The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1920-03-18
THE Ant AS A DAIRYMAN.
Industrious insect Not Only Works
But Keeps Cows to Work for Him.


and spray for bugs and bliShts n Ses
much of the pleasure or gardenlnS'
for there is as much to interest the
naturalist, floral or animal, IN the
home garden as anywhere else On
earth One need not seek a foreign
land or a forest for his nature study
for a backward garden will give full
onportunity. The growing habits OF
his common vegetables and the insects
that attack them will. with a little
observation, provide pleasing amaze
ment. And no insects are more inter-
esting than the tiny plant-llce OF
anhids. which grow in large numoef
of forms and suck the j0ice from var
ious kinds of plants.
The most remarkable thing ABOUT
some of the aphids is their partner
ship with other insects. Many forms
of the aphids are fostered and protect
ed from the beginning to the end OF
their little lives by the industrious
ants. The partnership seems to have
reached a most perfect form in the
case of the corn root-aphis and the
cornfeld ant, and it is usually found
that where there are aphids there are
ants.
The partnership of ant and aphis-
the corn ant and the corn root-aphls
-operates in nearly every section
where corn is grown east OF the ROCKY
Mountains. The workings of the
partnership have been compared to
subteanean dairy, with the aphis as
the ants Cow" the ant directing the
enterprise, the aphis doing the work,
and the ant getting the profits. The
ant is not directly harmful to the corn,
but the aphis is. Without the ant,
however, the firm would have to go
out Of business, and that is why the
department of agriculture tells farm
ers who want to get. rid Of the corn
root-aphis to get rid Of the ant. The
same advice applies in the case OF
certain other forms of root-aphis.
This is how the subteranean dairy
works:
~ In the fall the ants carry the eggs
of the aphis to their nests and care
for them as they do their for own
young. In the spring, when the eggs
hatch, the ants tunnel along weed
roots and place the. helpless aphids
on the roots. Soon the aphids begin
to. give off 'thoney-dew," made from
the juice of the plants on which the
aphids are resting. The ants dearly
love ''honeydew,' and they tenderly
watch over and care for their "cows.'
The aphids are wholly dependent
throughout their life on the ants.
The first two or three generations
of the aphids live entirely on the
roots of weeds, but as soon as the
newly planted corn sprouts the ants
transfer the aphis to the more succu-
lent corn roots, After two or three
successive generations, many of the
aphids may be winged, and some es-
cape from the ground through the ant
tunnels and fly away to new field.
8 If they chance to alight near an ant
hill they are seized Immediately by
the watchful ants, carried into their
burrows, placed on roots, and honey
dew production starts again.
When cold weather is approaching
and the ant carries the aphids' eggs
and the young ants deeper into the
soil, the ant goes at least eight inches
under the soil and eight inches is
deeper than the ordinary plow furrow.
The particular aphis that attacks
corn is called the corn root aphis be-
cause of it's preference for that plant.
In gardens it is very common on as
ters and related plants. There are
many other varieties of aphids, how
ever, and for many of them ants have
a tender feeling. For instance, there.
are the aphids that attack orange
trees in California. The ants sur
round these aphids, attack other in
sects that attempt to reath them, and
induce the aphids to excrete honey
dew by stroking their bodies with the
antennae, or feelers. Unfortunately
for the orange aphids, however, they
are attacked by winged parasites
which ''sting" and lay eggs in them,
and these PARASITES are so small and
active that til ants cannot success
fully defend their charges.
The corn root-aphids in fields are
controlled by rotating with crops upon
which the aphids can not live by
plowing and disking, breaking up the
ant and aphid colonies and by the use
of certain pungent substances, mixed