Excerpt from Outwitting Termites in Illinois Termites are progressively more common from the north ern to the southern counties of Illinois. They are very abundant in all sections of the Southern half of the state. These insects are not new in Illinois; evidence indicates that they were here when the Indians roamed the prairies. At that time termites were not infesting homes, to be sure, but were present in their native habitat, the woodlands. They fed on an abundant supply of dead wood without complaint from anyone. As the woodlands were cleared and the natural source of food became reduced, termites attacked the wood in human dwellings that were built. In bringing civilization to Illinois, man encouraged rather than hindered the spread and activity of termites. In areas where wood was at one time relatively scarce and where, for this reason, very little natural termite food was available, man built wooden structures, close together and row on row. Then he installed a centralized heating plant in many of his buildings so that the termites, once established, enjoyed the comforts of summer the year around and were thereby enabled to increase the amount of their damage. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.