The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-02-21
JHE CARE
AGRICULTURE OF
JHE
GENUS PUhEX.
What eyleth thee to Slope by the morwe?
Hastow had tieen al night, or artow dronke?


-ChauceT.
Out of the fullness of wide and varied
experience, I am writing these lines. The
knowledge that l Rave acquired I would
share with the world, my only recompense
being the consciousness of having added
though but mite-to the sum total Of in
| tense interest and excitement that is al
ways awaEened in those who become con-
cerned in the care and culture of the Pulex
| irritans.
Choose large red plush easy-char for
the resting place. / think there is moth
ing superior to this, though my wife gives
the preference to fur rug along the side
OF the bed. can say with confidence,
however, that the best possible results
have been obtained from the plush chair;
l would not be too particular about its
! color.
Keep the chair in the sun. l find they
thrive more rapidly in the sunlight and
that warmth conduces to their lveliness.
! When the sun no longer shines in the
room sit occasionally in the chair yourself.
1t will be mutually beneficial, though, OF
course, when you go away you are liable
to carry # some OF the pets from their
hatchery, but do not mind this for there
will always be sufficient left to nurse the
younger brouds.
Their numbers do not deplete readily
under proper conditions. l know this to
be true. Once the new servant girl, in her
first gush of enthusiasm at getting a
place." busted and swept the chair with
whisk- broom vigorously out in the yard at
intervals of every half hour throughout
the day, but in the evening 1 enjoyed the
ha al hor Of ho
genus pulex as l read and smoked in the
red plush chair. Since then 1 do not
think the chair has been disturbed
much, and this is as 1t should be, for
of course there is always danger of
losing some of the pets through
carelessness, or perhaps through their
fondness for an Individual in whom there
may be some peculiar and unusual mag
netic qualities. However, we have been
| quite fortunate, and have every reason to
feel proud of our flea crop this year.
Often l hear my wife disputing with the
lady IN the fiat below as to the number of
tieas in the respective families, and though
| my wife and 1 have our differences at
times-as what happy couple do not2-
/ yet 1 have never had occasion to differ
with her estimates of either the number
| irritans that we have been fortunate to
raise this year. Ny wife Is prone to exag-
gerate the number of people in crowd,
perhaps, but 1 know that her remarks
concerning the virility as we'll as the nu-
merical strength of our collection of feas
are always safely within the truth.
l am glad to record this instance of
| feminine conservatism. for we know as a
rule, that our wives are greatly given to
| exaggeration in numbers, especially where
the estimates at the lowest calculation
have to do with more than five figures.
We have tried all the flea powders and
washes on the market and with excellent
results. But 1 would warn against one or
| two OF the washes. Be careful not to
actually drop the liquid upon the tiny
| irritans when In such tight place that
| ne cannot hop away, for in this there is
danger of impairing the respiratory or
gans as well as temporarily interfering
with the usefulness of the suctorial pro-
boscis. As this experiment has been
made in our nursery several times l speak
upon the point from direct personal
knowledge. There is, indeed, one
particular wash that actually stupe-
fed and rendered lifeless for a
moment the poor, joyful little irritans,
when my wife dropped it from the bottle
over my thumb and forefnger, between
which was imprisoned the flea. But this
was an isolated case, to be sure, and 1
would advise against drawing any
general deductions from it.
There is, upon the whole, little danger
to be feared from the judicious employ
ment of any and all of these so-called tex
terminators." have often wondered why
they were so called.
II you have a chair-a red plush easy
chair-as L have, spread the powder or
spray the liquid upon it morning and
evening. Some are afraid of using these
frucrifers too pIentifully, but there is
little danger in this direction. Once my
wife covered the chair entirely with yell
low hea-powder. / remember that it cost
81 for the coating, and it was put on so
Tricky that my bro,her-in-law, who is
quite thoughtful fellow, warned my wife
that it might kill some of the tieas.
But his fears, luckily, proved ground
less, and since that time | have not wor-
rieu much as to either the quantity or the
quality of the antidotes used, for the Pulsx
irritans thrives as successfully in one as
the other.
Once we burned eucalyptus leaves in the
house. This, 1 think, was very beneficial,
for noticed in the evening that although
the library was still so full of the odor as
to spoil the tragr ance of my cigar, yet my
little pets in the red plush easy-chair
seemed to h ave gained considerably in
numbers and were even more cheerful and
indus rious and sociable than ever before.
/ he n it was that, in the fulness of nv
personal knowledge and experience, de-
termlned to add my mite OF wisdom to
what is perhaps already too vo.uminous
literature on the care and culture of the
PuIeX irritans. LUKE NORTH
1t is said that number of Japanese
recipes for the making of alloys which
have hitherto been kept close secret have
been revealed by workmen engaged in
making them. Among these is the
IEeho 81 81 L. g