The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-18

stray cats in my cellar when I open the
door to air it, and after using various
things to cover the food in it, 1 at last
had jack carpenter make me cup
board out of a goods box. 1t has two
shelves can take out and wash and sun
and door with two hinges, Fastened with
a wooden button. Sides, door, and back
are covered with galvanized wire screen.
The edges are turned under and tackled
to the wood. This holds my milk, but
ter, meat, a pie to cool for dinner (on the
bottom shelf) any left overs from meals,
as we'll as meat, oysters, and anything
that has been deliver ed and is waiting for
the next meal or the next day. l have
kept house for 35 years, tried many diff
ferent things and like this best of all. 1t
is little expense, light to handle, quickly
cleaned, and holds so many things I won
| der what I did with them before had it.
MRS. I. P.''
Tales of devices like these tend to en-
liven the business of our Corner and are
eagerly seized upon by other house.
mothers. Our member alludes to what is
a burning question in the domestic and
scientific world today. I mean the plague
of flies. I clip from an exchange portions
of an interesting paper dealing with what
we We're wont, half century ago, to call
the harmless little fly" Our offspring,
their progenitors, will stigmatize it as a
serious menace to cleanliness and health.
Now that the common house fly is
known to be a more deadly enemy than all
the implements of war combined, methods
of exterminating the pest are being rap
idly devised and recommended. Pyre-
thrum powder burnt in a house stupefies
fly until you can sweep him up and put
him where he belongs. little of this
burnt in the rooms in the morning, after
which the rooms should be aired. will
make the house exempt from flies all day.
Twenty drops of carbolic acid dropped
on hot shovel or en- any piece of warm
iron creates vapor that lays flies low.
The common mignonette plant grown In
jars and placed in q room makes things
unpleasant for flies. A handy thing is the
white clover. 1t is strange. but flies hate
the odor of white clover. Have a little
of this around in q vase and you will no.
tiee that the flies. have business In another
direction. This clover should be renewed
every day or so. for when it becomes dry
it irritates the nostrils. A cheap and ef-
fective poison, not dangerous to human
life is chromate of potash in solution
One dram dissolved in two ounces of
sweetened water and placed i'm shallow
dishes will call the long roll for any num-
ber of the pests Another remedy that
for all purposes has few equals is a solu-
ton of formalin or formaldehyde in water
A spoonful of this liquid in quarter of
a pint of water left exposed in a room
will make the flies scarce in a short time.
Flies are sensitive to light. Keep the
window curtains drawn, all except one
little slit, and they will gravitate toward
1t. Then you can easily drive them out
side"
I subioin to the advice of our esteemed
contemporary the injunction to beat the
harmful buzzers out of each room early
in the day; then screen every window and
door against their return. Keep sticky
fypaper near the window and burn the
accumulation of dead flies every night
| Lastly, never forget that cleanliness and
the absence from living rooms of all man
ner of foods between meals are essentials
to exemption from the plague" Which,
we note, proved one of the crucial tests
| of Pharaoh's stubbornness.. He sue
cumbed miserably when the flies swarmea
| over his food and corrupted the land. -
Were the wise men of Egypt aware of the
danger of the filth mongers we now know
the harmless" flies to be?