St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-08-05
HISTORY OF A TRIUMPH,


best to eat up carpets and clothes in
certain sections of the city. Many
houses have been entirely stripped of
carpets by the hOusekeeper, and some
I families take their carpets up once a
week and shake them and put them
down without lacking. One family
had all their rich carpets steamed. A
lady reports that on hearing of the
presence of the bugs in a neighbOring
house, she went to look at her carpets,
in the parlOr first of course. In it was
the figure of large red rose, and when
the carpet was lifted, the rose staid on
the floor, the bugs having eaten it out.
Some families have tried burning sui
phur in closed rooms. One case is re-
ported where the wall paper was
bleached white but the little black
bugs skipped about the same as ever.
Corrosive sublimate, and the usual
poisons, deadly to ordinary bugs, fail
to kill these new pests, which live on
wool, cotton and silk. In one house a
wedding dress, in another two 500
suits of clothes were found eaten, and
so the list might be added to.
One who has struggled with the bug
for two seasons and studied the sub
iect in the still hours of the night,
gives it us his opinion that they get
into the house by way of the attic late
in the fall, when in the true moth
state they are doing their damage in
the larva state, which they are i'll till
the last of August. He thinks they go
down the partitions and enter rooms
under mOpbOards, which are not back
plastered. AS they appear first in the
upper stories of houses, this theory has
one support They also appear in
closets which in many cases it would
be impossible to get into, except under
the mopbOards. Another student of
the situation agrees with this explana
ton of this work and hopes the bugs
will stay just long enough to drive the
human race from the use of less disease
breeding fabrics, which fill the modern
house from floor to ceiling. In the
wild CONSERVATION he has created the
"moth," has evidently vanquished the
potato bug.
The moth first appeared in this cOun-
try in 1874, in the western part of New
York 1t is we'll known across the At
lantic. The name Buffalo moth is an
incorrect one. 1t is not moth. The
scaly winged insects are divided into
butterflies, which fly by day, and when
at rest hold their wings upright, and
moths, which fly mostly by night or in
the twilight, and when at rest their
wings are more or less slOping, like
the roof of a house. The common
clothes moth is true moth. Its lava,
or caterpillar, feeds on wooden cloth,
etc. and the perfect insect, often call
ed "miller," is seen fitting about in
the evening of the spring months. The
Buffalo moth is in all respects unlike
the clothes moth, save that it's larva or
caterpillar is most destructive to wool
en- fabrics. Beyond this they have
nothing in common. The perfect in
sect of the Buffalo moth is not moth,
but beetle belonging to the order
COleOptera, the delicate wings in which
are covered by hard wing-covers. The
"moth," or larva, is three sixteenths of
an inch long and is clothed with nu-
merOus dark brown hairs. 1t is prob
able that the shaggy appearance due
to these hairs, suggested the name
"Buffalo." When full grown the larva
assumes the pupa state and in a few
weeks the beetle, or perfect insect
comes forth. The beetle is about an
eighth of an inch long, black, with
white and scarlet markings. 1t ap-
pears at various times during the year,
in spring, fall and winter. In spring
the beetles are found upon the flowers
of spireas, and other flowers. Its sci
entific name is Anthrenus scrOphula-
ria. Though especially destructive to
carpets, the insect feeds on all other
wooden fabrics and also on feathers.
The most effective remedy is steam.
AS the insects cOnfine their operations
to near the edges of the carpets, wet
sheet is folded to form a strip foot or
more wide; this is laid upon the car
pet close to the Dashboard several
f1atirons are heated quite hot and pass
ed over the wet sheet; this will gen.
crate abundant steam, which will be
forced into the crevices and destroy
the insects in their hiding places. This
remedy when thoroughly applied has
been found so effective, that few 9th
ers have been tried. Before laying
down the carpets, the cracks in the
floor and between the Dashboard and
the floor should be filed this may be
done with hard soap, putty, or if very
large, with plaster of Paris, mixed with
water and applied before it sets. Ar
ticles of clothing and other wOOlens, if
they contain this insect or the common
clothes moth, may be readily freed
from them by placing the articles in a
tight box or trunk a tin wash boiler
will answer well-and pour a few table
spoonfuls of benzine over them, clos
ing tight. The vapor of the benzine
will diffuse itself through the articles
and destroy all insect life.-[ North
ampton Gazette.
We have only one reason for being
skentical about Mrs. President Cleye-