Evening star., 1902-03-01
The Problem of Their Extinc-
ton Solved.
ALL-YEAR ROUND PESTS
THE CARPET BEETLE AND THE
BUFFALO MOTH.
Interesting Facts and Statements
With Past and Present
Remedies.
Written for The Evening Star by Prof L. o.

Howard
Good housekeepers throughout the whole
United States have frequent occasion to
consult entomologists as to the best means
Of Kidding their houses Of insects which,
through the fact that they have succeeded
In accommodating themselves to the condi-
tions of civilization, have become known
rather distinctively as insects of the house.
hold. The problem is a much more SER
ious one in the south than in the north,
yet most Of these insects occur in the
northern states as we'll as in the southern.
In the latter. however. they are apt to be
more abundant Their occurrence in the
north is due to the fact that houses are
artificially heated in the winter time, thus
anordlng opportunity to breed throughout
the entire season. Fleas, cockroaches.
house centipedes, ants Especially the little
red anti, ''silver fish" or "slckers," book
lice. clothes moths. the buffalo carpet bee
tie, the black carpet beetle, and the host of
insects which affect stored products, and
others found breeding in store rooms and
pantries, which are carelessly kept by in
different housekeepers, comprise the prin-
c1pal insects known as household insects.
The remedies applied in the past against
all these different insects have none Of
them been thoroughly effective in the alb
sence of constant care, constant watchful-
ness, perfect cleanliness and frequent up
settings Of the whole establishment and the
consequent disturbance of family comfort
In the operation Of "house cleaning Even
with all this care and all this trouble GER
tain insects still exist. Bedbugs penetrat-
ing into the remoteSt and most insignifi-
cant cracks in the wall, are, in houses in
which they once become thoroughly estab-
lished, most difficult to eXterminate by any
of the old-fashioned methods. Cockroaches
swarming in a house may be enormously
n
the best of the insect powders, but their
egg-cases are not affected by these rene
dies F'leas in damp summers Will persist
in spite of the of insect powders and
even in spite Of frequent Sprayings with
benZine. Clothes moths and the buffalo
carpet beetle have long been terrors to
good hOusekeepers all over the country, al
though methods of summer packing of gar
ments and plasterng floor cracks and lay
ing down Of tarred roofing paper under the
carpets are we'll known to most people. In
fact, cold storage Of valuable furS and
rugs has come to be looked upon prac-
ticaly the only perfect way Of avoiding
damage from these insects. and the aboli-
ton of the carpet habit has been recon-
mended by the writer and by others as the
best way of preventing undue multiplica-
tion of the so-caled buffalo moth.
Down to Facts.
1t may be said, as an aside, that carpets
are nuisances from any point Of view. and
that the reason why the so-called buffalo
moth, although an insect of European orr
gin, cuts small figure in Europe. is the fact
that over there and especially in South
Europe, carpets are rare things. A car
peted floor with only annual house
cleaning is a menace to health. aside from
the fact that it affords opportunities for
uninterrupted development of these insects.
Little red ants have been fought by
methods which required much trouble and
a n m
principally by the trapping method. but
although thousand or more may fire.
quently be killed in this way every day
the supply from a large colony seems prac-
tically unlimited and. frequently the work
is given up in despair. The search for the
colony for the particular crack in the
wall from which most Of the ants come Is
laborious and requires keen sight and an
chronological instinct, and therefore. es
pecially in the south, people put up with
the nuisance rather than spend their nights
and days in the fight.
During the past years the efforts at fu
migation have been confined to the use Of
sulphur fumes. Houses have been vaca ted
and sulphur has been burned at length,
with the result that many bedbugs and
other insects have been killed, but fire.
quently there have been survivors to per-
petuate new generations and the deposit
from the fumes has damaged choice arti-
cles Of furniture. and the discoloration Of
silver and other little articles has discour-
Gently bisulphde of carbon has been used
with better effect and without many of the
drawbacks of the burning of sui phur; but
the vapor Of bisulphide of carbon is highly
infiammable and explosive and the great
danger of confiagration is always pres
ent.
A Later Way.
The demand for something better in many
ways and for something simpler has been
great. Nearly twenty years ago it was dis
covered that hydrocyanic acid gas is an
effective remedy against certain insects and
that it may cheaply and easily be made. At
first it was used in California to fumigate
orange trees affected with scale insects.
Large canvas tents painted with linseed
oil to make them air tight were made in
different ways to be placed or pulled over
trees, and then the gas was liberated be-
meath these tents by placing certain guam
tity of cyanide of potassium into metal VeS-
sells containing sulphuric acid. This process
was rather expensive as method Of
chard treatment. but has come into rather
common use in certain portions OF the coun-
try. Later it was found to be one of the
best, II not the best, methods of treating
small trees and nursery stock before ship
ment from large nurseries in order to be
sure that they would not carry Injurious
insect life from the nurseries to portions
of the country where such injurious insects
did not previously exist. Still later the use
Of this gas became more less common
among the greenhouse men. 1t was found
that by one operation tightly closed green
house could be rid Of plant lice and certain
other insects much more perfectly and
easily than by spraying with the old to-
bacco washes or kerosene emulsion, and
with slight danger to the plants when the
were we'll understood. The
relative susceptibility Of different plants to
the action Of the gas has been studied and
the method will sooner or later become one
of common practice.
Death to Roaches.
The latest development in the use Of the
gas and the latest development in the war
fare against household insects is the use Of
the gas in houses. Last summer Mr.. w.
r. Beattie Of the Department Of Agricul-
ture conducted certain experiments in
building used for laboratory purposes by
the division Of botany which indicated that
the dissolving OF O.1 gram of pure cyanide
of potassium per cubic foot Of space was
perfectly satisfactory against cockroaches
and other insects. Upon the evening of
June 90 1901, such an experiment was tried
and the gas allowed to remain in the build
ing over night. The following morning the
gas had not entirely escaped, and the
centipedes, spiders, cockroaches
and mice were dead, with the exception of
a few reaches that had secreted themselves
between the sash and frame of loosely
fitting window and had thus secured