Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-07-23
FOR THE LADIES.
How to Keep Away or XIII the NO

How 60 Keep Away or III the Moths.
The housekeepers in some Of our towns are
waging war Of determination against tho
new caterpillar like black moth. Mrs. Henry
Ward Beecher recommends kerosene. She
says that clothing, blankets, ETC., may be
packed in box and kerosene poured from
the can all over them, and the box closed and
put away until the next season, when the ar
ticles will come out without trace or even
smell of kerosene but she further recon-
mends that, as this is given on the authority
of friends, and not from personal trial, that
the remedy be tried on articles of little value,
TO begin with. Here are a few suggestions
from the Ladies Floral Cabinet:
"The moths have got into that chair :" or,
The moths are eating the curtains" And
then there is hurrying to and fro, and shaking
of folds, and beating of cushions. and slap
ping at all the winged things in sight, and air
ing, and fumigating, and what not. And then
comes some naturalist friend, and says that il
is not the moths at all. He maintains his
theory, too, in spite of hooting and derision,
and proceeds to show that the mischief is all
done by the caterpillar before it becomes
winged moth. As soon as this enterprising
infant is hatched from the egg which the
mother moth has taken care to deposit in
some desirable fabric, it begins to collect ma
terials for the nest into which it proposes to
retire, and calmly browses on the field of vel
vet, fur or wooden where it was born. HAY
ing spun thin coating of silk provided by
itself, it cuts tilaments Of wool or velvet close
to the thread of the cloth, and applies the
fragments to the outside of its case. The
residence is large enough for the occupant 20
turn in, and when feeding il thrusts its head
out at either end. II moves its house TO diff
ferent parts of the field by protruding half its
body and fixing its hind legs firmly in the
case, which is dragged after it. When it has
outgrown the dwelling, it collects the mate
rial from around it and build an addition at
each end On reaching the chrysais state
our lively friend becomes perfectly quiet for
about three weeks, and at the end Of that time
the gently. fitting moth, that so porsistently
objects to being caught, makes its appearance.
1t will be seen, therefore, that il the moths
are killed they cannot lay eggs, and if the
caterpillars are killed they cannot become
moths.
The question is, Hotn to kill them. or how
to preserve fabrics from their ravagesy End
less remedies are proposed and tried, general
ly with unsatisfactory results and the victims
return disguised to the old-fashoned defence
of Jumps of camphor tied up in linen bags.
'A-N ltaNnNNo VI bAANh ItBltEs Ont lIlIH lneN
undoubtedly have a horror Of and that is
printers ink. They never deyour newspa-
pers, and have evidently no taste for litera.
ture. For preserving garments, large papers,
stout strings and plenty of pins are usually
sufficient each article being smoothly and
compactly folded, tied, and pinned 80 that no
openings are left. Year after year we have
unrolled our mummied possessions, TO find
them still intact and neglected by the rowing
moth. To prevent moths from attacking a
carpet, preparation is made from a pound
of quassia chips and quarter Of pound of
cayenne pepper, STEPPED i'll two gallons of
water. This is strained and poured into
shallow vessel. A roll of new carpet is set,
first on one end and then on the other, in the
mixture, long enough to saturate the edges an
inch deep. An old carpet should first be thor
oughly beaten, and then rolled SO that all the
seams and edges may become thoroughly wet.
Or 1t can be applied to moth-iIfested carpets,
while on the floor, with an ordinary atonizer
brought to bear upon every seam and margin.
Benzine is also recommended and this is
said 10 have been sort of trade secret among
upholsterers. A set of furniture is quoted
that seemed TO be alive with the larva of
moths-hundreds of these pests having been
picked and brushed from it-nnd finally il
was placed in n room by itself. Three gallons
OF benZins were then applied, by means OF
small watering pot with a fine rose sprinkler.
until the whole of the upholstery was saturat-
ed through. The result was that every moth,
larva and egg was destroyed. The benzine
dried out in few hours, and every trace Of
the odor disappeared in three or four days.
Not the slightest harm was done to varnish,
fabric, wood, or hair stuffing; nor has a sin
gle moth appeared after lapse OF several
months. The great objection to this remedy
is its very inhammable nature but with prop
er care that it is not brought in proximity to
tre or lights, it may be used with perfect
safety.