Ants
(Formicidae). Well-known pests, easily distinguished from all other insects. There are a great number of species, differing more or less in habits; but, as a rule, they dwell underground in communities, and construct extensive ant-cities, which are occupied by three classes--the neuters or workers (by far the most numerous), the males, and the females. There are often, in addition to these, larger and stronger neuters, known as the "soldiers," or defenders of the community. Ants have a long, slender body, supported on long and slender legs. The head bears a pair of elbowed horns or antennae, constantly waving about and touching everything the insect comes across. They have powerful mandibles for cutting, sawing, and biting, and it is with these instruments that Ants do mischief in gardens. The winged males and females become mature in summer, and on a warm day they ascend in a body into the air; after a short time, they fall to the ground, the females at once free themselves from the henceforth useless wings, and begin to form new colonies. Vast numbers of eggs an laid, from which issue larvae, and these soon become pupae, and then perfect Ants. Some kinds are injurious from their habit (in some species) of collecting aphides together, and farming them for the sake of the honey secreted by the aphides, and that passes out from their honey-tubes (thus helping to perpetuate the stock of these most injurious insects); and also from the mechanical damage they do in pots, and other receptacles for plants. They likewise cause unsightly hills on lawns and paths, and the large black species that live in decayed wood often injure the framing of greenhouses, &c., when the woodwork has become somewhat decayed. Where fruit, such as peaches or wall pears, are grown, Ants will at times inflict damage, and, therefore, they should be kept away; but this is a comparatively easy matter, as the placing of an obnoxious substance along the base of the walls and around the stems of the trees will deter them. For the extirpation of Ants from indoors, the Arsenical solution described below is most efficacious, but it is extremely dangerous.
Lime. Air-slaked lime plentifully dusted, in warm, dry, weather, over and around the hills and other places infested will cause the Ants to vacate them in a short time. A thick chalk line drawn round a smooth tree, or across an upright board or post, will render it impassable.