The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-06-28
WAR ON THE cocKRoAcH.
Sshis Kitchen Pest Holds His Ground
Despite Mans InEenuity-
Approved Strategy.

1.-THE ingenuity of man from the
earliest ages has been directed to the
construction of cock1 zach traps. Get
ting a roach int6a place where there
il something to eat is easy enough;
getting him to stay there till you
can come and kill him is another mat
ter" says Harvey Sutherland, in Aims
lees. putting molasses on a piece OF
board afloat in broad basin is said
to be great success. l doubt it. for
it is my experience that a cockroach
is hard to drown. He does not throw
up his hands at once and sink bub-
bling to the bottom. suppose event.
ually he does drown. but have never
had the patience to wait and see. l
have found that the least little kero-
sene on the water has the effect of in
stantly killing him.
"Another trap is a glazed bowl half
full of stale beer or ale-their pledge
allows them to drink malt liquors
with a lot of sticks leaned up against
it and projecting over the liquid.
They drop in and drown themselves
and. presumably. their sorrows in the
flowing bowl. There are other traps,
all depending on the fact that the
roach cannot climb up glazed surfaces,
boxes with glass rings around a hole
in the top: and the like. But the trap
is niggling kind of warfare at best.
1t lacks breadth of scope and action.
There is nothing whole-souled and
generous about it. Then, too, it de-
feats it's own ends in the long run,
for the wise cockroaches that shake
their heads and say. We'll, l don't
know about that are preserved and
the needless exterminated, so that the
race tends to become warier and
warier. and we bequeath to posterity
yet unborn a household pest that no
trap can allure, be it ever SO tempt
ing. The cockroach of to-day is plen-
ty smart enough.
OBSTRUCTIVE agencies that fall alike
upon the wise and the unwise are
quieklime and Persian powder blown
into the cracks where they hide. 1t
is a mistake to suppose that the Per
sian powder will kill. 1t is suffocat-
ing, for it gets into the little holes
in their sides through which they
breathe. They stay in hiding after
the powder is blown in on them as
long as they can and then they rush
forth nervously, apparently crying:
Mercy land! can't stand this!
Well-directed blows with felt slip
per at such times do great execution.
often wonder that housewives do
not appeal to the Anglo-Saxoa pas
sion for the chase in husbands and
sons. There is much sport in a cock.
roach battle. Under the water pipes
by the range and in the crevices OF
the stationary tubs are famous hunt.
ing grounds. If you have taste fol-
scientific experiments you may seal
up the doors and windows with strips
of paper smeared with molasses, and
then sprinkle bisulphide of carbon
about. 1t is volatile liquid, whose
vapor is destructive to all small life
1t permeates the house with a vocif
erous fragrance, compared with which
frying saur-kraut is a mere whisper
1t is similar in character, though not
SO permanent, as the perfume of the
little animal with black-and-white
stripes around its tail, which is not
a vanilla plant, either. If all this does
not deter you, feel it my duty te
give the further warning that if the
vapor Of bisulphide of carbon comes
in contact with fame it goes bang!
regardless of consequences. 1t is yer,
impulsive, like gasoline.
THE fumes of burning sulphur are
just as efficacious as bisulphide of car
bon, and not explosive at all, but
they blacken gilt things and impair,
distinct flavor of blue-tippet
matches to all and sundry the con
tents of the room. Also the plac.
needs airing for full "a hours after
ward unless you are fond of the ex
ercise of coughing. Shippers of fish
ing smacks, not afraid of beins
thought finicky and over-nice, use tn.
sulphur process few days before be
ginning the season, and follow it W
two weeks later to kill such roache!
and acknowledgements as may hav,
Matched out since.
1.-THE Mexican remedy particularly
desire to bring to the attention O.
those who recognize the power of tn,
mind over material ills. 1t is the sim
plest of all. Catch three cockroache.
and put them into bottle. Take tn,
bottle to crossroads. Turn it up
side down. and while the reaches ar,
dropping out repeat three Credo.
aloud. All the cockroaches in tn,
house from which these three wer,
taken will instantly pack their thing,
and go. it is said.
II don't believe it."