The Humming Bird. 47 



fruit trees, cleansing the boughs and leaves of malefactors, 

 natural as well as embryonic, and descend laden with spoils 

 to the ground, where they comfortably or prudently store 

 away their booty. 



They never meddle with sound fruit, but only invade 

 such apples, pears and plums as have already been penetrated 

 by the insects, in pursuit of which they penetrate to the very 

 heart of the fruit. Nowhere else in the orchard are the apple 

 and pear trees so free from insect ravages and blight as in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of a large ant hill, five or six 

 years old. 



HOW THEY PROTECT THE TREES BY DESTROYING 



THEIR BROTHER INSECTS. 



In China, even since the sixteenth century, and probably 

 earlier, ants have been used to protect fruit trees from the 

 ravages of insect pests. In the province of Canton, the 

 orange trees are injured by certain worms, and the orchardists 

 rid themselves of the pests by importing ants from the hill 

 country. 



Two species of ants — the red and yellow, which build 

 their nests suspended from the branches of trees — are used 

 for this purpose. The ants are placed in the upper branches 

 of the tree, where they build their nests ; bamboo rods are 

 stretched from one to another all through the orchard, so as 

 to give the ants free access to all the trees. 



They are said to be very effectual in protecting the trees. 

 The valuable aid afforded by ants in protecting orange trees 

 from insect ravages has been observed in Florida. One year, 

 when very few of the groves near Jacksonville bore much 

 fruit, on account of insect ravages, one planter secured a 

 large crop, and attributed his success to having used ants as 

 insect destroyers, having induced them to frequent his trees 

 by trying them with a strong solution of syrup and water. 



The solution dried, leaving a saccharine substance adher- 

 ing to the leaves, twigs, and branches of the trees, in seeking 

 which the ants killed the insects which infected the trees and 

 destroyed the blossoms in the bud, or the young fruit after it 

 had set. 



Ants have been observed to destroy canker worms. 

 Whether this is a frequent occurrence or not, it is a matter 

 well worth the attention of those orchardists who have suffered 



