The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-07-07
TO BE RID OF VERMlN.
A Professional Insect DESTROYER
Tells what to Do.
New York World :


If you will walk over to. the, eastsside
some day, up one of the crooked, streets
that lead out of the City Hall park, You
will come presently TO small, swinging
sign that reads, ''Rat Exterminatoriand
insect Destroyer, F" and, entering, youwill
md, In place of small, dingy shop and
queer, little, grimy faced, long. haired
old man that you may have imagined to
yourself, bright, airy office, window
full of singing birds, young girl with
some crochet work in her hands and
| pleasant looking middle aged woman in
a tastefully made black gown.
| "You would like to know something
about our business" asked the woman.
"Oh, yes! A great many people come
in to inquire. Take chair and l will
tell you what l can aboutit. Mr.. Catcher
has been In the business for long time.
We have our regular customers, and en-
ploy seven men to visit them at stated
intervals and keep their houses free from
vermin. They go, generally, two or
three times week.
You see, it is work that must be kept
up all the time, like sweeping or dish
washing, and if you leave it to servants
they are apt to neglect it after little.
Sometimes people think they can get
along without us, and have their porters
or other man servants do the work.
They do very well for a 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 at a time. He has to be
very careful about his men. They must
be honest and have good characters, or
he would not dare.to send them into peo-
pies houses.
HOW HE WORKS.
Glow does he do his work? If he is
hunting reaches or croton bugs he first
sprays all of the cracks in the floors and
woodwork of a room with liquid prep
aration that he has, and then sprinkles
around very thoroughly white powder,
and in a day or two he goes and cleans
up the dead bugs. He does not ATTEMPT
to rid houses of bedbugs when they are
in the furniture. That is out of his line.
But sometimes people send for him to
have him clear them out of the walls of
houses before they move in, and then he
goes to work just as he does against the
reaches.
''For rats and mice he sets traps, often
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 Oh coming out, and after they are
emptied they are all thoroughly cleansed
before being used again.
eyes, indeed, he has ants to fight
against, and they are worse than any,
thing else to get rid of.
"People send for him all the time.
They write or telegraph to him, THE
rats are getting SO thick that they are
running away with us. Have you for
gotten about usT or The mice are eating
up everything in the house; come and
help usv
Gin keeping house free from yermin
remember that eternal vigilance is the
price of freedom from bugs and other
predatory household foes of all kinds,
CLEANLINESS is IMPORTANT.
"Do not allow bits of food to stand
around uncovered on your tables or pam
try shelves; allow no scraps or crumbs
to collect in out of the way coreers; keep
your sinks and drain pipes clean and free
from grease-this you can do by scald-
ing them out once or twice week with
hot water in which you have dissolved a
large lump of salsoda; wash your shelves
occasionally with hot borax water, and
sprinkle around the edges of them and
around the sides of your kitchen floor q
mixture of equal parts of powdered borax
and sugar.
eff you have been unfortunate enough
to move into house where there are
bedbugs benzine used daily with patience
and perseverance will exterminate them.
Apply with a feather or an atomizer to
every'crack and crevice that may posi-
bly, harbor the smallest bug, and be sure
fore you light the gas in the room.
eff you want to put away your clothes
SO that the moths will not eat them up
wrap them well in newspapers and place
them between layers of other newspapers
thoroughly saturated with turpentine.
Moths rather enjoy camphor gum and
actually grow fat on red pepper, but
from turpentine they will keep at re-
spectful distance.
"And, last of all, understand that
whether your enemies creep or fly or
run, if you would wage successful war
fare against them, your chiefest weapons
must be constant vigilance and cleanli-
ness! cleanliness! cleanliness
TWO Kinds OF TarantuIas.