The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-09-22
A GARDEN SAVED FROM
ANTS BY ELECTRICITY

N. Y. Trihune-A few months ago
n visitor TO the Panama Canal stood
on the edge of the Culebra cut ac,
rompanied by one of the engineers of
the central division, and looked down
upon small army of laborers drilling
blast holes and shifting track for the
steam shovels.
Surprising activity for men in this
climate,'' he remarked
'Get more work out of these hom-
bres in one day than they got out of
the Italians that dug the New York
subway in two,' replied the engineer.
s'Yes, and we have two active
armies at work here he continued.
+'The army of construction and the
army of destruction. The destroyers
are little fellows, but they are here by
she millions. Never sleep. Toll all
day long. Never do any good; only
undo things and Destroy
ssyou mean the idle, plotting revolu-
tir1. .sts, ] suppose said the visitor.
"No revolutionists here" laughed
the engineer. "Ants There's thou
sand of them at your feet now. ~
Tie visitor looked down and saw a
thin, brown, irregular line that began
IN the jungle and continued down the
side of the cut till the eye could no
longer see it.
'iThat liue goes clean across the
cut,'' said the engineer, land Wends
its way for miles into the jungle on
the other side. Lord knows what they
are building over there, but they GER
tainly keep at it. -
The observations of the engineer
prompted the visitor to look into the
ant problem, and it was found that all
sorts of schemes fairly successful had
been undertaken to keep the ant out
of the houses and truck gardens of the
Isthmian Canal Commission.
The abundance of rain (ab9ut ll2
inches annually that falls on the 18th
mus and the rich, red soil that is every
where afford an excellent opportunity
for the cultivation of vegetables and
landscape plants, but the invasion OF
the ants has been handicap to the
truck gardeners in the canal zone
In 1905 the Isthmian Canal Commits
sion made three experimental truck
and landscape gardens at Ancon, Coro
zal and Empire. Six acres are now
under cultivation at Empire, and a
fourth garden is contemplated for
Pedro Miguel. The gardens are irri-
gated during the dry season by gal
vanized iron pipes and various faucets
about one hundred feet apart, with
hose attachments. The stables of the
zone contribute all the additional fer
tilizer needed to enrich the soil
Fungi and ants were the two great
problems the gardeners had to contend
with. The fungous diseases were
treated with bordeaux mixture, and the
ants and other leaf eating insects were
eombated with arsenate of lead and
paris green.
Chemicals of No Avail.
The ants were destroyed by the thou
sands, but they always came back with
stronger reinforcements, and new
method of attack was planned by theii
human enemies. The gardeners hi
upon scheme of putting carbon bi
sulphide in the insects formicaries
setting it on fire and causing a sub
terraneous explosion. The fumes de
stroyed the ants, and they kept away
for while, but as the truck gardens
took on a semblance of prosperity thu
ants returned twentyfold. The army
of destroyers seemed to have passed
the word along to their neighbors II
remote parts, for great files moved t.
the truck gardens from all points o.
the compass.