36 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March, 



tects, have always had a great attraction for 

 the naturalist. Tliu hillocks are coniwil in 

 their shape, but not with a broad base and 

 tapering point as those built by the termites 

 of Africa. E.'iposure to the sun has rendered 

 them exceedingly hard, and doubtless many 

 that are iu the ujilands of San Paulo and Mi- 

 nas-Geraes are more than a century old; for 

 houses whose walls have been built from the 

 same earth are still in existence were built 

 by early settlers in the seventeentli century. 

 Sometiuies the termites' dwelling is overturn- 

 ed by tbu slaves, the hollow scooped out and 

 made wider, and is then used as a bake-oven 

 to parch Indian corn. In my ride over (Sol- 

 dade I saw a number of very large vultures, 

 who during the rain had taken refuge in the 

 houses tlmt had been vacated by ihe white 

 ant. These insects do not, however, always 

 dwell in columnar edifices of three and six 

 feet high. 1 have seen in some portions of 

 Brazil the ground ploughed up to the extent ot 

 lUO feet in circumference by one nest of white 

 ants. Again, they will climb trees, carrying 

 building material with them, and erecting a 

 small archway (resembling what carpenters 

 call an inch beail.) over them for protection 

 against their sworn enemy, the black and 

 brown ant; and on the loftiest branches they 

 will construct their nests. My introduction 

 to the cupim, or wliite ant, was in the house 

 O our former Consul, ex-Governor Kent. A 

 box of books sent out by the American Tract 

 Society was placed in a lower room, and the 

 next morning it was announced to me that the 

 cupim had entered my property. I liasten- 

 ed to the room, and turning over the box, 

 beheld a little black hole at the bottom, and 

 white, gelatiuous-lookiug ants pouring out as 

 though very much disturbed in their occupa- 

 tion. I opened the box, and found that a 

 colony of cupim had eaten through the pine 

 wood, and had pierced through "Baxter's 

 Call,' 'Doddridge's Rise and Progress,' un- 

 til they had reaceed the place where "Bun- 

 yan's Pilgrim" lay, when they were rudely de- 

 ranged in their literary pursuits. On another 

 occasion, I saw a Brussels carpet, under which 

 cupim had insinuated themselves, and had 

 eaten on I nearly all the canvas before the 

 proprietor had made the sad discovery. The 

 writer, at Campinus, witnessed the depreda- 

 tions of the white ants iu the taipa houses. 

 They insinuate themselves into the mud 

 walls, and destroy the entire side of a house 

 by perforations. Anon, they commence work- 

 ing in the soil and extend their operations be- 

 neath the foundations of houses, and under- 

 mine them. The people dig large pits in var- 

 ious places, with the intent of exterminating 

 tribesofanls wliich have been discovered on 

 their march of destruction. Mr. Suuthy 

 states, on the authority of Manod Felix, that 

 some of these insects at one time devoured the 

 cloth on the altar in the convent of St. An- 

 tonio, at Marasham, aud also brought up into 

 the church pieces of shrouds from graves be- 

 neath tlie floor; whereupon the friars prosecu- 

 ted them according to due form of law eccle- 

 siastical. What the punishment or sentence 

 was in this case, we are unable to learn. 



"The white, and other ants, have, however, 

 enemies far more tangible than bulls of ex- 

 communic.ition in the Mernyomecojihaya, or 

 the great 'Ant-eater,' the Taiuandua and 

 the iittle Ant-eater, ' of which the last two 

 have a prehensile tail. 



"The great aut-eater is a most curious ani- 

 mal, but well a<lapted to the purposes for 

 which he was designed by the Creator. Its 

 short legs and long claws (the latter doubled 

 up when in motion) do not hinder it from run- 

 ning at a good pace; and wheu the Indians 

 wish to calcli it, they make a pattering noise 

 upon the leaves as if they were falling; upon 

 which the Myniitcophaya cocks his huge 

 bushy tail over his body, and, standmg per- 

 fectly still, soon falls a prey. In tlie northern 

 part of Minas-Geraes, a naturalist once came 

 suddenly upon the great ant-eater, and know- 

 ing the harmless nature of its mouth, seized 

 it by the long snout, by which he tried to 

 holdit, wheu it immediately rose upon its hind 



legs, and clasping him around the middle with 

 its fore paws, it would not release its hold, till 

 a pistol ball was lodged in its breast. When 

 the great ant-eater sleeps, it lies on one side, 

 rolls itself up together and covers itself witli 

 its bushy tail. In this way it may be easily 

 taken for a lieap of hay. The Indians of the 

 upper Amazon positively assert that the great 

 ant-eater sometimes kills the jaguar by tightly 

 embracing the latter, and tlirusting its enor- 

 mous claws into the Jaguar's sides. The abor- 

 igines also declare (hat these animals are all 

 females, and believe that the male is the 'cu- 

 rui)ira' or the demon of the forest. The pe- 

 culiar organization of this animal has proba- 

 bly led to this error."— P. W. Mee. 



The foregoing interesting paper we copy 

 from tlie February number of IIarclw!cke''s 

 Sdcnre Gosaip, where it appears in the dejiart- 

 ment of "Notes and Queries," in which is re- 

 corded the current questions and answers on 

 scientific subjects that occur among its readers. 



We have also in the United States, insects 

 allied to the "ants" alluded to in the above 

 paper, and also "ant-eaters"; but they very 

 materially differ from the Brazilian animals. 

 As these insects have been so long and so 

 widely designated ants, and white ants, it per- 

 haps would be folly to attempt to give them 

 any other popular name now; but iu reality 

 they are not ants at all, and have no generic 

 or family relation to what are generally rec- 

 ognized as ants in North America. The most 

 proper name for them is Termites, and they 

 are so-called by most authors of ability. The 

 insects we popularly call ants belong to the 

 order Hymenoptera- (a Greek compound 

 signifying insects furnished with four mem- 

 braneous wings) and the family Formicid^, 

 from the Latin Formica, which simply means 

 an ant; and of which we have many species. 



But the ants we have been writing about in 

 our extract from "Science Gossip," belong to 

 the order Neuroptera, section PsEUDO-NEU- 

 OPTERA (nerve winged insects) and the tam- 

 ily TepvMITIdvE from the Latin Termis, which 

 means a wood-borer, and of which we have 

 at least two species iu Pennsylvania. For 

 fully twenty-five years we have noticed one 

 of these species (Termes frontalis, Hald.) issu- 

 ing from two frame (or log) houses, on the 

 east and west sides of North Queen street, 

 about midway between Lemon and James 

 streets, in tlie city of Lancaster, about the 

 end of May or the beginning of June. They 

 contiuuedto come forth from small aiiertures 

 under the door and window sills, and along 

 the overlapping of the weather boarding, for 

 several days in'succession — say from three to 

 five days, according to the temperature of the 

 weather, which also influenced their time of 

 appearing. 



At each succeeding return of these periods, 

 we also notice the "ant-eater," the liveliest 

 throng of eaters to be seen during the year. 

 These, however, were not of the class mamma- 

 lia, no ignoble and unwieldy earth -grovelors — 

 they belonged to the dainty ''feathered tribes" 

 — they Were swallows (chimney birds)— C/i'ie- 

 tura pdasyin, iinri— that gathered in from 

 their domicils in the surrounding blocks of 

 buildings by hundreds. They were honora- 

 ble sportsmen that took their quarry on the 

 wing, one at a time,, and did not envelop 

 them in a viscid secretion, and take them in 

 by scores with their snaky tongues. They 

 swooped around in a vertical circle the lower 

 arc of which was low down where the "Ter- 

 mites" emerged forth, while numbers of them 

 were gyrating through the air in pursuit of 

 those insects that had reached a higher alti- 

 tude, and had scattered. These insects have 

 been so long located in these two old houses, 

 that we would like to be piesent if they should 

 ever be torn down, just to see what progress 

 they had made in tiie work of destruction in 

 twenty-five years. 



Mr. Geo. Hensel informs us that he bad a 

 small colony of Termites a year ago, in his 

 green house. He had inverted a plant pot on 

 the earthen floor, and set another pot, 

 containing a plant, upon it, so that they'were 

 bottom to bottom, the holes iu the bottoms 



opposite each other. In one night a colony of 

 Termites came up out of the ground under 

 the inverted jiot; built a gallery up the inner 

 side, across the bottom to the hole and up 

 through both holes and into the pot above; 

 from thence across the bottom and up the 

 inner side, and through the earth in the upper 

 pot, and scattered over the vegetation, after 

 the manner of the foreign species, without 

 having done much harm otherwise, however. 

 We were not fortunate enough to see the in- 

 sect, but Mr. Stanffer says it difl'ers irom fron- 

 talis, and probably isflavipes. — JEd. 



Foi' The Lancaster Fabmek. 

 CULTIVATION OF CHICCORY. 



The article in the February number for 

 1877, on iiage 20, copied from the Ckicago 

 Journal of Omimerce, stating that "during 

 187.T we imported #18,UU0,00U worth of chic- 

 cory," is certainly a startling piece of in- 

 formation. Then follows a statement from 

 the Stockton, Cal., Indcpendeni. on "the pro- 

 duction and manufacture of chiccory for its 

 use as an adulteration of coffee." This led 

 me to inquire more particularly into the 

 nature and character of the plant. The 

 Cichorium Intijhas, L. is the wild succory or 

 chiccory in question ; the Germans call it 

 Wcyiwart. Being considered a coarse weed, 

 and common in numerous localities iu our 

 county, I need not describe it here. Dr. 

 Darlington in his agricultural botany, (publish- 

 ed in 1847,) on piige 98, observes that "This 

 foreigner is becoming extensively naturalized. 

 Some European agriculturists recounnend 

 it as a valuable forage plant, though they 

 admit that it gives a bad taste to .the milk of 

 cows which feed upon it. In this country, it 

 is generally, and I believe justly, regarded as 

 an objectionable wecrf, Avhich ought to be ex- 

 pelled from our pastures. The roasted root 

 has been used on the continent of Europe, as 

 a substitute for the coffee-hrry ; but those who 

 delight in the aromatic beverage, are not likely 

 to tiike much interest in this or any other sub- 

 stitute for the genuine article." Thecicliorium 

 endivia,[vi\\d) thesatira, D. C. is called Endive 

 or garden succory, Oerman—Die, Mndivie — 

 currupfed into ''andifte," cultivated for the 

 young radical leaves, which are etiolated or 

 blanched, like celery, by the exclusion of light, 

 and used as a salad. Theophrastes; lib 7, 

 chap. 7, and Pliny, have written upou it long 

 before the time of Linnteus. In lieese's old 

 American encyclopedia, I find it stated that 

 the whole plant is bitter, and "when cultivated 

 it is much more branched and rises to the 

 height of 5 orb feet, with longer leaves, less 

 deeply cut and almost smooth. "i< is then 

 cichorium sativum ; Bauh. Pin. 125, Tourn. 

 479, Lob. Ic, l-.ii). 



Lewis says it is a "very useful aperient, 

 acting mildly and without irritation, lending 

 rather to abate than increase heat, and which 

 may therefore be given with safety iu hectic 

 and inflammatory cases. Taken freely, they 

 keep the body open or produce a gentle diar- 

 rhoea, and when thuscontuiued for s me time, 

 have often proved salutary in beginning ob- 

 structions of the viscera, in jaundices, cachexies 

 (this latter term simply means a bad slate or 

 habit of the body), and other chronical dis- 

 eases." "The expressed juice taken in large 

 quantities," Dr. Woodward says, " his experi- 

 ence warrants him in recommending as an 

 efficacious remedy in phthisisand pulmonalis." 

 "The juicemixed with rhubarb," according to 

 Du Tour (Nouveau Dictionaire), " is an excel- 

 lent vermifuge syrup for children." This 

 much is, and much more might be, quoted 

 from medical authorities. 



It was commonly eaten by the Romans, and 

 when blanched is still used in France in soups 

 or as a salad. Wc learn that "in Italy it has 

 long been cultivated on a large scale, and es- 

 teemed, either green or dry, as an excellent 

 fodder for horses, kiue and sheep." It was 

 first introduced into France by Crette de 

 Tallael, and into England by the well-known 

 Arthur Young, but the moist atmosphere of 

 England is less favorable to its being made 

 into hay. " The wild succory," says Du Tour, 



