Show ANTS THAT GROW MUSHROOMS insects make excellent elc allent gardeners in south america prof J it ainsworth davis latest proofs of the ants right to our applause says the philadelphia record he says in trop tropical 1 ical america the traveler in their native region often sees thousands of ants acts marching in column of route each holding in its powerful jaws a piece of green lent leaf about the size of a sixpence these they take to their nests ests the material Is used as an elaborate sort of mushroom culture requiring much more skill and intelligence than that in which human engage the mushroom grower sets spawn in tho the beds lie he prepares but the ant does not need to do this the desired spawn soon makes its appearance in tho chewed leaf but in its natural state it Is inedible and must undergo careful ful treatment before it yields yield the mushroom which the ant desires the necessary worl work rs Is done hy by a aj special specia ca s tel ofle iran is these t tw wod cod put out the obnoxious germs etc randi pruning olf the tips of the th threads ads preventing them from rowing growing into the air and producing useless toad stools As a result of this the threads swell into innumerable little rounded white thickenings thicken ings each of which is about one fiftieth of an inch across it is these which are the mushrooms these urious curious bodies constitute the sole food of the ant or at any rate the chief food |