Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-06-10
BOIL WEEvlL'S ENEMY
Functions of Guatemala Ant
That Kills Cotton Parasite.
QUITE HARMLESS TO PLAET LIFE

Discovery by Agricultural Depart
ment Agent Considered of Great
Importance-Insect Enemy of the
Weevil and Other Pests VIII he
Imported Into Tcxns-Another Ant
That Destroys Cotton Pest,
Guatemala brown ants have been
matched for fight To a finish against
the Texas boil weevil, says a Washing
/ ton special despatch To the Chicago
Record Herald. Secretary Wilson has
had experts of the agricultural depart
| ment exploring the four corners of the
earth in search Of an insect to destroy
the boil weevil, and one of his bota-
nists. DR.. o. +. Cook, has discovered
| 1t in the Guatemala ant.
The Indians OF Mexico and the Cen
tral American states are able to pro-
| duce crops of cotton upon land infested
with the boil weevil. In searching for
an explanation DR.. Cook discovered
large brown ants, which, in colonies of
a half dozen or more, make their homes
near each cotton plant, feeding upon
vegetation of the cotton field, without
injury to the cotton plant These ants
Kill the cotton pest rapidly, prevent it
from reaching the pod and in their
home are complete protection for the
plant The ants will be brought to
Texas and liberated.
After a conference with DR.. b. L.
Galloway, chief of the bureau of plant
industry and other experts. Secretary
Wilson had Il special bulletin on the
subject printed. Among other things
this bulletin says:
THE ants, like the Indians, probably
came from the dry, open interior
plateau region, where the center of the
aboriginal cotton industry of Guate-
maa is still located. TO establish the
fact of such an origin for this useful
insect would greatly increase the prob
ability of its successful introduction
into the United States The acclmi-
tiZation of a thoroughly tropical ami
NAL requiring continuous heat and
humidity could scarcely be hoped for.
IL, llON ever, lLt tOttOh ant tull NlNt
a long dry season, and perhaps cold
weather in the tabelands of Guate-
mala, it might easily learn to hibernate
in Texas as has the boil weevil
"The ant is much better able TO pro-
tect itself against frost, since it eXca
Yates nest three or more feet into
the ground Several have survived
confinement for twelve days without
food, and seem now to be thriving on a
diet of cane juice.
although the cotton seems to be es-
pecially adapted to attract the ant by
means of its numerous hectares, the
insect is not, like some of the members
of its class, confined to single plant
or to a single kind of prey. 1t attacks
and destroys insects of every order,
including the hemiptera, and even cen
tipeds. On the other hand, it does not
do the least injury to the cotton or to
any other plant, so far as has been as
certained, and it can be handled with
impunity, having none of the waspish
i'll temper of so many of the stinging
and biting ants of the tropics. Since
where once established it exists in
large numbers and seeks its prey ac-
lively, it is much more efficient de-
stroyer of noXious insects than the spi-
der or the toad. 1t seems. in short not
unlikely to become valued assistant
in the agriculture of tropical and sub
tropical countries, if not in temperate
regions. The farmer has new and
practical reason to consider the ant"
A species of ant which does all that
the department of agriculture claims
for the Guatemala ant, and even more,
has been discovered at work in the cot
ton fields of DeXar county, Tex, says
San Antonio dispatch to the New
York Herald. 1t is believed that it
can be multiplied in sufficient num-
bers to become an important factor in
the salvation of this years cotton crop
from the boil weevil.
Jose Cassiano, former county collect
or, who has several hundred acres of
cotton in DeXar county, has these ants
in his fields. He says that about a
lllOlllH uSO LIS ucltlS WE'RE ullNe Will
weevils, but that now there is not Il
live weevil on his place. The plants
are covered with little red ants and
the ground strewn with dead weevils.
The ants, said Mr.. Cassiano, seemed
to have completed the slaughter and
were carrying off the common pest by
the thousand. He says that the res
cuers of his crop seem to be the ordi-
nary red ants.
In chopping and cultivating cotton
in DeXar county now farmers are
guarding against disturbing ant nests
Of all kinds. 1t is now being recalled
by cotton planters that the fields which
were free from weevils last year were
inhabited by ants. The ants described
by Mr. Cassiano appear to be nonveg-
etarians and very fierce.