Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-05-01
TIE HOUSEHOLD.
\ Moth Study---IIow 60 Destroy the
Pests.

Pests.
The great mistake people make is to
await the heat of summer before watching
for moths. They have bundled up their
woolen5 and packed them away i'm their
chests full of tarboline, or carboline, or ce-
darline, or camphorlne, ana actually be-
levei they would be safe until fall. But
they have wrapped up hundreds of moth
eggs which eventually hatch the grubs.
These olors will never kill moth or de
stroy its life germs. TO be sure, moth
will not voluntarily seek a nesting place
where the olor exists but if boxed up
with an olor it cannot escape from, it sim
ply proceeds to lay its eggs in the atmos-
phcre, which becomes a second nature to
the grub when Matched.
Anything saturated with arsenic or creo-
sote, or even salt, or impregnatel with sui
phur, the moth or worm will not touch,
but the use of these articles is dangerous
to the colOrings of fine textures. Ii is dis
couraging, indeed when housewife shakes
out her clothes and puts them into a cam
phor trunk and keeps them there all sum
mer, to find in the fall they are fairly rid
died; but the trouble has been she watched
only for moths, when the moth is not at all
destructive. 1t is the worm that she
should have been on the lookout for. which
matches out the egg, and As the egg is
hardly pcrceptible to the naked eye, a mere
white speck like the point of pin, the
danger is passed over unseen.
THREE KINDS OF WOOL EATERS.
There are three distinct species of wool
destroying moths common in this country.
all of which are Of European origin. The
commonest species are light brown and are
distinguished by spots. They begin to ap-
pear late in April. and may occasionally
be seen fitting about as late as August.
They pair off. and the female then searches
for suitable places for the deposition of her
eggs, working her way into dark corners.
crevces of the walls. cracks in the floor or
deep in the folds of garments. apparently
choosing by instinct the least conspicuous
places.
The moth lays from Is to 140 eggs at a
time. From these eggs hatch. i'm a period
of from three to seven days. the white soft
body larvae or worms. all of which begin
Immediately to make a case for themselves
from the fragments of the cloth upon which
they feed. The case is i'm the shape of
hollow roll from thirty-second to an
eighth of an inch long. We have all no
ticed these rolls on fabrics, and frequent
ly we have crushed them, supposing that
we have thus prevented all damage, when
the very existence of the cylinder shows
that the grub has already fed. As the
worms grow they enlarge this case by add
ing material which they get by feeding.
The worm reaches its full growth in 36
days, and then. crawling into some yet
more protected spot remains torpid during
the winter within its case. which by this
time is thickenel ana fastened at either
end and becomes the full-sized cocoon
The transformation of a moth takes place
within the case during the following spring.
Such is the life round of the species. The
worm feeds on wooden fabrics, curled hair
hair-cloth, fur, feathers. or anything of
that character which may possess an ami
nal deposit for within the cellular tissues
of hair there is the same nutriment which
one finds on a smaller scale within bone
1t is in the 3 i-lay period, from the time
the eggs are laid to the time the worm or
grub reaches the full size, that the damage
is done. ami it is fortunate that all of the
eggs do not hatch in fact but small pro
portion ever find life.
The second species constructs its cocoon
mainly from fragments of the material up
on which it has been feeding, spinning a
certain amount of silk, however, wherever
it goes, leaving the trace which one some
times finds on wooden fabrics; this species
is most common from Washington south
ward. The parent moth is of dark straw
color, and has none of the spots on it that
you see on the common house moth.
The moth of the third species is readily
distinguished from all others by the front
wings, which are black from the base to
the body and white beyond. the white por-
tion being sometimes crowded with dark
gray. The habits of these species are
much the same, with the exception that
the larva or worm of the last-named is
most destructive, using for its cocoon cyl
Under pieces of the cloth itself on which it
is feeding.
HOW To KILL THEN.
1t must be now apparent to the careful
reader that it is quite difficult to kill
the enthusiastically small eggs by reason of
their almost imperceptibe diminutveness,
and difficult also to eradicate the moth by
reason of its secretive habits. A benzine
spray is sure death, but there are many
objections to its use, and danger from its
inhammable character; still if the ordinary
throat spray, which can be bought for