Uses For Ant Beds

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 277, 23 November 1935, Page 14

Uses For Ant Beds

TENNIS COURTS TO DOG KENNELS Though .the termites (white ants) are great pests,- and tlieir eradication would be welcomed, there are many uses for their nests of mounds. All over tho country one finds tennis courts and cricket pitches made from this material, which sets like cement (writes “Eureka,” in the Hei'bourno Argus). At Wyndham, South Coast (N.S.W.), I helped to put down a tennis court and a cricket pitch, and this was tho only material used. It had to be broken up and rolled out, and then thoroughly soaked and rolled again and again; but the finished court and pitch were good enough for international stars to play upon. Another great advantage was that the weather did not affect thorn. After days of rain the tennis court was ready for a game in a few' hours-, and cricket could bo played on tho pitch, even while it rained, if the players did not mind getting wet. I havo often wondered why this white ant material is not used instead of concrete for cricket pitches. I havo seen an ant-bed used for the tloors of country homes. In many homes all the rooms havo wooden flooring except the kitchen, which has a door of ant-bed. It never crumbles or breaks up, and when swept clean looks quite neat; At Cathcart, on Southern Monaro (N.S.W.), there was a number of these ant-bed kitchen floors.

Before health, laws bocamo so rigid many dairy floors and cow yards were made from ant-beds, and they are still used for calf pens, - whero animals would otherwise make a bog. Blacksmiths used ant-beds for tho floors of their “smithies.” No matter how tho horses stamped, littlo damage was done to this typo of floor, Some mixed a little motor oil with tho antbed to keep down any dust, but there was very little dust from an ant-bed floor, even without the addition of oil. Blacksmiths’ shops are.few and far between to-day, and the modern motor garage, which has taken tho place of the “smithy,” demands something more elaborate than an earth floor. I havo seen houses built almost entirely from an ant-bed. The ant-bed was thoroughly soaked, and then rammed in between boards and left to set, when tho boards were raised and more of tho material rammed in until the wall was the required height. After the walls were completed a good coat of whitewash made the structure look like a concrete homo, which certainly would endure as long as concrete. Ant-bed is used oxtensively in country homes • for garden paths, and it makes very fine paths, too. Weeds will not grow up through it, and it needs very little attention except, for an oc'> sional watering in very dry weatheT. In Queensland I actually saw a bushman living in an abnormally large anthill. Ho had excavated a room large enough for his dwelling, leaving only a small door for entry and exit. This ant-hill home had one fault, however. It was very dark inside. In another place a bushmau excavated a hole in a small ant-hill that was near his camp, and used it for a dog kennel. The dog was snug and dry in the roughest weather. It is a pity that man cannot learn tho secret of tho termites. If he could make material similar to this ant-bed there would be no need to construct expensive concrete highways. Roads made of ant-bed would bo ideal in all weathers.