How To Make an Ant's Nest.
In the illustration ([Fig. 356]) you will see an ant's nest. For this kind of nest you will need a plank, near the outside edge of which is a deep groove. The plank should be painted; can you tell why? In the center use two pieces of glass laid flat and separated by narrow sticks along each side, so that they are about one-eighth of an inch apart. The sticks should not come close together at one corner. This leaves a little doorway for the ants. Cover the top glass with black paper or cloth so that the space between the two pieces of glass may seem a nice, dark, safe room in which ants may live. It will be a good thing to keep a small piece of damp blotting paper in one corner of this room in case the workers want a moist place for the young ones. Fill the groove in the plank with water and the nest is ready.
The best ant colony to take indoors is the one that you find under stones in a pasture. With a trowel lift up the ants, pupæ, larvæ, and sand and put the contents carefully into a pint can. When you reach the schoolroom put the contents of the can on the plank and watch what happens. If the ants do not find the room you have made for them, place a few larvae and pupæ within it. They will probably find them.
Do not neglect to provide food for the colony. Ants like to eat cracker soaked in sweetened water, bread, cake, berry jams, sugar, bits of raw meat, yolk of hard-boiled egg, and custard.
Junior naturalist museum in the school. District No. 2, Sheridan, N. Y.
LEAFLET LXXV.
A GARDEN ALL YOUR OWN.[96]
By JOHN W. SPENCER.
My Dear Nephews and Nieces: