The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-07-05

l we tuluk AtNl u TREASURE TO study at leisure
| And analyze under a glass"
I seemed to grow cold as | listened
To the words that these butterflies spoke,
With fear overcome. was speechless and
|-E am,oN Wheeler Wilcox in Youths Com
Insects that Keep Farms.
Prof. w. J. McGee of the government
scientific corps recently paid visit to
some very remarkable farmers in Sonora,
Mexico. These are the so-called agricul-
tural ants, which plant fields of grain and
regularly harvest their crops. Upon the
latter they depend wholly for food. In
fact, if the crops should fail, they would
perish of famine. On the other hand,
the cereals which they grow have been
specialized by cultivation, like the wheat
and would quickly disappear if the at,
tention of the insects was withdrawn.
The fields of the farmer ants cover
| scores of square miles in Sonora, large
part of which is quite densely populated
by them, says a Washington correspon-
dent of the Philadelphia lines. The
home of colony is marked ordinarily by
feet in diameter, on which nothing is
of parade and exercise ground. Around
the clearing is ring of luxuriant grass
from three to twenty feet wide. On the
seeds of this grass the insects subsist,
planting it every spring and garnering the
crop in the autumn. Across the rings
which surround the formicaries run turn
pixies few inches wide, connecting farm
with farm for many furlongs.
! In the region described there is prac-
tically no vegetation except the grasses
cultivated by these ants. The latter ap-
pear to keep down and exterminate all
other plants, such as cacti, greasewood
and mesquite. The plants naturally pre-
vailing in that part of the country are
entirely absent from the most thickly-
insects have developed an art of .agricul-
| ture peculiar to themselves, have made
| conquest of the land for their needs, and
have artifcialized certain cereals as thor
oughly as maize and barley have been
artiicialized by man. Thus" says Prof
McGee, the rigorous environment of the
desert have developed one of the most re-
markable intelligences; and, incidentally,
an animal and a plant have come to be
mutually dependent upon each other for
existence"
| The agriculture of these ants seems to
be far more extensive in Sonora than in
Texas, where their farming operations
1 AdNC UCCu CAuuuSLlfcIy ucSCflUcu ny
Henry c.. McCook. On the fiat table
lands of the Lone Star state their farms
are plentifully scattered. These, like
| those of Mexico, are mostly fat and cir
| cular clearings, from which communion
ton is had by roads with the surrounding
cultivated heritage. In the center of each
such clearing is hole which serves as
| formicary. There are several species of
| these ants, however, and at least one of
| them constructs conical mound, which
| takes the place of the clearing. So widely
| distributed are the farms that they are
| found in the very streets and gardens of
! Austin.
At the time of the harvest one or more
of the roads leading to the formicary
! may be seen on any fine day to be
| thronged with workers, marching to and
| fro in double column, one going and
! one coming. The pathway is trodden
| hard by their feet. Those coming are
| heavily laden, each carrying seed. They
do not gather the seeds from the grass
tops, but pick up those which have ri
| pened and fallen. For these they search
on the ground in the forest of grass
| stalks, feeling for them with their an
tennae. Having secured one the worker
| ant lifts it, adjusts the burden so as to
| be carried most easily and finds her way
back to the road. along which she trots
| homeward, finally disappearing through
| the gateway.
Within the gate is a vestibule, from
which a passageway leads downward at
| slant to the rooms beneath. Some of
| these rooms are nurseries for the rearing
! Of the young of the colony, while others
are granaries in which the seeds are
stored. Usually the rooms are shaped
somewhat like a horseshoe, the walls and
| floors being neatly and smoothly finished
| with r1Oc NH ;fol v%h Sc
| brought from above and made adhesive
| with the saliva of the insects. There is
apt to be one grand storeroom inches
or SO in height and 3 or inches long,
the other apartments being somewhat
| smaller. All of them are formed with
| domes.
The seeds, before being stored in the
| granaries, are husked. All refuse, in
Guiding husks and imperfect seeds, is
carried out and thrown outside the limits
| of the formicary. Nothing is permitted
to remain on the clearing. Anything that
falls upon it is cut to pieces and taken
away. If luckless tumblebug rolls its
ball into the forbidden territory it is
driven away, or if it refuses to retreat
very formidable stings, which are used
with effect upon too inquisitive human
beings. The poison seems to be quite
| powerful, causing good deal of lnt1am-
nation and sometimes nausea. How
ever, the insects are quite peaceful unless
outrageously disturbed.
| In Texas the farmer ants also gather
the seeds of crotons and of several species
of weeds. After they have harvested
their grain in the autumn they carefully
| cut away all of the dry stubble, so that
their fields may be ready for planting in
the spring. Respecting the methods Of
planting adopted by the. insects, no reli-
1 oh11 0he l. ha1v do RI
date. All of the labor of whatever de-
scription is performed by the workers,
/! who are undeveloped females. The males
do nothing, the sole purpose of their ex-
istence being to perpetuate the species.
The developed females are destined to
The developed females and the males
have wings, while the workers possess
none. The workers constitute the bulk
Of the population, being divided into two
classes-workers major and workers
minor. The former are chiefly distin-
guished from the latter by the fact that
they o have bgEer heads or:s The ea mse
than the females. The average female is
five-eighths, of an inch long: The color
Of the farmer ant is dark brown. The
males and developed females do not 60
out of doors at all except for exercise and
! sunbaths.
These ants always establish their COL
onies in places where there is unobstruct-
ed sunlight, doubtless because shade
would interfere with their farming op-
erations. If tree grows up near them,
they will cut off every one of it's leaves
in early spring. They work only in the
cool part of the day and when it is cloudy.
About the first of December they retire
into their habitations and appear to un-
dergo a sort of hibernation. Doubtless
their stores of grain serve to provide
them with food during this period. In
early spring, when it is sunny and warm,
they come out and bunch themselves in
balls as big as mans fist. When fairly
aroused to activity by the advancing
season, they start in busly to clean up
the clearing, removing all refuse and
making everything ready for the planting.
Their favorite cultivated plant is the
familiar buffalo grass. -: