The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-11-13
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Fungus Gardens of South Ameri-
can Ants-Special Prey OF Con.
sumption-Indian Irrigation; an
Example for America = I'm
shrlnkable Fabrics - Limits of
the Vo1ce-The Unexplored Earth
Fruit Under Colored Glass-A
New Indigo.
Especial to the Citizen.l

pected that leaf-cutting ants actually
grow fungi for food, manuring their
gardens with countless fragments of
leaves, but it is only recently that Herr
Alfred Moller. German student sent
out by the Berlin Royal Academy of
Sciences, has proven this by exact Oh
servation. An investigation of the
habits of niue species of ants, belong
ing to three genera, was made during
two years sojourn in Brazil. Not
only were these species all found to be
cultivators of fungi, but each genus
grew only one kind, differing from
that raised by the others, and would
starve rather than to eat any other
sort. The jealous care of the tiny
gardeners has developed special forms
of fungus, much as human selection
has developed choice cabbages and
caulifiowers from the common kind.
The garden of the genus Alta occupies
the center of the nest as loose, sponge
like mass, consisting of leaf-fragments
held together by funguous threads.
In the spOnge-like cavities the ants
live, place their eggs, and rear their
young. Leaves are cut in great guam
titles from a great variety of plants,
but are never eaten, the sole food of
the ants being their own cultivated
fungus. The gardens grow very rap
idly. They are specially welded by q
special class of the colony, smaller in
size than the leaf-cutters, aud if neg
lecJed for even single day they shoot
out innumerable fungOus threads and
become unmanageable thickets. 1t
sometimes happens that only a few
ants are left in charge of a garden,
when, after working desperately to
keep it in order, they are compelled to
flee for their lives from their too luxur-
liant food plant. When nest is bro
ken into, or the colony migrates, ev-
cry portion of the garden is carefully
removed to new place.
1t is stated that 1876 in every 100
telegraph operators in England die of
consumption. The proportion among
cutlery grinders, who are specially
subject to the disease, is 1871 in 100;
while out of 100 deaths among all
adult males in the country, only 1873
are caused by consumption.
India stands pre-e inent for her gil
gantic engineering undertakings, says
Mr.. Herbert NJ Wilson in the twelfth
annual report of the United States &C.
illogical Survey. No other country
has SO vast and so fertile an eXpanse of
territory, with such convenient slopes
for the construction of canals, and, at
the same time such convenient wa
ter supply. In general there is great
similarity between the climate and to-
Biography of the great northern plains
of India and portions of our arid west,
especially the slope of the Rocky
Mountains aud the great California
Valley. Central India and the Dec
can have many feature in common
with the central arid Territories, par
ticularly portions of Northern Arizona
and Southern Utah. The climate is
tories as is the topography. The con-
ditions under which Americans must
undertake irrigation enterprises are not
so different from those existing in In
dia and Southern Europe as would at
first appear. Any works we may con-
struct must depend for their utiliza-
ton and revenue on immigration, as
they will be largely undertaken in a
sparsely inhabited country. A few OF
the great canals of the Northw west Prov
inces and the Punjab were underta-
ken in districts that were
sparsely Inhabited. These canals are
among those of India that have
paid the largest on the original outlay.
Within ten years from their construc.
ton the country was fully populated,
although the immigration was often
from remote portions of India. In 1888
the area of British territory in India
was ], 1854, 720 square miles and the pop
ulation 269. 477,729. The area cultiva-
ted was 144, 100000 acres, of which
25, 900, 900 acres were irrigated lands.
A process that is claimed TO render
thread and fabrics absolutely non
shrinkable has been devised by Messrs
Mathelin, FloqueL and Bonnet. The
old alumlna or sulphate of alumina
process is combined with treatment
with carbonate of soda solution and
the use of steam. To its fixing prop
erty the steam adds the advantages OF
increasing the degree of solution of the
alumina salts, and of removing all
greasy feeling of the treated fabrics.
In an investigation of the range OF
the human voice, Prof. w. LIE Conte
Stevens has found the singing limits &c
be from 43 to 2048 vibrations per sec
ond, and has observed the squeal of q
child as high as 3072 per second.
An aggregate area of about twenty
millions of square miles OF the earth's
surface is as yet quite unexplored, &C
cording to an address by Prof. j. Lo-
gan Tobley to the London Geographic
cal Congress. This aggregate is made
up as follows: Africa, 6,500,000 square
miles; Australia, 2,250,000; North
America, 100000; South America
500, 900; Asia, 100000; Islands, 100000
| Arctic regions, $500, 900; Antarctic re-
gions, 100000 This estimate leaves
out of account the very imperfectly
known regions of Central Asia anC
the interior of the northern parts o1
both North and South America. a.
we'll as the similar areas of Africa anC
Australia. When we add not merely
the enormous areas of these only par
TALLY explored regions, but also those
that though explored are not yet accu
rately surveyed, it will be seen tina
| the field for further exploration ant