ANT-HILLS, are little hillocks of earth, which the ants throw up for their habitation and the breeding of their young. They are a very great mischief to dry pastures, not only by wasting so much land as they cover, but by hindering the scythe in mowing the grass, and yielding a poor hungry food pernicious to cattle. The manner of destroying them is to cut them into four parts from the top, and then dig into them so deep as to take out the core below, so that, when the turf is laid down again, it may lie somewhat lower than the level of the rest of the land: by this means it will be wetter than the rest of the land; and this will prevent the ants from returning to the same place, which otherwise they would certainly do. The earth that is taken out must be scattered to as great a distance every way as may be, otherwise they will collect it together and make another hill just by. The proper time for doing this is winter; and if the places be left open, the frost and rains of that time of the year will destroy the rest: but in this case care must be taken that they are covered up early enough in the spring, otherwise they will be less fertile in grass than the other places. In Hertfordshire they use a particular kind of spade for this purpose. It is very sharp, and formed at the top into the shape of a crescent, so that the whole edge makes up more than three fourths of a circle; this cuts in every part, and does the business very quickly and effectually. Others use the same instruments that they do for mole-hills. Human dung is a better remedy than all these, as is proved by experiment; for it will kill great numbers of them, and drive all the rest away, if only a small quantity of it be put into their hills.