nOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
«
Professor Lovett tells Housewives How to Control Insects
Assistant Professor of 0. A. C. Gives Advice on Handling of Vital Problem in the Horae.
serts
S INCE
pests
earliest history certain in
have been recognized as
o f the household, either be
cn.ua© of what they actually destroyed
or due to fhe irritation and annoyance
caused by their presence.
Until comparatively recent years, the
house fly wras considered a necessary
nuisance because of its activities as a
scavenger. It is now known to carry
typhoid fever, tuberculosis, cholera,
dysentery and probably several other
diseases as serious.
The careful screening of doors and
windows and the use of fly traps and
rtieky fly paper will remain important
means of control. A 2 per cent formal
dehyde solution is useful in destroying
flies. A 40 per cent solution o f formal
dehyde may bo obtained at any drug
store. Place the dilute solution in flat
dishes about the rooms where flies oc
cur. Cover all food in the evening,
leaving the formaldehyde exposed. If
milk or a little honey and vinegar are
used instead of water to dilute the for
maldehyde the solution is even more
effective.
Ridding House of Flies.
To rid the house of flies, darken the
rooms, leaving a single window or door
open. Then burn conee o f pyrethrum in
the rooms. The powdered pyrethrum
may be moistened, moulded into cones
about the size o f a chocolate drop and
dried in the oven with a slow heat. To
use the cone, place it in a plate or on a
bit of crockery and light the apex. A
single cone to the room is usually suffi
cient.
About 20 or 30 drops of carbolic acid
placed on a heated shovel or similar im
plement will volotalize and kill all the
flies in an ordinary room.
The contents of open outhouses and
similar breeding places, where not eon
veniently screened, should be treated
weekly with chloride of lime.
To rid a community of flies, which
is, after all, the more practical method,
requires community action for the aboli
tion of breeding places.
This is a
measure well worthy of tho attention
o f civic leagues and municipal authori
ties. Tho house fly is truly a menace
to health. It may bo controlled with
but little labor or expense where every
citizen in a community co operates to
this end.
Fleas.
Upon returning to a house which has
been vacated for thd summer, one some
times finds it overrun with fleas. (Fig.
1.) Outbuildings and yards under cer
tain conditions may have a &:tuUar in
festation.
'*y
i
>
Fleas are different to control and ore
mnst make their eradication a business
for a time, in order to successt'nliy lid
the premises o f this irritP.iug pest.
House pets should be examine 1 and if
Infested, wash thoroughly with carbolic
soap, repeating the bath at least every
week for a time. Wash the floors and
walls with a strong soap suds, then spray
or wash with gasoline^ Substitute rugs
for carpets; take the»« up frequently,
■hake and air well.
Where the pe*t dues not yield to the
above treatments, the hydroeyaa»« ne*d
gas fumigation shmld ge given
Be
egu«e of the deadly nature of these
fumes, the work ah*<uld be under the di-
yoetien of aa expel t in tbs u*o of th.'
** *
Mosquitoes.
Oregon is remarkably free from mos
quite plagues. In limited arena at cor
tain periods of tho yoar, howover, this
obnoxious little offeador with ita plain
five song and irritating bite may be
come a nuisance.
Mosquitoes breed ia bodies of stagnant
water and tho little active wrigglers so
common in watering troughs and stor
age tanks are mosquitoes ia tho making
Where storage tanks of any sort are
•eee*«arr. they should be carefully
eacd. Tim cans, bottles and pass
about tho yard in which water might
collect should be removed. Tho clogged
roof gutter, the old disused well or the
sewer catch on the corner should re-
recive attention. All stagnant pools or
lowT moist places should be drained or
filled in.
Fish may sometimes bo introduced
into fishless pools or open cisterns. Top
minnows, sunfish or stickle backs are
very good. Goldfish feed voraciously
on mosquito larvae.
The Use of Oil.
Where the abolition of the breeding
place is not possible and the introduc
tion of fish is not feasible, very often
In particularly obstinate eases hydro
cyanic acid gas fumigation, (See Fleas)
should be given.
Bedbugs.
Bedbugs, like cockr* aches, may occa
sionally gain entrance fo our honseh .Id.
In these times o f muen travel and fre
quent transient visitors, one need feel
it no disgrace to find bedbugs in the
house; but, as some one has remarked,
“ we should feel disgraced to retain
them long in our midst. M
A thorough overhauling of the furni
ture and rooms should bo made. The
woodwork must have special attention.
Every crack and crevice should be treat-
. Banana
O u ter
Inner
Ffcel
Bait.
P a p e r Cone
Cone
The Graham Trap for Cockroaches.
oil may be used to an advantage. This
is applied to the water as a thin surface
film. A low grade of kerosene is best.
The heavier oils, such as crude oil, are
orthless, becauso they collect in
blotches on the surface and do not form
a thin even coating. One ounce of oil
is sufficient for 15 square feet of sur
face. It is best «applied as a spray. One
application is usually good for two
weeks or more, but should be renewed
whenever the film o f oil fails to covct
the surface of the water.
Protective liquids for repelling the
mosquitoes, consisting of spirits o f cam
phor, oil of pennyroyal, oil of pepper
mint, etc., are recommended. A few
drops on a bath towel suspended over
the pillow or rubbed on the face and
hands, is supposed to repel the mos
quitoes. A mixture recommended highly
is composed of:
Essential oil of oranges ........... 30 grains
Camphorated «alcohol
........... 30 gr«a»ns
Oil o f ced a r_____________
15 gr.ains
Remedies for Mosquito Bites.
Moist toilet soap rubbed over the
puncture; ammonia, or alcohol (applied
externally) are said to relieve the irri
tation.
Cockroaches.
Cockroaches are another of the dis
gusting pests which sometimes gain en
trance; and if once thoronghlv estab
lished, they are diffieult to eradicate.
A thorough house cleaning is of first
mportanee; all cracks and crevices
should be treafed with gasoline and then
filled with putty or similar material.
Poisons, such as sweet chocolate and
powdered borax or phosphorus paste,
may be scattered about the runways of
the roaches.
A simple trap known as the Graham
trap is described by Professor Wash
burn. The trap consist« of a flat-hot
tomed flask of the type in the aceom
panying figore.( Fig. 2.) A paper cone
is fitted into the month of the flask .and
held in place with vaseline smeared
around the inside of the neek. A smaller
cone ie fitted into the larger and i*
glued to the wall of the larger «one.
The smaller opening of *he two cones
ii the same, about lhr?eeights inch in
diameter. The most tempt ng bait seems
to be banaaa peelings. The cage should
be placed near the ninn of the roaches,
preferably ia a situation whtro there is
little light and «one.
ed with corrosive sublimate or gasoline.
Gasoline is probably the better to
handle. A small spray pump may be
used and the bedding, walls and floors
given a thorough soaking. Repeat the
treatment in nine days. For aggravated
eases, hydrocyanic acid gas fumigation
(See Fleas) should be given.
Anti.
Ants sometimes become troublesome
about the house. Several species of
ants will assume this habit, crawling
into and over foods and food produets.
With forms which have their coionie3
outside, one may treat them with carbon
bisulfide and wipe out the entire eolony.
With a sharp stick punch holes in the
soil, over and about the hill. Treat
each hole with a tablespoonful of the
liquid.
Two poisons are used inside the house
to attract the ants. Both hiive the ad
vantage o f not killing instantly. The
ants carry the poison to the colony and
feed the developing brood on it. Sub
sequently the colony is killed out.
No. 1:
Tartar E m etic----------
3 grains
Syrup
..........
4 ounces
Mix the materials and place on bits
of china or chips near the runways of
the ants.
No. 2:
Su gar_______________
2| pounds
Water _____ _____________._____ 1-4 pint
Sodium arsenite ...............1-3 teaspoonful
Dissolve the sugar in the water, plac
ing in a double boiler and heating gen
tly. Dissolve tho arsenite in a little
hot water and add, stirring constantly.
Place in vessel and label poison. Moisten
a sponge with the solution and place it
in a can with a tin cover. Punch a few-
holes in the cover and place the can in
a position easily accessible to the ants.
Ant tape is the best material for use
as a barrier to protect materials from
ants. It is prepared as follows: Pre
pare a saturated solution of corrosive
sublimate by placing an excess o f cry
stals in water and heating in a granite
or earthenware vessel (not iron). Cool
and filter. Soak common cotton tape
in this solution for several hours, re
move, hang out and dry. Tie the strips
of tape about the legs of tables, etc.
Ants will not cross these strips for a
year or more.
Caution.
Carbon bisulfide is inflammable. Do
not handle near a stove nor have any
fire or spark about when using.
The sodinm arsenite and the corrosive
sublimate solutions are poisonous. They
should bo plainly labeled and handled
with all due caution.
Carpet Beetles and Clothes Moths.
Expensive carpets are often injured
and winter clothing, laid away for the
summer, may be attacked by the larvae
of these pests.
Clothing and carpets should be hung
in the sunlight, thoroughly beaten and
«aired before storing away. The cloth
ing should be placed in cardboard boxes
or heavy paper sacks and the edges and
cracks sealed with gummed paper.
Spraying infected materials with gaso
line or steam cleaning will rid them of
the pest.
Stored Product Insect Pests.
Corn meal, dried fruit, etc., are some
times found infested with worms or
minute beetles.
Clean out the containers thoroughly
and wash with boiling soap suds. Then
carefully rinse and dry.
Heat the infested material in the
oven. A temperature of 125 to 150 de
grees, Fahrenheit, will kill all stages
o f these stored pests.
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