And this is what they did. Dora Burnside.

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THE ANT'S DAIRY.


Do ants keep cows? Let us see. A little insect named an aphis is found
on the leaf of most every plant. This little parasite lives on the sweet
juice called honey-dew. Now the ants are very fond of this honey-dew,
and know that they can obtain a supply from the body of the _aphis_.

The ants, therefore, climb up trees on whose leaves the _aphides_ have
collected. Then an ant goes close to one of these insects for a drop of
the sweet juice. If this be not soon given out, the ant will gently tap
the body of the aphis, and thus obtain a supply of the sweet fluid.
After feasting on this, the ant will pass to another little aphis and
treat it in the same manner for another drop.

But the ant has sense enough to treat the aphis as we treat our cows.
Our farmers, you know, keep the cows in enclosed meadows, and supply
them with hay and turnips when the grass fails. The ants also take a
number of aphides close to their nests, and there keep them secure and