The News and courant. (Cartersville, Ga.) 1901-1904, July 11, 1901, Image 2

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| SOJUE JJEW FE/\TU]3FS I/J Tj-’E flflTS LIFE BY J. CARTER SEAxO. THE recent discoveries of Was nmn, Florei, Belt and others, added to the wonderful re sults of the investigations made a few years ago liy McCook, Mogcridge and Bates, have deservedly awakened anew interest in everything connected with the lives and habits of ants. The remarkable evidences they exhibit of something which, notwith standing its limitations, seems akin 1o human intelligence; the perfection, as compared with other insects, of its physical structure; the greater propor tion borne by the brain to the rest of the body; and its wonderful social life, so much more highly developed than that of the bees or of the wasps, have /: , 4.. workixs holding leaves in place while ot -r LAR VAE TO BIND AND CEMENT THE LEAVES. Inclined those who study it the closest to believe that, making allowance for the great inferiority of the class of invertebrates, the Formicadae certain ly hold among Invertebrates a rank commensurable with that sustained by primates, including man, among vetc brates. Taking into account the compara tively enormous masses of brain mat ter belonging to a number of large animals which exhibit a marked de gree of incogltance, and the intelli gence manifested by members of this division of Hymenopetra, the claim made by Darwin that the anterior gaugiiou in the bend of an ant consti tuting Its brain "is the most marvelous atom of matter iu the world,” is jus tified. It is interesting to notice how diverse are the methods adopted by inverte brate intelligence from that of man in attaining a desired result. For In stance, men make the tools they re quire for carving or for digging, in- HEAD OF WORKING ANT ' Showing toothed mandibles, -. sects grow them; vessels being needed as receptacles for liquid food, man learns the art of the potter, but the curious honey ants transform them selves into living bottles, to which the working members of the commune re sort for refreshment. The tools of Insects, exquisitely fashioned and finished, are much more perfectly adapted for the purposes they serve than are any contrived and manufactured by human beings, but there is a disadvantage connected with them—they cannot bo laid aside. The tools dominate the tool-bearers and check development in any direc tion not connected with their use. This leads to the extreme specializa tion we find among insects. The egg producer, the queen of the termites, although she possesses the usual num ber of limbs belonging to her species, Is totaliy incapable of locomotion, as are the living bottles of the honey ants. The queen lays eggs; she can do noth ing else; the living bottles store tip and yield food to other members of the formicary, and are as incapable of per STATE ELEPHANT OF THE FHEIDOLOGETON LARGE WORKER CARRYING TIIE SMALLER ONES. forming other uses us if they were mere lifeless cells in a honeycomb. Among the Formieadae this tenden- W t 0 specialization has resulted la eg tnbllshing species limited to particular industries or to particular methods of living. Some species of slave-making ants, for instance, coniine themselves HEAD OF WARRIOR ANT) pointed and curved man- / dibios unfitted tor work. so enlirely to military affairs, and have so entirely lost the arts of peace and efficiency in domestic matters, that they are not only obliged to depend upon their slaves to care for the young in the formicary, but to have the food placed in their own warlike mouths, and would starve in the midst of plen ty were this not done. The mandibles of these ants, Polyer gus rufescens and P. lucidus, the form er a European, the latter an American species, are entirely unfitted for work. They can neither crush, cut nor saw; but, being sharply pointed and curved, they make most serviceable weapous; with them in attacking an enemy, Poiyergus seizes the head of her foe between the points of ihese curved poignards and penetrates the brain at once. A number of ants among those of very different species are distinguished by possessing relatively large beads, the use of which is extremely problem atical. , And yet the smaller members of the commonwealths find a use for the great creatures. Numbers of them may often be seen riding about, as human beings do upon elephants, upon the backs and heads of their gigantic con freres. Even this use, however, does not account for the disproportionately large heads of the giants. But the Col obopsis ants, which burrow in brandies, seem to have discovered how to profitably employ the big-heads among them. They are placed at the entrances of the Formican dwellings, their great heads fitting in and filling the doorways. Asa worker belonging to the household approaches she is rec ognized by “the animated and intelli gent front door,” which draws back sufficiently to admit the entrance of its friend and then resumes its double office of sentry and of barrier. The Ecltou are the Arabs of tho ant tribes, always at war with all other animals, with no settled places of abode, but ever wandering in journeys that have no end. Yet in their tempor ary resting places the necessities and instincts common to the whole Formi oau family impel these nomads to build habitations which conform to the char acter and style of the fixed and per manent abodes of ordinary ants. As. however, both tlie time and natural apparatus for digging possessed by the latter are wanting to excavate gal leries and apartments necessary for feeding and sheltering larvae aud pupae, these remarkable animals overcome the difficulty in a most as tonishing manner by constructing liv ing habitations, using their own bodies as building materials. But the most amusing Instance of the manner in which an ant left by na ture to her own devices overcomes a difficulty is perhaps that of the Oeco phylla smaragdina. This ant, one of common occurrence in Eastern Asia, forms shelters by bending the edges of the leaves of the trees upon which it lives and fastening them together. The THE WEEKLY NEW'S, CARTERSVILLE. GA. adult ant possesses nothing with which to secure the edge of the leaves togeth er after they have been brought into the required position; but its larva is furnished with glands that secrete an abundance of adhesive, gelatinous sub stance, by the aid of which it forms its cocoon, and these intelligent in sects actually make animated mucil age brushes of their larvae in order to effect their purpose. A number of the ants, seizing the edges of the leaves in their mandibles, bring them together into the form needed and hold ihem there, while other ants, each one of which bears a larva in its jaws, ap ply the mouths of tho larvae to such parts of the leaves as require to be cemented together, and induce their offspring to disgorge as much sticky material as they find necessary to ac complish the desired result.—Scientific American. THE CULTIVATION DF EDCDA IN THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS TO the active young man pos sessed of a limited amount of capital, who is looking for an occupation as well as in vestment, in the Lesser Antilles or in many parts of Venezuela, the cultiva tion of cocoa is at the present time the most inviting of the agricultural pursuits. The island of Trinidad, which is the one most familiar to the writer, produces cocoa of a quality sec ond to none, and only equaled by that grown in the vicinity of Caracas, and always brings the highest price in the London market. Considerable patience is required to grow it from the seed lings, as it takes five or six years of cultivation before there is a harvest worth mentioning, and seven or eight years before a full crop can be real ized, but when the trees are once full grown they will continue to bear fruit for an almost indefinite time. The cultivation of cocoa consists largely of draining the land, keeping down tho undergrowth of bush and weeds, and trimming the trees. The flowers occur in clusters on the main branches and on the trunk of the trees, usually only one of each cluster reaching maturity. The fruit, which is seen in the illustration, is a hard pod six or seven inches long, resemb ling a cucumber, growing from the trunk or large branches, and looks very much as though it were artificial ly attached. Buds, blossoms and fruit, — COCOA DRY-HOUSES IN TRINIDAD-MIXING THE BEANS in all stages, occur side by side, and ripened fruit is harvested at all times of the year. The main crop, however, matures in the dry season, and is usu ally harvested in February, only small quaatttos ripening during the remain der of the year. The pods each contain five rows of seeds or beans, quite similar to a large, thick Lima bean, embedded in a pink, acid pulp. These seeds are the cocoa beans of commerce. The har vesting consists of cutting off the ma ture pods by means of a knife on a long bamboo pole, gathering them into heaps on the ground, where they are allowed to lie for about twenty-four hours. They are then cut open with a cutlass, the seeds aud pulp coming out in a mass; these are carried to the dry house. As soon as the beans reach the dry house, they are placed in the “sweat box or pit, where they are closed up tight and allowed to ferment for some time. The next process is tho drying, which is accomplished by spreading the beans in a layer over the platform and dry ing them in the sun. Laborers are kept constantly stirring them, while exposed to the sun, with a wooden rake, so that they will dry evenly. Each morn ing, during the early stages of the dry ing process, the beans are gathered into a heap in the middle of the floor aud given a thorough mixing. This is sometimes accomplished by the labor ers mixing and kueading them by treading them with their bare feet, as shown in the illustration. This Is known as “dancing the cocoa” and renders the beans smooth and uniform in color. It usually requires ten days or two weeks to finish the drying, de pending on the weather. The dried beans, when ready for market, are put in canvas bags holding about 150 pounds, and the name of the planta tion stenciled on the bags, these names or brands at times becoming very prominent in the market for the quali ty of cocoa the plantation is reputed to produce. The manufacturing, which is invari ably done in Northern factories, con sists of roasting the beans in a revolv ing cylinder; this develops the aroma and fits them for crushing. After the beans are crushed they are screened to separate the or crushed nuts, from the shells. The nibs are then ground to a flue meal; this is put in sacks and put in a powerful press, COCOA PODS ON THE TREE. where it is subjected to heat and pres sure, and the fat, known as “cocoa butter,” is squeezed uut, and the hard substance left in the sack has only to be broken or powdered to become the pure chocolate, aud this more or less adulterated is the chocolate of com merce.—Scientific American. Author Reveals Spider’s Methods. Professor D. Hess has just pub lished an interesting treatise on house insects, with especial reference to spi ders aud flies. The spider, he says, is a blood-thirsty insect of prey. But she is also a great artist and a most - tender mother, fiercely defending her eggs and her young ones. First, he says, the spid#r weaves a silken bas ket like repository for the eggs, using the rear part of her body as a form. In this basket she lays the eggs, piling them up carefully and neatly. Then she covers the exposed eggs with a fabric of silk threads, the whole forming a minute hall within which the eggs lie snugly well protect- ed from cold, etc. If this be instinct, a good deal of what is called “human intelligence” should be called “in stinct,” too, says the author. Keeping Up the Heat. •rne top of the stove is often crowd ed. There are dishes that are cooked, but must he kept warm. This can be accomplished by the device shown in the cut. A box just a bit higher than a hand u lamp has both top and bottom re moved. Across the top are stretched wires. The box is then set down over a lamp, and tho kettle or dish is set upon the wires, where its heat will be fully maintained. This device will often prove of the greatest service, and can be made by any one in ten minutes. Quite Like a Jewelry Store. la a Kansas town the other day Miss Ruby Opal entertained Miss Pearl Diamond. They were seen romping on the emerald green of the lawn with sparkles of fun shooting from their turquoise eyes.—Denver Post. The man who shakes hands most is generally the hardest to shake. FOURTH’S RECORD OF CASUALTIES Chicago Paper Presents Summarv of Accidents. DEATHS LESS THAN LAST YEAR Number of People injured In Cele. bratinjf Independence Day Overtops the Record. The Chicago Tribune in its issue of Friday presented reports from all over the country showing the number of persons killed and injured as a result of celebrating the Fourth of July. The number of actually killed is less than last year, being nineteen against thirty then, hut the number of injured is considerably larger, the figures be ing 1,611 against 1,325. The real list of fatalities will, how ever, not be known until the number of deaths resulting from lockjaw caus ed by toy pistol wounds comes in. Last year in Chicago there were no deaths reported on July sth from toy pistols, but before, the month was out twenty-five had died from the resulting lockjaw and the remainder of the coun try sent in equally fatal records. Chicago last year had one death and forty-two injured. This time no death is reported, but there is a list of 103 Injured. The number of wounds from toy pis tols, however, is limited to five, which would indicate that the prohibition put on that dangerous toy was at least par tially effective. Of other cities Philadelphia makes the largest showing. It reports 175 casualties of every kind and descrip tion and Cincinnati comes next with 150. New York was singularly lucky, being behind Chicago in the list of in jured, but it had three deaths result ing from an explosion of fireworks, and New London had a premature ex plosion of a cannon by which two more were killed. In Quincy, 111., there was also a fa tality from a runaway caused by horses becoming frightened at fire works, and there were a number of in juries in various cities growing out of the same cause. In the list of fatal ities explosions of fireworks and the careless handling of firearms caused the majority of the deaths, but ovei one-third of the ipjuries were caused by the careless handling of fireworks, especially skyrockets. After fireworks comes the toy pistol in the casualties list. Two hundred and forty-nine children were injured by these “toys” in various cities of the country and the question is now what will the fatality list amount to? By the premature explosion of can non in the hands of people who are not accustomed to their use, in several cases unfortunates lost hands and arms. A lamentable case occurred in a small town in South Dakota, where a boy was instantly killed by the explo sion of an anvil which was being used in lieu of a cannon. The loss by fire resulting from the careless use of fireworks or their pre* fnature explosion was less than in pre vious years, the fires as a rule beinp small ones and the damage light. In the entire country, from reports re ceived, it amounted to but a little over sub,ooo. DOWIEITES MOBBED. Fakers are Doughty Handled Ry Cit izens of Chicago Suburb. Twenty-one disciples of John Alex ander Dowie visted Evanston, a Chi cago suburb, Friday night and despite the efforts of the entire police force of the place, a mob of 1,000 people drove them out Ol town. Several days ago four of Dowie’s missionaries were egged and driver out of Evanston, and Friday night’s visit was intended to convert the peo ple of Evanston and show them the error of their ways. The instant the Dowieites begax their meeting they were assailed with eggs, vegetables and other missiles. The guard of policemen was too small to afford much protection and the would-be angels wore soon on the rue. DEATH OF COXGRESSMaX STOKES. South Carolina Representative Passes Away at His Home in Orangeburg. Dr. J. W. Stokes, congressman from the third South Carolina district, died Saturday at his home in Orangeburg, after a long illness. At Washington the following com mittee of representatives as appointed to attend the funeral: Representatives Elliott, Talbert, Latimer, Johnson. Finley and Scarbor ough, of South Carolina; Small and Thomas, North Carolina; Adamson. Livingston, Maddox and Fleming, of Georgia; Senators Tillman, McLaurin, Pritchard. Simmons, Clay, Taliaferro and Carmack. FORKIGXERS XOT IX IT. Rights of Aliens Xot Recognized By Alabama’s Xew Constitution. The Alabama constitutional conven tion Friday adjourned in a tangle over the political rights of foreigners who have only declared their intention to become citizens. It settled the quesc tion Saturday morning by throwing the whcle thing out and the new con stitution will say nothing about them. Your Hair “Two years ago my hair was falling out badly. I purchased a bottle of Ayer’s Hair Vigor, and soon my hair stopped coming out.” Miss Minnie Hoover, Paris, 111. Perhaps your mother had thin hair, but that is no reason why you must go through life with half starved hair. If you want long, thick hair, feed it with Ayer’s Hair Vigor, and make it rich, dark, and heavy. SI.OO s bottle. AH dmtfistc. If your druggist cannot supply you, send, us one dollar and wo will express you a bottle. Be sure andgivo the name of your nearest express office. Address, J. C. AYER CO., Lowell, Mass. Your Tongue If it’s coated, your stomach is bad, your liver is out of order. Ayer’s Pills will clean your tongue, cure your dys pepsia, make your liver right. Easy to take, easy to operate. 25c. All druggists. Wttfit your moustache or beard a beautiful browi or rich black ? Then use BUCKINGHAM’S DYE Whiskers j SO f TANARUS. 0* o"l’rr,lETs. p. P. D*lL & Cn . ?..*■ ft, N H. Life of Luxuty For a Shove). Chicago officials have so tar been un able to make tip their minds just where they ought to keep a shovel which orig inally cost about $2. but now represents an outlay of about $44,000,000. It is the shovel with which the first spadeful of earth was dug in the construction of the great drainage canal which takes the waters of the Chicago River through many States to the Gulf of Mexico. The shovel is to have a silver plate fastened on the handle, with an inscrip tion somewhat as follows; “A $44,- 000.000-shovel, which opened the way from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico. Paid for by the people of Chicago, 1892- 1900.” The cost attached to the shove! marks the total sum which will have been expended by the sanitary district when all the work upon the main chan nel and the Chicago River is completed. The date, “1892-1900,” marks the open ing year of work and the final year in which the water from Lake Michigan was turned on. WHY SHE DIDN’T. “Julia has given up her proposed trip abroad.” “Wily so?” “Well, her passport described her as having a large mouth and she wouldn’t go.” —Baltimore World. Best For (lie Bowels. No matter wliat ails you, headache to a cancer, you will never get well until your bowels aro put right. Cascsrets help nature, cure you without a gripe or pain, produce easy natural movements, cost you just 10 cents to start getting your health back. Oab- Candy Cathartic, the genuine, put up in metal boxes, every tablet has C. C. C. stamped on it. Beware of imitations. The judge may deliver a very long sen tence in a very few words. A Crntenarian. Dr. Graham, of Kentucky, who lived to bo one hundred years o.d attributed his long life and freedom mm illness to the use of Crab Orchard Water. It was his only medicine. Some men would like to deliver their own funeral orations * -- See advt. of Smithpeal’s Business College A musical composition is often sold for a mere sonc. Each package of Putnam Fadeless Dy* colors either Silk, Wool or Cotton perfectly at one boiling. Sold by all druggists. \ irtue is its own reward, but some few people are good because they really like to be. , Dealers say that the hammock contin ues to hold its own. Are Ton lwing Allen’s I‘ooi-Faae 1 It la tho only cure for Swollen, Smarting, Tired, Aching, Hot, Sweating Feet, Corns and Bunions. Ask for Allen’s Foot-Ease, a powder to be shaken into the shoes. Cures while you walk. At all Druggists and Shoe Stores, 26c. Sample sent FItEE. Address, Allen S. Olmsted, Lsltoy, N. Y. The Bank of France compels customers checking out money to accept at least one tit ih in gold coin. When the Eyes Are Sick Something must be done and done quickly. Little ueslects brine big diseases. Wlien t!j eyes are sore or inflamed use .iohn R. Dickey’s Old Reliable Eye. water. It stops Inflammation, cures granule ted lids, aud-brings ease at on<-e It causes absolutely no paiu. 2,Vts. Dickey Drug Cos., Bristol, 'l’enu. The coal miner generally finds himself m a hole. FITS permanently cured. No fi ts or nervous ness after first day’s use of Dr. Kline’s Great Nerve Restorer, if 2 trial bottle and treatise free Dr. B. H. Kune, Ltd., 931 Arch St., Phila. P a There may be plenty of room at the top, but some people prefer to get at the bot tom of things. Conductor F.. D. Lcomis, Detroit, Mich., sava : “The effect of Hall’s Catarrh Cnro is wonderful.” Write him about it. Sold by Druggists, 75c. Some people seem to think they fall into luck when they fail into debt. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for child ret teething, soften the gums, reduces inflamma tion,allays pain, cures wind colic. 25c a bottle The chronic kicker deserves to stub his toe. I do not believe Pieo’s Cure for Consump tion bag an equal for coughs and colds. —Joy* F. Boteb, Trinity Springs, Ind., Feb. 15,1900. It’s a good thing to swallow your pride, provided you can digest it.