I.
GINGER.
The cultivation of this root is nearly similar to that of potatoes. The land is first well cleansed from weeds; it is then dug into trenches similar to those which gardeners, make for celery; and the plants are set in these trenches in March or April. They flower about September and in January or February; when the stalks are withered, the roots are in a proper state to be dug up.—These are prepared for use in two ways. When intended for what is called white ginger, they are picked, scraped, separately washed, and afterwards dried with great care by exposure in the sun. For black ginger, they are picked, cleansed, immersed in boiling water and dried. This process is much less laborious and expensive than the other; consequently the price of the article is not so great. By boiling, the ginger loses a portion of its essential oil, and its black colour is owing to this.
The use of ginger, both in medicine, and as a spice, are numerous and well known. In the West Indies, it is frequently eaten fresh in sallads, and with other food, and the roots when dug up young, namely, at the end of three or four months after they have been planted, are preserved in syrup, and exported as a sweet meat to nearly all parts of the world. The ginger brought from the East Indies is much stronger than that coming from Jamaica.
WARS OF THE ANTS.
"The guard or sentry of the ant-hill will furnish us with the first proof of their social relations. We could, without doubt, irritate ants on the surface of the nest, without alarming those in the interior, if they acted isolately, and had no means of communicating their mutual impressions. Those who are occupied at the bottom of their nest, removed from the scene of danger, ignorant of what menaces their companions, could not arrive to their assistance; but it appears, that they are quickly and well informed of what is passing on the exterior. When we attack those without, the most part engage in their defence with a considerable degree of courage; there are always some, who immediately steal off and produce alarm throughout their city; the news is communicated from quarter to quarter, and the labourers come forward in a crowd, with every mark of uneasiness and anger. What however, is highly worthy our remark is that the ants, to whose charge the young are confided, and who inhabit the upper stories, where the temperature is highest, warned also of the impending danger, always governed by that extreme solicitude for their charge, which we have so often admired, hasten to convey them to the deepest part of their habitation, and thus deposit them in a place of safety.
"To study in detail the manner in which this alarm spreads over the ant-hill, we must extend our observations to the individuals of the largest species: the Herculean Ants, who inhabit hollow trees and who quit them only in the spring, to accompany the males and females, have very much assisted me in this object.
"The labourers are from five to six lines in length; the winged individuals are also proportionally large; they may be frequently seen running about the trunk of an oak, at the entrance of their labyrinths. When I disturbed those ants that were at the greatest distance from their companions, by either observing them too closely, or blowing upon them lightly, I saw them run towards the other ants, give them gentle blows with their heads against the corslet, communicating to them in this way, their fear or anger, passing rapidly from one to the other in a semicircular direction, and striking several times successively against those who did not put themselves in instant motion. These, warned of their common danger, set off immediately, describing in their turn different curves, and stopping to strike with their heads all those they met on their passage. In one moment the signal was general, all the labourers ran over the surface of the tree with great agitation, those within receiving notice of the danger, and probably by the same means, came out in a crowd and joined this tumult. The same signal which produced upon the workers this effect, caused a different impression upon the males and females; as soon as one of the labourers had informed them of their danger, they sought an asylum, and re-entered precipitately the trunk of the tree;—not one thought of quitting its temporary shelter, until a worker approached and gave them the signal for flight. The solicitude of the labourers in their favour, is manifested in the activity they display, in giving them advice or intimating to them the order for their departure; they redouble then the above signals, as if conscious of their understanding their intent less readily than the companions of their labours; the latter understand them, if I may use the expression, at half a word."