Evening star., 1924-08-01
THIS AND THAT
BY C. e. TRACEwELL,

Flies. f1eas, mosquitoes, chiggers-
| these are the -four horsemen of the
apocalypse" in summer time.
Worse than war, famine. pestilence
and death they seem to little babies,
| old ladies, fiappers, business men,
boys, girls. dogs, cats.
Against them fight the District
| Health Office, the Department Of Agri-
culture, screen manufacturers, de-
partment stores, drug stores. aided
by careful housewives.
The average Washington home is
free from the first three, but heaven
or earth cannot help one much against
the chigger.
This little cuss turks in the grass
to catch you unawares.
Leptus Irritans Riley, perhaps the
commonest in the United States. de-
serves the execration of all mankind.
He undoubtedly gets it from the por-
| tion Of humanity he bites.
II there is anything that itches
| worse than a chigger bite, it has yet
the light of day.
If there Is any animal. largo or
| small, that can do more ordinary,
everyday damage per cubic inch than
Leptus Americanus-anothe one Of
| the fancy names for the harvest mite,
| or chfgger-the SON. -of-a-gun has yet
! to be named.
The crowning insult is to hitch the
perfectly good Irish name of Riley"
| on to the Latin monicker that this un-
wanted, accursed brute unknoWingly
| bears through the grass. This is too
much.
One does not have to go into the
tall grass to get chiggers. though.
"An average Washington back yard
will do very nicely, thank you"
smiles Old Man Chigger, licking his
chops at the prospect of dining off
| perfectly good Washingtonian.
No longer is there need to go black
berrying. The "jigger," as he is
| sometimes called, used to be like
| Mahomets mountain. You had to
| hunt him up. He never invaded the
| home.
| This Summer he is right out in the
| back yard.
Heaven help US next year!
If chiggers invade the home, or
| less against the red scoundrel, whose
microscopic size would allow him to
slide through as easily as If the
whole door were open.
For the present he is staying out
side. This correspondent does not
look for an invasion of the home
from the common ranks of chiggers-
He fears, however, what Leptus Irri-
tans Riley may do. You can't keep
the Irish down.
Remedies for chiggers are more
plentiful than for a cold. Every
friend has a new one. Every new one
Is less efficient than the last one.
"Chiggers?" shouts Jones. "Haw.
Hawi Did you get bit by chiggers?
Haw, Haw! Why don't you try kero-
sene?"
Now the smell of coal oil" always
has been one of your particular banes.
You would as leave work in a bone
dust factory as monkey around an
oil well.
You rule Kerosene out.
Then along comes Smith.
"Chiggers" screams ole Smith.
'Haw, haw. haw! Have you tried
| ammonia? That kills the chiggers.
and prevents its eggs from Matching"
"Eggs?' the afflicted means. Does
1t have eggs SO soon?"
1T lays them in you, and unless
you do something to kill them they
hatch out, of course"
OF course. Why hadn't you thought
of that?
SO you start a frantic search for
remedies. Every acquaintance tells
you, loftily, mot to scratch" but he
might as well tell a hungry man not
to eat when he is put down in front
Of square meal
perfumed alcohOl-carefully labeled
not for internal use"-are slapped
on the bites, which seem to get worse
and worse.
Hell has no fury like a woman
scorned," said the poet.
No bug has bite like the chigger,
you tell the world.
y 4 X X
DIR. L. Q. Howard, chief of the
Bureau of Entomology, at the Depart
ment Of Agriculture, sympathetically
hands the sufferer a farmers bulle-
tin, No. Gil, containing seven pages
of facts and pictures
THAT is the best I can do for you
| he says.
1t is relieving to learn that chiggers
usually enter the skin near the shoe
tops. but sometimes are Jared from
bushes or small trees on to the neck
and other exposed portions.
The cusses even climb trees.
Their habit of burrowing under
the skin is not normal and brings
about their DEATH
Fine! splendid, splendid" as the
English lady was heard to remark
| on a street car the other day
Nevertheless the Inflammation thus
caused may become very painful, and
where many of the creatures have
attacked a person this may lead to
| fever and other disagreeable conse-
quences," goes on the pamphlet
All, there is picture of Riley!
* * y
"If a bath is taken in hot water,
or water containing salt or strong
soap, within a few hours after ex-
| posture, no ill effects will be expert
enced. After a longer exposure a
| bath has practically no effect, and
direct remedies are necessary"
Sulphur is a sovereign remedy and
| is the best preventive of attack, says
| the bulletin. Sitting flowers of sui
phur on to one. from the knees down
| is recommended when exposure is
unavoidable. Ammonia is declared
| to be the best counter-irritant.
|
| m