The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-07-23
HOW TO RIO THE HOUSE OF VERMINi
A Talk with Professional Insect De-
stroyer.

IL YOU will walk over on the east
side some day. up one of the crooked
streets that lead out of the City Hall
Park. you will come presently to a
small, swinging sign that reads, Rat
Exterminator and lnsect Destroyer. J"
and, entering. you will find, in place
Of small. dingy shop and queer, lit
tie grimy-faced, long-haired otd man
that you may have imagined to your
self, bright airy office, window
full Of singing birds, a young girl with
some crochet work in her bands and
pleasant-look:ng middle-aged woman
in tastefully made black gown.
You would like to know something
about our business?" asked the woman.
''Oh, yes! A great many people come
to inquire Take chair and | will
tell YOU what | can about it. Mr..
Catcher has been in the business fer u
long time. We have our regular GUS
toners, and employ seven men to visit
them at stated intervals and keep their
houses free from yermin. They 90.
generally, two or three times a week.
You see that it is work that must be
kept up all the time, like sweeping or
washing, and if you leave it to
servants they neglect it after little.
Sometimes people think they can get
along without us, and have their port
ers or other man-servants do the work.
They do very well for week or two,
then they grow careless, and their en-
ployers have to send for US again.
who are our customers? All sorts
Of people. We send men to stores and
warehouses, hotels. flats and private
houses Mr.. Catcher has worked for
some of his customers for years. They
employ him. generally. by the year or
for six months ut Il time. He has to
be very careful about his men; they
must be honest aud have good char
acters or he would not dare to send
them into peoples houses.
How does he do his work? If he
is hunting reaches or croton-bugs he
first sprays all the cracks in the floors
aud woodwork of a room with a liquid
preparation that he has, aud then
sprinkles around very thoroughly a
white powder and in Il day or two he
goes and cleans up the dead bugs. He
does not attempt TO rid houses of bed
bugs when they are IN the furniture;
that is out of his line. But sometimes
people send for him TO have him clear
tham out of the walls Of houses before
they move in, and then he goes to
work just rs he does against the
reaches.
For rats and mice he sets traps, oft
Ell twenty or thirty at time, and
when he goes for them the next day he
generally finds them full He has them
baited here. and then sets them around
in the places where the creatures are
in the habit Of coming out, and after
they are emptied they are all thor
oughly cleansed before being used
again.
YES. indeed, he has ants to fight
against. and they are worse than any
thing else to get rid of.
People seud for him all the time
They write or telegraph to him. The
rats are getting so thick that they are
running away with u; have YOU for
gotten about us? or The mice are
eating up everything in the house;
come and help us
In keeping a house free from ver-
min remember that eternal vigilance
is the price Of freedom from bugs and
other predatory household foes of all
kinds.
do not allow bits of food to stand
around uncovered on your tables or
pantry shelves; allow no scraps or
crumbs to collect in out-of-the-way
corners, keep your sinks and drain
pipes clean and free from grease; this
you can do by Scading them out once
or twice week with hot water in
which YOU have dissolved large lump
of sal-sO da; wash your shelves occa-
sionally with hot boraX- water, and
sprinkle around the edges of them and
around the sides Of your kitchen floor
a mixture of equal parts of powdered
boraN and sugar.
If You have been unfortunate
enough to move into a house where
there are bedbuos benzine used daily
with patience and perseverance will
eNterminate them. Apply with a
feather or an atomizer to every crack
and creyice that may possibly harbor
the smallest bug. and be sure that the
fumes have all eyaporatcd before YOU
light the gas in the room.
If You want to put away Your win
ter clothes SO that the moths will not
eat them up before October wrap them
well in newspapers and place them
between layers of other newspapers
thoroughly saturated with turpcntine.
Moths rather enjoy camphor gum and
actually grow fat on red pepper, but
from turpentinc they will keep 1T re-
spectful distance.
And, last of all, understand that
whether your enemies creep, or fly, or
run, if you would wage a successful
warfare against them Your chiefest
weapons must be constant vigilance
and cleanliness. cleanliness, cIcanli-
nessm-N T. World.