Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1917 — DESTROY ANTS WITH CANNON [ARTICLE]

DESTROY ANTS WITH CANNON

That Method Has Been Proved In Tropical Countries to Get the Best Results. It is hard to imagine big guns killIng anything except men and horses. In South Africa and other tropical countries, however, they are used to kill ants —the termites, or warrior ants. These ants are as highly organized as the Huns: They live in a republic of their own, and are divided into classes of workmen, soldiers, and queens. The workmen construct the huge nests, the soldiers defend them and keep order, and the females, or queens, are cared for by all the others. The ant heaps of these particular ants are often 20 feet high and pyramidal in shape- Cattle climb upon them without crushing them. A dozen men can find shelter in some of their chambers, and native lie in wait inside them when out after wild animals—after the nests have been deserted, of course. The ants construct galleries which are as wide as the bore of a large cannon, ahd which run 3 feet to 4 feet underground.—lf.Ave. .built houses as big in proportion a working man would live in a dwelling as big as a pyramid of Egypt. ■ ' ——- These ants are frightfully destrue tive, and the only Way to kill them ofi is to blow them and their nests to pieces with guns -.loaded -with grapeshot. _