Arizona silver belt., 1895-07-13
AGRICULTURAL ANTS.
Wonderful Mexican Insects That
 Till the Soil.
Thef plaat Fields or Grain and by Their IUdustry and Ingenuity Gain Sub sistence in an Almost Ear
 ren Land,


 Recently Prof W, J McGee, of the government scientific corps, paid visit to some very remarkable farmers in Sonora, Mexico. These are the so- called agricultural ants, which plant fields of grain and regularly harvest their crops Upon the latter they de- pend wholly for food. In fact, if the crops should fail they would perish of famine,
 Tho fields of the farmer ant cover scores of square miles in Sonora. The | home of a colony is marked ordinarily by 8 circular clearing from five to thir- i ty-live feet in diameter, on which noth
 ing is permitted to grow This serves as a sort of parade and exercise ground l Around tho clearing is a ring of luxuri- ant grass from three to twenty feet | wide On the seeds of this grass the insects subsist, planting it every spring | and garuering the crop in the autumn 1 lurupilSes few inches wide connect | farm with farm for many f,wlongs l In the region described, says the New ! York World, there is practically no 1 vegetation except the grasses cultivated | bv these ants. The latter appear to l keep down and cxterminate all other 1 plants, such as cacti, Ercasewood and l mesquite In short, these insects have l developed an art of agriculture peeul- i far to themselves, have made conquest l of the land for their needs, and haze 1 arttGcialized certain cereals as thor | oughly as maize and barley have been artHlcializcd by man.
 Thus, said Prof. McGee, the rig
 orous environment of the desert has de- vclopcd one of the most remarkable in l telligenccs, and, incidentally, an aui- 1 nal and 8 plant have come to be mu. 1 tuallv dependent upon each other for
 existence
 ! The agriculture of these ants seems
 10 be far more extensive in sonora than l in TCxas, where their farming opera- l tious have been eNhaustively described
 bv Henry C. Mcf,ool, On the flat table lands cf the Lone Star state their fgrus are plentifully scattered. These, i like those of Mexico. are mostly flat
 and circular cleariugs from which com
 municatiou is had by roads with the
 surrounding cultivated herhage In 1 the center of each such clearing l. | hole which serves as a gateway, open
 ing into Che subterrancan 1oruicary.
 So widely distributed are the farms
 that they are fcsJnd m the very streets
 and gardens Ot Austin, Tex.
 At thc cine of the harvest one or
 more 1f thc roads leading to the formi.
 cary may be seen on any fine day to De
 throurcd with workers Iuarcaing toand
 fro in a double column, one going and
 one coming. The pathway is troddcn
 hard by their feet Those coming are
 heavily laden, each carrying e seed.
 They to not gather the aceds frcn the
 grass tops. but picE up those which
 Lave r,pcued and fallen. Forthcse they
 search on the ground in tine forest of
 grass stalks, feeling for them with their antenuw Having secured one, a work
 CT ant lifts it, adjusts the burden so as
 to be carried mot easily, and finds her
 way bacl, to tho road, along which she
 trots homcwarl finally disappearing
 through the gatewuy
 Within the gate is q yestihulc from
 which a passagcway leads downward
 at slant to Che room beneath. Some of these rooms arc nurseries for the
 rearing of the young of the colony,
 while others are prGuaries iu which the
 seeds arc stored. Usually the rooms
 are shaped somewhat like horsesboes, the walls and floors being neatly and
 smoothly finished with plaster, for
 which suitable earth is brought from
 above and made adhesive with the saliva of the insccts There is apt to E2 5 one grand storeroom two inches or So in height and three or four inches long, . the Q her apartments being somewhat 3 smaller All of them are formed with domcs.
 The seeds before being stored in thc cranaries are husked. All rcfusc, in-
 oludiug husks and imperfect sceds, is carried ont and thrown outside the limits of tue formicary. Nothing is permitted to rcniain on the clearing, Anything that falls upon 1t Is eat to pieces and taken away. II a luellless ! taublebug rolls ils ball into the for. biddcn tcrritory i, is driven away, or if it refuses to retreat 1t is promptly
 killed
 ' The workers possess very formidable stiugs. which are used with effect upon . too iuquisitive human beings. The poison seems 10 be quite powerful, causing inflammation and sometimes nausea. However, the insects arc quite
 peaceful unless outrageously disturbed After they have harvested thcirgrain | in the autumn they carefully cut away all the dry stubbla so that their fields may be ready for planting in the : spring Respecting the methods oi ? plontipy adopted by the insects no re. { liable observations have been made uI
 to date. All of the labor of whatever
 descrfptcn is performed by the work
 CTS. who arc undevcioped females. Tho ! males do nothing. the sole purpose ol their existence being to pcrpetuate the
 species The developed females arc
 destined to become the mothers of fu q turc colonies,
 These ants always establish theh { colonies in laces where there is unOb ' strpctcd sunlight doubtless because
 shade would interfere with their farm {, ing oDcratiouG If q trcc grows IT . near them u,cy will cut off every 2 one of it's leave in early spring. They :, work only in the cool of the day
 TURTLES GOOD TO EAT. , This Country Is Blessed with No Les . Than Forty Varieties t Edible turtles of the United State Z ore discussed by q writcrin the learnet