TSF. , TROPICAL 
AGKICTJLTURIST. [J^ov. 2, 1903. 
oil, that is, oil that has been used, placed in a 
reservoir at the top is ■' syijlioue.i " luco a lower 
receptacle and then Ulcers througli a wool pad iuto 
a chird ctiainber, whence it cau be drawn oflF by 
a brass tap, fitted to the filter, 
Madras. Fekfectly Clean. 
EUBBER. 
PfiESERVATlON OF^AFRICAN KuBBER B'ORESTS. 
^ — The reckle-is exhausiiou ot rubber in the British 
colouiea ot Lnt^oa and Gold Coast, in West Africa, 
sugj/ested to the auohoricies of tSKULhern Nigeria, 
in 1900, to form a forestry department, cue tiist 
work of vvhicli was go deal wicii the preservation 
of the extensive rubber forests iu the Benin terri- 
|tories. Kegulatious were drawn up for enforce- 
ment by the forestry inspector, restricting the ex- 
traction ol rubber to certain seasons ana certain 
methods ; beside which the natives were lu- 
strucued, through their head men, in the impott- 
auce of preserving the rubber trees. Certain 
forest reserves have, been declared, in which the 
gathering of rubber is prohibited between Feb. 
15th to May 31st m each year, and its exportation 
betweeen March Iso and May 3ist, and it appears 
that this rule — certainly witu regard to exporta- 
tion — is capable oi being enforced. 
KOOT JtlUBBER AND KEPL ANTING. —After the 
harvesting of a potato crop there are no more 
potatoes to be had from the same held without 
lirsc planting a new crop. The same condition 
applies to the so-called " root rubber," of which 
so much has come out of Africa. It is true that the 
roots of the rubber plants lu no w^y resemble pota- 
toes in shape, but otherwise the comparison holds 
good. As an authority quoted on another page 
says: — "The surface, alter ths natives have col- 
lected their ruober, resembles an orchard or 
meadow which has been upturned by a grub-seek- 
ius hog," It is not probable that the natives 
will do any replanting, since so many years would 
be required for a new growth of this peculiar 
rubber ; hence the more ot the product markeied, 
the sooner will the supply become extinct. — 
India Bubber World. 
» 
ON lEXTERMlNATlNG ANTS. 
iMi! ( To the Editor of the ' Sydney Herald:) 
Sir, — In your iasne of Wednesday there was a letter 
from "HMS" on the subject of ants, aud as 1 have 
had several trials at their extermination you may 
perhaps allow me to give my experience. Some 20 
years ago, when I bought the house in which I now 
live, the ground was infested with many nests of the 
SMALL BLACK ANT 
and one next of the sugar ant. In the garden, 
amongst other trees, there was a nectarine, which 
daring the first two years was covered with black 
aphis, the result being that the leaves were curled up 
and no fruit was produced. I observed that there 
was a continual stream of small black ants aaceadiag 
and descending the trunk, and having read Sir John 
Lubbock's account of bis researches on the habits of 
a British ant that carried the eggs of an aphis which 
lives in the daisy (Bellis pereunis) into their nests, 
kept them during the winter, and in spring carried 
thsm out to the daisy plants, it occurred to me that 
there was some connection between the stream of 
l^oti (laffiQ And the diseased, aphis-iofeated oonditiou of 
the tree. la winter I therefore smoothed the bark 
of the tree stem, with a spokeahave for a width of 
6in. or 7in., and lubbed this space with chalk. 1 knew 
beforehand that a nug marked with chalk absolutely 
prevents ants from climbiug an upright post or the 
leg of a table, and if ihey are above it aud descend 
they only get to the grouud by falling off, seemingly 
losing their fooihoid, but, further, a ring chtilk 
mark on a fittt surface is often not passed oy ants 
any more than the finger streak drawn across their 
track, as meutioued by "HMS." It seems prob- 
able that they leave a scent 'A formic acid as they 
travel, aud that this is neutralised by the chalk, 
which forma formiate of ealuium aud carbon dioxide. 
Bat to return to my tree, the chalk ring oa whicb was 
renewed from time to time as it fell or was washed 
off, that year there was not au aphis or black leaf on it, 
and there has not been from that day to this, aud the 
chalkiug has not been renewed since, as 1 have got the 
aucs exterminated. As to the extermination ot the 
black ant, 1 asked a friend much taken up with bees as 
to how loug a bee hvea, and he told me tnat their lives 
varied from four or hve months to a couple of years. 
If flowers and houey were plentiful they got worn out 
and iheir wiugs broken iu the shorter time, whilst iu 
bad seasons they lasted longer, in fact they worked 
themselves to d.ath. Uu this 1 based a scheme of black 
anc extermination, and every day watered the ground 
round each nest aud stampeu it hard, so that the ants' 
time was so taken up iu repairing damages that they 
had none to provide food and bring up pupee, and they 
were done to death in a short time. JJ'or years there 
has not been a bUck ant about the place, aud there 
has scarcely been au aphis or a coccus ou any plant, 
but last year a small colony of black ants established 
itself uuder a brick edging do a footpath, and a cycad 
a couple of yards from the nest is intested with coccus, 
whilst ants are travelling all over it. 
THE SUGAR ANTS 
required a different treatment, as they had their neat 
deep down iu some rubble, wuich was tuned over, aud 
the opening was through iau, 1 found that they were 
particularly active after 4 p.m., wheu they came out 
in numbers, and then I killed tnem with two trowels, 
letting them run over one, and crushing them with the 
other. Xhey are so full ot formic acid that tne air 
srnelt of it, the trowels were brightened by corrosion, 
and the grass was killed by their dead bodies. I notice 
that '* M.M.S." writes ot standing the legs of tables, 
&a., in water, but any fluid oil is much effectual, as 
the trachea (breathing pores of insects) are stopped 
up by it, aud, further, it does not evaporate as water 
does. A chalked ring is equally effectual if renewed 
from time to time. A good method which I have 
also used since, as it takes less time, is to lay some 
bones with a little meat ou them in their way, and 
these are soon covered with ants, when they are 
dipped into a bucket of hot water for a secona, and 
then replaced, A mutton shank tied to a string with 
which 10 handle it is couvenieut. Your correspondent 
also writes of 
THE BULL-ANT, 
more commonly known as bnlljoe, as being bo quarrel* 
some that only a tew cau live together. Ihey are 
certainly very vicious, bat I doubt that they are 
quarrelsome with one another, and they are certainly 
tue most cowardly of any of the ant tribe tiiat I 
know, acubtling oil' ou euuounieriug another ant one 
quarter of thuu own size. They live few iu a nest, in 
wuich they hare large cells Iti to 2d inches below the 
surface, and their sting, which they use on very 
slight provocation, produces a scarlet, inflamed patch 
as large as a crown piece, if on a fleshy part, which 
is painful for days. I, when a new chum, took bold 
of one ou a treo in ^hztoy Gardens, Melbourne, soma 
37 years ago, but have always used a pair of metal 
pliers since then. Lastly , Z aome tQ 
