The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1916-07-22
THE ANT.

500 to the ant, thou sluggari
consider her ways, and be wise.
In this day and generation on
does not have to 60 far from an
given point about us to reach th
ant. If you are sluggard, "she
will get the best of you ever
time. Ii a study Of her ways j
carefully made enough can b
learned to afford real entertain
ment for a day or two, beside
making one wise.
The writer of the above quota
tion was wise. He probably
knew enough of the natural histo
ry OF the little insect to know tha
the real workers are undevelope.
females. Therefore, we are sen
to consider "her' ways She i.
the great worker, the provider fo,
the home, the burden bearer, and
the warrior defender Of the colo
ny The male ant is the rea
slnggard and may be summed uI
as the Indispensable nuisance OF
the community. The queen ant,
Very easily distinguishable, is the
hope OF posteIity. She is 30 busy
through her career that she must
have a wonderful number of train
O. assistants to accomplish her
end less work She never sleeps
knows no night nor day. With
her, upon entering her life work,
there is but one event-the pro.
dactlon of eggs-withOut number
and without end while life lasts.
These eggs are gathered by her
attendants and made up into great
bundles and stored for the period
of incubation. The individual
egg is very small and cannot be
seen by the unaided human eye
but when put into sacks and seal
ed, they are readily dlscernabIe
whenever the colony is disturbed.
The attendant, which is entrusted
with the care Of one of these
sacks, containing between five
and ten thousand eggs, is wonder.
fully loyal to duty. At the peril
of her own life abe will endeavor
to save her charge from harm
She seems to be capable of no
panic which would cause her to
neglect her charge.
The neutral ant is accredited
with q lifetime of about three
years, where it is permitted to
live out it's life span. In each
colony or nest the number of
queens permitted is governed only
by the available suitable room.
They are not disposed to migrate
as long as there is suitable room.
It ls cOntended that the ant does
not store food for future needs
that 1t only ''preys" for its s'daily |
bread" 1t carries back to its
colony food for the young, their
attendants, and the queens.
Any system of fighting ants
which does not contemplate the
destruction of the egg producer
will make but little effect upon
he colony. If the warfare can
be carried to the limit of destroy
0g the queens, their store of eggs,
heir attendants, and undeveloped
7oung, it may be claimed that
Roadway is being made.
Try this plan Get any old
wooden box, up to 1878 inches
'qusre, by IL or 80 inches deep,
! convenient size for quick han
lliDK-and load it with any kind
4 old trash or straw-preferably,
'xcelsior or hay. When loaded,
,0ur over it a bucket OF clean wa.
or. Repeat this till the packing
t the box is thoroughly saturated
The box should have holes or
racks in the bottom so that all
urplus or free water will readily
rain of. Now, place the box
vhere 1t will attract the attention
I the ants. 1t should be pro
ected from sun and rain.
This trap nest will be ready for
be harvest in eight or ten days.
'Ou would like to know what you $
ave trapped, quite naturally. [
AXE q large sized washtub; place t
couple of bricks IN it and pour t
! water, but not enough to cover =
hs bricks Charge the water t
ith soap or lye; or, better still, q
id to it q cupfuIl of coal OIL 8
'ow pick up your ant trsp-nest (
nd quickly set 1t on the bricks,
!, that it does not touch the sides I
the tub any ywhere. Now you &
10 investigate your catch ad libi. q
I'm. The result will satisfy you q
lat you have made some head 0
ay against the enemy. o
By using a liberal supply of .
can boiling water to destroy
)ur prisoner ants the same nest
I'd its filling may be used over r,
I'd over again. When cool, reset d
10 trap nest in it's former posi-
on-the 100000, 900 foragers, :
blch were out at the time their
,me was destroyed, will return.