The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-05-25
GOOD WORD FOR CRoToN BUGS.
Said to Be CIeanIy-Sometimes USE
full as ~Scavengers.

ful as
For some reason or other" says
a writer in Good Housekeeping,
housewives seem to abhor the cock
roach even more than they do flies,
that are veritable assassins as COM
pared with the cockroaches, which
are at worse merely pantry thieves.
The name of the pest may be altered
to croton bug, roach, black beetle or
in Boston possibly Periplaneta amer
icana.
81 would like to tell something OF
the roach's good qualities, of his in
%telligence, his amusing habits and
his cleanliness. I suppose that after
having set forth all these traits the
housewife will still turn to the death
dealing pyrethrum powder, which is
the simplest and cheapest destructive
agent. For that matter, 1 must plead
guilty of killing several gallons-or
bushels-of cockroaches each year.
1.-THE cockroach is related to the
locust. that is used as food not only
by our own Indians of the Southwest
Int by the races Of Africa and Asia.
This fact may be consoling to the
housewife who stands in constant
dread of finding a cockroach in her
food. The monkeys in the Central
Park monkey houses eat reaches be-
tween meals and seem to find them
%delicacies.
1.-THE roach is very cleanly in its
habits, and thus resembles a cat, just
as the commo house fly may be said
to resemble a dog that comes in dirty
and muddy from the street. While
the fly carries disease germs and the
bacteria that breed in filth to the
food on the dinner table, the cock
roach is not an unclean insect. In
stead, if you watch him you will see
that he is constantly stopping in his
short runs to lick his legs and wings
with his tongue. The roach is also
a great help in devouring crumbs and
waste about the kitchen and the din
ing room.
In the tenements of New York's
East Side the croton bugs do the
work that the housewives leave un.
done. The insects clean from the
cracks and ~crevices of ill-kept kitch'
ems the food and refuse that would
otherwise decay and cause evil re.
suits. Besides, the cockroaches if the
food supply runs short will make In
roads into the bedrooms, and hunt
and devour other insects, such as bed
bugs, that make life ~unbearable. II
food is kept out Of the house for a
week orNso and there are any bed
bugs to be found the c~ockroaches will
eat them and their eggs. Taken al
together, in unclean houses the cock.
roach is a blessing.
1.-THE best exterminator I know OF
it pyrethrum powder. The best way
to rid a kitchen of reaches is to take
out all articles thct might be dirtied
by the powder and then to tlrow
handfuls Of it into the cracks and
crannies where the reaches hide.
In a minute or so the reaches will
be seen stumbling out of their re.
treats. They will tumble about and
fall drunkenly. AS a matter of fact
they are suffocating. Since they
breathe through spiracles or holes
along their sides and not through
their mouths the powder enters into
these spiracles when they try to run
through it.. After the kitchen has
been we'll powdered the doors and
windows should be closed overnight
In the morning the dead reaches will
be found lying scattered every.
where.
IT do not know of any way to pre-.
vent them from invading a house OF
more especially an apartment. They
are migratory in their habits and II
you succeed in killing all you have
to-day you have no assurance that a
wandering band of reaches may not
discover your kitchen in a week or sc
and invade it. Therefore the house
wife will find that she must repeat
the treatment occasionally, say every
month. In that way she may be sure
IF IRONING her house clear of them"