St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-08-08
Written for the FARNEk.1
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH
THE CARRIER ANT.

Was on the Berastegui plantation.
Ny first Impressions were that they
were . veritable scourye, to be exter-
minated BY Ill possible means. Subse-
quent study Of the sagacious insects
eradicated that false impression, and
I became converted to the belief that
they were far more Of . bcuent to their
neighbors, society At large, and to the
vegetable kingdom. than the semi-bar-
barous race sparsely distributed over .
land rich in internal resources, but
with Inhabitants lacking evsry trait Of
civilization.
We had martha Washington,"-a
climbing rose bush, brought from the
States, n0urished with tender care, nm.
til It had become one Of the floral won
ders Of the province. Trained TO .
trellis In front Of our cottage, II was .
source Of great pleasure to the s.Gov-
ernor." There tie tunefui mosquito
passed his leisure hours Of day; rare
bugs and beetles took refuge there from
the cratic night hawk.
Don Manuel, owner Of the plantation,
Was seated on the verandah with me,
enjoying quiet smoke, while watch
Ing the gorgeous pauoply Of color in
the Western sky at sunset, when saw
Z great ant, with abnormally large
head, going down from the TELLS to
the ground. ] called Don Ms atten-
ton to the visitor, Remaining that Il
was the largest ant I had ever seen
...se1,ss, nssp - rs1On ou~1n~ur..
my friend" remarked the Don,
ssyour rose bush Is going to be pruned.
That was one OF the engineers Of the
'portadores.'
II do not quite understand you,
sen0I."
81 have made . study Of that race.
You should do the same. You will hnd
them of absorbing interest II You do. !"
"And you think, Don NJ, that wan.
dering insect has some motive In his
visitI I wish we c0dld put It 70 the
proof"
"we can" repliel Don n. promptly.
HE is not ten feet away yet. We win
follow him. Between here and the
picket fence at the bottom Of your gar
den he will meet IN assistant, or per-
haps several poems Of his tribe. You
know that 500 yards or 50 from that
fence Is one of the highways of the
tribe. They have Travelled II for thirty
years, TO nv knowledge. I see you are
incredulous about the engineer Let
Pedro bring . lantern, It Is growing
dusk. That engineer will send q mes
senger to his chief"
"Where will he send him?'
.Ssrs> >1,o3p nAAt 90
ment, Of course, my ekeptical friend
the mound we saw this morning."
'sThat must be more than mile from
here. on the other side Of the pond"
As the Don had f0retold, the large
ant met others Of his species. After "a
Interchange Of ideas, by rubbing theil
antenne together. they travelled In com.
pany to the fence. ls0 feet from the
house. There was another engineer
there, promenadins tho strip to which
the pickets were nailed, six inches
above the ground, where several hum
dred Of the "peOns'' Of the tribe were
cutting down the grass, WORKING out
| ward from the fence "a commencement
Of the branch road to their main road
Snow, unbeliever," said Don NJ,
s'their plans are already mapped oui
for the raid ON the rose bush. You car
not prevent It."
s'There Is certain maxim, Don, thai
you may not have read, to this effect
When you know your e0emy's plans u
advance, you know best how to defeat
him."
"Exactly but you can never know
the plans Of this antagonist"
L xS6Ns>ua Ia vn,s ,~p~Hns>A -
that the simple instinct Of these insig
nincant Insect mites can cope With
trained human reason? will easily
defeat your proteges. Don, in spite Of
the sagacity of their double headed en-.
Riueers."
Don N. thought 1t would be wicked
to make any attempt ut wholesale
slaughter, in which agreed with him,
There was good sized pond Of Wstey
about dftv yards frUm the garden fenco
intended to cut . trench, . foot ri
more in width, across the lower end OF
the garden, outside Of the fence, and
al It from the pond.
The next day noticed the enemy still
at work on his branch road. I Wal
then overlooking my own poems digging
my protective trench. The Governor
Interviewed me from inside the fence.
"Y0u see, my dear, how easily car
defeat them. I will leave that piece
where they have already built theil
road. / can remove that ut any time
when they have their road ready, and
BY cutting that little dam scrpss the
road, can all this ditch In ten mipptes.S u
Iexplaiued my plan to the Don thai
evening, over abe chess hoard.
s'It will make their disappointment
more severe after all their labor" ssid
In conclusion.
"There Is an old Castillian saying -
replied Don NJ, "You cannot skin The
fox before you catch him.
EXACTLY! And those spacious in
| sects cannot modest our rose bush until
they reach it,
"These are I'VE 'calilas' Of yours
said the Don, ~ he lighted another q
the end OF our game. II will wagel
100 Of mine against 200 Of yours thai
you do not checkWate that 'lnsiguiA.
cant insect - y0n call him, Nous
Verrons! CompsdFe."
"Agreed, agreed" replied I, "but u
how many davsi How long must The
game last2 Give me limit, Don Nj"
"Well, - they have not half com.
| pleted their branch road, suppose NC
say ten daysl"
"Al right! Agreed again. II they
ret at that rose bush within ten days
| the calillas are yours"
"But." said Don NJ, imprcssively,