STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
133 
Dr. Fitch. Are the little rc^.1 ants injurious to vegetation? My ladies con¬ 
fidently assert that they are destructive to their flowers, and I have thought 
that I could trace evidences of their depredations upon my tender young 
plant^. 
Ants Enemies to Cut-Worms. 
September 17 th, 1865. 
It had not occurred to me till brought to my mind by this letter of Mr. 
Watson, that ants will undoubtedly sometimes attack and persistently 
cling to and teaze the life out of cut-worms. In our cornfields, the earth 
immediately around the young corn plants is frequently perforated with 
holes leading to the underground dwellings of colonies of ants. And, 
though I have never actually observed, it, I am confident it must occasion¬ 
ally happen that a cut-worm, in sinking himself under the surface to repose 
, during tl* hours of daylight, will come into proximity with a nest of these 
pugnacious little creatures, who, resenting the intrusion, will make his bed 
anything but comfortable to him—giving him a similar experience to that 
of a lodger in the bedroom of a slovenly-kept inn. And at length finding 
it impossible to repose there, the worm will come out from his lurking 
place, in open daylight, with some of his incensed tormentors following 
and clinging to him in the manner witnessed and so vividly narrated by 
Mr. Watson. But as ants continue actively at work during the night as 
during the daytime, the cut-worm will usually discover those cornhills 
where ants have established themselves and will probably avoid intruding 
on them. 
Mr. Watscn inquires if the little red ant is injurious to vegetation. I 
presume it is wliat I have tevmed the little yellow ant (Myrmica molesta, 
Say) to which he refers. Like other ants of larger size, this is usually 
attracted to flowers and tender young plants, to sip some sweet fluid which 
it finds there, exuding from the vegetation, or secreted by plant-lice, where 
these are present. And it is frequently injurious, by wounding the plants 
to obtain a flow of sweet sap from them. This is particularly the case in 
young corn, the blades of which, when but a few inches high, are some 
years very much gnawed and stunted in their growth by this little yellow 
ant. A. FITCH. 
Win. Bacon, Esq., writes us from 
Richmond, Mass., Sept. 1, 1865. 
Hon. B. P. Johnson: 
My Dear Sir—The season is now so far advanced that a report of crops 
can be made with tolerable accuracy. Many pieces of meadow land were 
so thoroughly burnt over by the drouth of ’64 that they gave very lean 
crops. Yet, on the whole, the grass crop is flattering—full a third more 
than last year. Oats were fine; so was barley. Rye has not in twenty- 
five years given a better crop. Corn was much disturbed by worms after 
planting, in consequence of which the re-planted is late; the growth and 
caring, however, are good, and the probability now is that it will all ripen 
and make a fine crop. Potatoes look nobly; it is too dry for the rot in any 
locality fit to raise potatoes. They will probably be somewhat injured by 
