The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1899-08-12
CONCERNING CLOTHES MOTHS
some Valuable Information ~ 10
Protecting Furs and WoOiens
from Their Ravages.


The month of June is that in which
the depredations of the clothes moth,
that most destructive of household
pests, are chiefly to be dreaded. Never
safe from it. in the steam heated atmos-
phere of our city houses, the warm,
damp evenings of the early summer,
when furs and woolens, though little
used, are still kept out in case OF pos
sible need, are those in which it finds
its greatest opportunities and works its
most appalling mischief, mischief often
not discovered until months later, when
the cherished garment is found to be q
CHASTITY wreck.
Entomologists tell us that this inno-
cent looking little silver gray insect,
smaller than the ordinary house fly,
lays 500 eggs; therefore it is no wonder
that the progeny of single moth
miller is sufficient to destroy whole
garment and large one at that. Your
costly fur cape is lying on your lap in
the carriage, as you take your drive, or
tossed down on chair as you come in.
In amongst its silky hairs creeps Nine.
Tinea Microlepidoptera and deposits
her eggs where her offspring will find
comfortable quarters and abundant
food. Nature has provided her with
themeans of fastening the infinitesimal
eggs securely at the very root of the
hairs. Therefore when you give your
furs a cursory examination and lay
them away until fall, alas and a-lack-a-
day, when the fall comes the fur flies.
and Ichabod is written above your beau
tiful wrap. So if you wish to escape
such catastrophe, be careful. Pounds
of tar and camphor will not preserve
your garment if the moth eggs have al
ready been deposited when they are
laid away. Practical experience proves
that while the moth miller objects to
strong odors of any sort, the worm
which does the mischief has apparently
no olfactory organs, and will do its
deadly work in the midst of tar and
camphor galore. If there are no moths
in the garments when laid away, and
you wrap them securely in newspapers
moths, like other evil doors, object to
printers ink-you may feel reasonably
secure that they are safe. The thing is
| 10 make sure that no moths are in them,
and that none can get at them.
A cedar chest is nice thing to have,
more especially if you live in fiat and
it takes the shape of a box lounge, but
good packing trunk, lined with two
thicknesses of newspapers laid between
the clothing at every layer, is just al
efficacious for the preservation of the
goods. Indeed, if you like, you may
! keep your rugs on the floor all summer
and your wraps in the wardrobe, and il
you beat and brush them regularly
twice week they are as safe as though
packed away.
4 l once asked a well-known furriel
! what moth preventive he preferred
His answer was: "a man with a stick
Then he went on to explain that all thu
garments in his shop were kept hang
ing in cedar-lined closets, and once &
week, all the year round, were taker
out and well beaten and examined
HIS BlOCSSuiAts5 iChdSASA thShA ~
fectly safe. Nowadays the large houses
use cold storage, and your costly fur'
which they insure for the summer arr
kept in rooms where the air is as DIR,
as a bone and many degrees below
freezing. Any venturous moth wit
should gain access to the safety deposi
chamber would be at once frozen stiff
This is also good for the furs, sine
warm weather is injurious to theil
beauty. A months wear in warn
weather is harder on fine furs thai
years of use with the mercury at freez
ing.
AS the moth miller has supersensi
tive nose, it rarely attacks any fur witt
a scent, however faint. Sealskin is com
paratiyely safe from their ravages. an
the beautiful skunk fur, which, how
ever carefully deodorized, still retain
a slight scent, is never molested. Blu
in laying away your sealskins be care
full to see that every hair is in its correc
position. Carelessness in this regar
is certain to produce rough an
rubbed effect which can only be rem
edied by visit to the furrier and ez
pensive treatment at his hands.-Ch
cago Times-Herald.
Cup Pudding.
One heaping cupful of flour, one tes