Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1895-06-24

| dumb,
! And then, with start-I awoke!
Ella Wheeler Wilcox in Youths Com
| paniOn.
| 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 rice of the human husbandman,
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| tention of the insects was withdrawn.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 ZINES. The
home of colony is marked ordinarily by
circular clearing from five to thirty
| feet in diameter. on which nothing is
permitted to grow. This serves as sort
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 EGn as cacti, CROSSWORD
| and mesquite. The plants naturally pre-
vailing in that part of the country are
entirely absent from the most thickly-
! settled farming districts. In short, these
insects have developed an art of agricul-
| ture peculiar to themselves, have made
conquest of the land for their needs, and
| have arti6cialized certain cereals as thor
| oughly as maize and barley have been
artifcialized 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 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
have been -exhaustiyely described by
lands of the Lone Star state their farms
are plentifully scattered. These, like
| those of Mexico, are mostly fiat and cir
| cular clearings, from which communica-
ton is had by roads with the surrounding
| cultivated heritage. In thescenter of each
! such clearing is hole which serves as a
| gateway, opening into the subterranean
| 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 a double column, one going and
one coming. The pathway is trodden
hard by their feet. Those coming are
| heavily laden, each carrying a 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 passageway leads downward at
q 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 horseshoe, 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 insects. There is
apt to be one grand storeroom z 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
is promptly killed. The workers possess
very formidable stings, which are used
with effect upon too inqulsltlve human
beings. The poison seems to be quite
powerful causing a good deal OF imam
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 or the dry SIuDple, So IAaC
their fields may be ready for planting IN
the spring. Respecting the methods Of
planting adopted by the insects, no reli-
able observations have been made up to
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
become the mothers of future colonies;
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 distln-
guished from the latter by the fact that
they have bigger heads. The male are
bigger than the workers and smaller
than the females. The average female is
fve-eighths of an inch long. The color
of the farmer ant is dark brown. The