Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-13
WAR ON INSECTS.
Methods of DISCRIMINATING These
Household Pests

Insects infest almost all houses at GER
tain periods of the year, and annoy even
the most scrupulous housewives who take
pride in daily cleaning in order to avoid
having the pests that usually are found
where dirt is allowed to accumulate. The
most strenuous forms of cleaning however,
are not always sufficient to prevent moths,
flies, feas and ants from entering an
apartment and creating discomfort, and
once these bugs get into house a sys-
tematic war with acid is necessary, and
often relief from them comes only with
complete fumigation of entire house and
all the fittings. Many careful housekeeper
has been forced to move from a desirable
apartment because moths destroyed the car
pets and hangings, or ants, both red and
black, overrun the establishment and were
found in every part of the house from the
kitchen, where they Toasted on the food, the
sleeping rooms, where they seemed to enjoy
living in the beds.
These small insects are rather inoffensive
in comparison to the reaches, moths, wa
ter bugs and bed bugs, that are direct re-
Election on womans cleanliness, for they
thrive in dirt, and unless brought into an
apartment are rarely seen and never be-
come nuisance If the first ones are exter-
minated as soon as noticed.
Fortunately for women who do their own
homework, the methods of getting rid Of
these pests are quite simple If tried before
the bugs begin to breed and multiply, and
If there is plenty of sunshine and fresh air
in apartment and enough soap and wa
ter used the pests will not, as rule, last
for many days. There is no better plan for
freeing closet, carpet or wearing apparel
from moths than by exposure to plenty of
fresh air and sunshine.
Vigorous and frequent brushing is one of
the best ways of Kidding clothing from
moths and the eggs that they may have
lot Iy1 to L. lila
pounding in the open air will often result in
complete humiliation of this pest. After
thoroughly searching to make sure no lar
vac remain. the furs, woolens, &c, may be
put back in boxes, lined with heavy tar
paper, or packed away in sacks made Of
sheets that can be tied at the opening SO no
moths can enter. Naphtha or camphor balls
may also be put in as a preventive, but the
best way is to take the articles from these
receptacles every four or five weeks, air
and brush them, for with this treatment 1t
is impossible for the destroying insects to
eat into the garments.
AS to the carpets, before they are again
laid on the floor the boards should be
scrubbed with hot water and suds to make
sure no eggs are left between the cracks,
then when dry put kerosene or benzne in
the cracks and spread tar paper over the
floor as pad for the rugs or carpets. Dur
ing the spring and summer months when
moths are so often seen circing around
lights at night and when they are noticed
iSiIlS dTouHu d TOOHl, d SOOu pTGCduClOn TO
take occasionally against any inroads they
might make is to spray all the upholstered
furniture and draperies with benzine.
Frequently households are besieged with
a pest of feas that come in numbers with
out apparently any origin that can be ex-
planned, and are a source of real physical
discomfort until the apartments are freed
from them. This process is often a difficult
and tedious one, too, for the bugs are so
small and hop so quickly from one place
to another that it is practically impossible
to catch them. One of the simplest and
easiest methods of determination Is to sweep
and scrub the floors of the rooms in which
they congregate. Brush down the ceiling
and walls, remove the hangings and all the
furniture so that there will be nothing for
them to cling to, then let in plenty of fresh
air and sunshine, and do not live in that
room for several days. During this opera
ton use freely pyrethrum or spray the
floors with benZine or one of the light oils
Before any of the rugs furniture &C.,
are brought back into a room thus cleaned