

 gardens, and the ants destroy all the cater- 

 pillars, what then ? They become so numer- 

 ous in some localities that they, if they could 

 be trained on animal or insect food, might do 

 a good service to the "Truck" gardener or the 

 Horticulturist. The thing, however, seems 

 impracticable ; nevertheless, it might be worth 

 while to make an ettbrt in that direction, 

 whether we meet with success or failure, and 

 report thereon immediately. — Fd. 



A WORD FOR THE SNAKES. 



Permit me to say a few words in behalf of 

 these much abused anim.als. Not that some of 

 them do not merit their abu.se, but tliat there 

 an; those which do not and the whole class 

 should not snll'er for the bad tpialities of a part. 

 The whole class does, however, sutler from 

 this cause, and it is almost impo.ssible to find 

 a single species of serpent to which some one 

 will not impute venomous (lualities. At the 

 same time it is an established fact that in 

 every country, Austra'ia excepted, nonvene- 

 inous serpents exceed the venomous in num- 

 bers. Moreover, in all tropical countries the 

 venomous snakes constitute a greater propor- 

 tion of the entire number than they do in 

 temperate regions, and in our favored land, 

 especially in the Northern States, such as 

 New York, thejiroportionof venomous snakes 

 is very small. In the above mentioned State 

 fifteen species of snakes are known ; only two 

 of these, the Cojiperhead and Rattlesnake, 

 are venomous, and their bites rarely prove 

 fatal if proper remedies are immediately ap- 

 plied. This, however, is often impossible, and 

 as prevention is better than cure, the best 



plan to adopt is to learn to distingui.sh the.se 

 species from all others. This plan I believe to 

 be far better than the one now in vogue, 

 especially among ladies; I mean the custom of 

 running away with screams of terror at the 

 sight of every snake, lizard, crooked stick or 

 other innocent' object which a fiction-trained 

 imagination can convert into the semblance of 

 a ser|)ent. 



Another undeserved charge is miule against 

 these creatures. It is that of viciousncss. 

 Here again a (piality characteristic of the 

 minority is ascribed to the whole class. Com- 

 paratively few of the uon-venomous snakes are 

 vicious and many of the venomous snakes do 

 not possess this (piality ; thus, our northern 

 Kattlesnakc is not at all vicious, rarely biting 

 unless it has received .some real or fancied in- 

 jury, and even then it rarely fails to give 

 warning by sounding its ominous rattle. In 

 Australia there is a snake which, though 

 venomous, may be taken up and handled with 

 impunity, as it is so geiitli^ by nature that the 

 idea of biting never seems to enter its head. 



It is .stated that snakes do a great deal of 

 harm by destroying toads, frogs, birds, and 

 other useful animals. This, I regret to say, 

 cannot be denied : but that is no excuse for 

 overlooking the fact that a few of our snakes 

 really do a great deal of good "and little or no 

 evil. Such are the Grass-snake and King- 

 snake, that subsist upon worms, slugs, and in- 

 sects ; one or two others also, about whose 

 habits little is known, arc probably content 

 with the same bumble diet. Another, the 

 Ribbon-snake, chooses a more varied bill of 

 fare, now dining on toad or frog, now conde- 

 .sct'iiding to put up with a dinner of large bugs 

 or other insect.s. As to the large serpents that 

 live on birds, frogs, etc., even the}' partly 

 atone for the damage done in killing these 

 useful animals, by the di'struction of field 

 mice, moles, chipmunks, and many other kinds 

 of small, noxious rodents that infest our fields 

 and gardens. However, only the first men- 

 tioned species, namely, those living entirely 

 upon insects, can be reckoned among the 

 l;xnner"s real friends, and consequiMitly among 

 those that deserve encouragement and protec- 

 tion. 



Before I close I must say a few words for a 

 family clo.sely related to snakes. I refer to 

 lizards. Many are in total ignorance as to 

 whether or not they arc poisonous. For the 

 benefit of such, let me say that there is not 

 known to science a single lizard that is veno- 

 mous; all are as harmless, and man}- as tracta- 

 ble as kittens. 



Another point, concerning which some are 

 equally ignorant, is the food of lizards. Many 

 are unable to decide satisfactorily, when they 

 meet with a lizard, whether it is their duty to 

 kill it or let it go. Lizards, on account of the 

 structure of their jaws, cannot swallow large 

 prey, but are better adapted to feed upon in- 

 sects, from which they almost exclusively de- 

 rive their sustenance, so that any one who kills 

 a lizard, instead of beiu'litiug agriculture, is 

 really injuring it. By all means encourage 

 the lizards. — Rural A'cic Yorker. 



We could, and would, cheerfully endorse the 

 above from the " JJiiro/," but where's the use 

 of any body putting in a " word for the snakes," 

 so long as peojile are so deeply prejudiced 

 against them. In Lancaster county we have 

 but o)ie species of snake that is veiioiiKuis, in 

 all Pennsylvania l)ut (('•", and in the very face 

 of this/or( there is a strange /((Hoy that there 

 are at least a dozen. 



About fifty-five years ago two rattlesnakes 

 \vere killed in York county, opposite the town 

 of Marietta, and it is very questionable whether 

 any others have been seen, either in York or 

 Lancaster county from that time down to the 

 present, and yet, during that long interval, 



