Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-28
MOTHS.
The Different Varieties of the H~ousekeep
erS' Foes.

erS' Foes.
For the benefit of young h%ousekeep-
ers l would say that from the egg
which the wee white miller lays is
Matched a tiny white worm (tinea sarci.:
tella), one-fcurth to one-half an inch
long, sometimes longer. This little
worm is no Discrimination of materials,
but as % as it is Matched begins to
clothe itself in anything wooden in
which it may chance to find itself from
your pretty blind camels' hair matinee
on which a miller found a comfortable
resting place, as it hung a little late in
your closet, to an old wooden cleaning
rag, which some other miller CHANGED
to find forgotten in some out-of-the-
way place. AS it also feeds off the
wool. its worm is of the color of the bit
of wool on which it has lived; and an
insidious little coo it may be, too.
Perhaps IN July you take down a dress
to put on which has hung three or four
weeks in the closet. In brushing it you
find on the sleeve, say, a bit of rough
ness; rub it with your fingers. and it
comes off leaving a hole. Pull it apart
duu yOu w q COIulOIGdUxC llUUlc x6t
worm. This is much better than a
little later, to find only the re-
mains of a wee cocoon, suggesting mil
lers which have Matched. only to lay
the foundation of future destruction. A
| still more destructive moth sometimes
found is a long blackish worm, like the
little white one, only larger, and with
a fuzzy back, but it may be successful
ly treated in the same way. If one
| chances to find IN a trunk, or a roll of
| old bits of carpet, a longish, fuzzy little
| brownish worm shell, it behooves one
| to search very carefully for black
moths.
Corrosive sublimate is the only thing
known which has any effect on that
mysterious little round black buffalo.
or carpet moth, which eats in straight
lines, not only across carpets. but
dresses, silks, v~elvets, etc. When they are
suspected the floors and cracks should be
thoroughly saturated with sublimate of
double strength, one tablespoonful in a
quart of boiling water. Then the car
pets should be brushed with the weaker
solution. This, with great vigilance in
watching for and destroying them, will
finally exterminate them. Buffalo
moths do not come from the little white
millers as many enormously suppose,
but from a curious little beetle, which
is, in shape and habits, like alady-bug.
The lady-bug. we all know, is red, with
black spots; but the little bug which
causes the buffalo moth is black, with
red and white spots, or red spots, and
a whitish line down the middle OF
it's back. and is rather smaller
than a lady-bug. EARLY in the spring
they begin to creep out on the sunny
window-sills. If you watch for and
carefully destroy them you will be
saved much after trouble. as the little
round, black furry creatures are far
more destructive than the common
moths. A hat worn one day, for in
stance, and returned to It's box on the
closet floor, may be taken out the next
to find a large round hole in the black
silk lining. and a comfortable tiny
furry black ball nestled in it. When
discovered he makes off very rapidly.
If he had CHANGED to have been left
two or three days the whole lining
would have been riddled. If these lit
tie creatures are known to be in the
house, one must keep constantly or
the lookout, as they appear in very un'
expected places, poss: bly, in the center
of a package of envelopes, or in a DO,
of laces, unopened for a few days
Dresses or clothes in closets must b.
taken down and brushed thoroughly
two or three times a week. They seen
to haunt particular spots in a way yer.
suggestive Of tramps, perhaps unde'
the northwest corner of . particula
bureau, though one "a find no reaso1
for that particular spot being chosen
T~urpentine or benzine only scatter
them, but a strong solution of corros
i've sublimate destroys them.-Phsla
1oIs,6;n Press.