18 BULLETIlSr 965, iU, S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Summary op Use of Repellents. 



. Although the writers' experience with banding demonstrated that 

 trees could be kept freed of ants by careful and diligent effort, it was 

 apparent that the constant attention needed for success would not be 

 forthcoming where large acreages were concerned. Furthermore, 

 the method of pruning followed in some orchards produces trees so low 

 that growers seriously object to removal of the large amount of growth 

 necessary for tree isolation except at the trunk. Even after pruning 

 the increasing weight of the fruit weighs down the branches and culti- 

 vation frequently breaks small twigs which demand additional atten- 

 tion. Grass and weeds quickly spring up beneath the trees and in 

 contact with a tree leaf furnish a bridge which is invariably dis- 

 covered by the ants. In fact the ants may find access to a tree by 

 way of a blade of grass which copies in contact with a leaf of the tree 

 momentarily stirred by the wind. In one case a branch of a banded 

 tree rested against a telephone pole and gave a means of reaching 

 the tree. The branch was pruned and the telephone pole banded, 

 yet the infestation persisted. It was finally discovered that the 

 ants crawled along a guide wire to the top of the telephone pole, and 

 thence down to a part where a single leaf momentarily touched the 

 pole as moved by the wind. This was the signal for the persistent 

 little pests quickly to mount the leaf while others moved to the pole. 

 The glazing of sticky bands where exposed to the sun, the accumu-- 

 lation of falling petals during the blossoming season, the spattering 

 of dust over the bands during rains, or the washing down of dust, 

 leaves, broken twigs, and the materials collected during heavy wind- 

 storms, all contribute to render banding with adhesive mixtures im- 

 practical over large acreages. In spite of all these drawbacks bands 

 can be made to serve a useful purpose on limited niunbers of trees, 

 especially about yards where necessary attention and renewal or 

 respreading can be given. It should be borne in mind, however, that 

 banding merely repels without destroying ants, and destruction is 

 what is actually required. 



TRAP NESTING. 



The discovery that large boxes filled with decaying vegetable 

 matter would attract ants in numbers in winter induced Newell 

 and Barber to try this plan in infested orange orchards in Louisiana, 

 and their efforts were reputed to have met with great success in re- 

 ducing the infestations. The trap boxes were subsequently fumi- 

 gated and the ants destroyed. Horton^ also recommended the use 

 of trap nests as by far the best and most practical means of destroying 

 the Argentine ant in the orange groves of Louisiana. The great 



8 HoRTON, J. R. CONTROL OF THE ARGENTINE ANT IN ORANGE GROVES. U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' 

 Bui. 928, p. 12-16. 1918. 



