The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-23
ANTS THREATEN LOUISIANA
CROPS IN DANGER FROM AN IN.
VADER FROM ERAZIL.


New ORLEANS, June 2~2.-Louisiana ha,
beer invaded on three sides by insect era-
mics and will nave a fight OF it's hands for
some years il IL Is to get rid of them On
the west the Mexican boil weevil has pushed
forward from Texas nearly to the centre
of the State. At the north the Kansas
locusts are crossing the border from Ar
kansas. In the south the so-called New
Orleans ant is showing it's teeth and begin
ming to attract attention as an agricultural
danger.
The last Legislature created a Ststa
Crop Pest Commission mainly TO fight the
boil weevil. 1t was hoped that il would ha
able by a system of quarantine and h.
abandoning cotton cultivation in the vest
ern parishes to stop the weevil at the Sabin,
River. But the commission has found Il
advisable to take up the New Orleans ant
also. and lust now it sees more danger in
that little insect thar in the weevil. Ey-
~perience in Texas has shown how TO meet
the ravages Of the weevil and Will. there
seems no way of exterminating it the cotton
farmer can, by a little care in planting the
crop and burning the stalks, reduce the
loss to a minimum. The New Orleans ant
has 30 far proved invinoible.
The name New Orleans ant has been
fastened on it. although it is not a New
Orleans product. II made its first appear
ance in the United States in this city and
has become thoroughly domesticated here
and it is from New Orleans that II is being
distributed to other parts Of Louisiana,
It's correct name is Iridomermex hiemilis
ma ior and it is said to be Of Brazilian or
Argentine origin. 1t is 80 much like the
ordinary red ant, Formica %sanguinea. ant
the little red or sugar ant, Myrmica molesta
troublesome anti. hat its presence here
was not noted at first.
H~ouseholders, gardeners and horticul-
turiste became aware OF the fact that ants
we're more numerous and more trouble
some than formerly, but this increase was
popularity attributed to the improved
drainage and dryer soil. A Jesuit father
was u e first to discover that the increase
was d, e 10 the appearance Of a new species
Of ant Ieculiar to South America.
Just when it slipped in il is somewhat
dificult to say, but it probably arrived
-four or FIVE years g on coffee ships from
Brazil, and the revival and prosperity n
the coffee trade OF New Orleans is prob
HDlY TekpOilHlDlt lOI ic SOiA4lhB'
The ant prospered and increased. mainly
in the upper part Of the city and in those
districts where the soil is sandiest. II
drove out the Louisiana ants and began
following their practices, raiding the pantry
and seeking sugar, cakes and preserves.
When it could not get these things IL did
what the sugar ants had done-ate wood
and woodenware.
Complaints found their way to the paper.
The old fashioned mode of dealing with
these marauders, by the use Of hot water,
failed to be effective, and chemists got 70
work on new and appetizing ant poisons.
There have been a dozen or more OF these
placed on the market lately, but the most
that they have accomplished has been 70
keep down the ravages of the ants.
A short time ago the superintendent
at Audubon Park. the uptown park Of New
Orleans, began complaining OF the trouble
he was having in protecting the trees,
plants and shrubbery from the ants. At
the adjacent Louisiana Experiment Sta
ton the fight against the ant has not been
successful. Last year the orange orop
there was ruined, the ants eating the orange
blossoms. and this year the orange farms
in the neighboring parish of Plaquemines
have lost severely from the ravages of the
Brazilian ant.
From New Orleans the ant has pushed
out into other parts of the State, first into
the orange and then into the sugar districts,
where it has caused the increase Of the poo
a-push, an insect very injurious to the
sugar cane, with which the Brazilian in
vader has fraternized. 1t is now thor
oughly domesticated in Baton Rouge, and
has been found at Alexandria, Lafayette,
Lake Charles and other points,
The ant is not only injurious in itself but.
like all other species of ants, facilitates the
Of other injurious insects which
take up their homes with IT,. So serious has
the situation become that the Louisiana
State Pest Commission warned the planters
in its report issued a few days ago.
Unless measures are found for the con-
troll of this pest, the commission said, the
orange industry of the State is doomed, and
eventually the success of the sugar cane
industry will be threatened by it. All fruit
industries will suffer from its presence.
AS it destroys or drives out all native
species OF ants, its appearance in the cotton
is likely TO result in increased damage
by the boil weevil, The most active enemy
which the boil weevil has in Louisiana is the
small fire ant, and the latter is likely 10 be
exterminated or driven out Of the cotton
fields by the New Orleans ant.
we have no funds with which TO inaugu-
rate an investigation Of this pest or to find
OF control, but unless steps are
very shortly against this pest the agri-
interests Of the State will pay toll
to it TO the extent Of hundreds Of thousands
Of dollars
Nothing has been lone or even proposed
as yet, but 1t is probable that the matter viii
be called to the attention Of the United
States Bureau Of Entomology by the Louisl-
congressman.
The experience OF the island Of Grenada
in the West Indies with Formica sacchini-
vora, a sugar eating ant, is recalled. The
ant appeared In the island and thrived on The
cane. Its ravages were kept up for ten
years, until the sugar planters Of Grenada
desperate. A reward Of 100000
offered for a remedy that would get ri
Of the ant.
Fire. poison and a hundred other remedies
were tried hut In vain Finally when the