Insects Affecting Vegetables (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Insects Affecting Vegetables

Ame. These insects are often suspected injuring the plants over which they are seen running, but as a rule they are only indirectly responsible. A few species, such as the large black Carpenter Ants. Form their galleries in trunks of trees, posts and timber and do a con siderable amount of damage, but the great variety of smaller species which infest our gardens do not feed upon foliage or injure growing plants. Sometimes they may be found upon unopened flower buds, but they are only attracted by some sweet secretions on the surface; as a rule their presence indicates that there is a colony of Aphids near by, which they take under their protection in order to obtain from them the sweet honey-dew exuded by these minute creatures. The worst injury for which ants are responsible is the establishmnt of colonies of Aphids upon the roots of many plants; the ants collect the eggs and take care of them during the winter and when growth is sufficiently advanced carry them to the roots and look after them during the summer, in order to have a constant supply of honey dew. These colonies increase rapidly and soon check the growth of the plant and ultimately destroy it. Where ants' nests abound, frequent digging and stirring of the soil, and in field cultivation repeated disking and harrowing, will get rid of many, or they may be treated with carbon bisulphide; a small quantity should be poured into the entrance of the nest or into a hole made with a stick and quickly covered with earth: the fumes will speed ily kill all the inmates. It is best to perform the Operation towards even ing when all the ants are within the nest This is a very effective mode of getting rid of the large colonies which make mounds of rubbish on lawns and in fields.

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