Evening star., 1927-05-27
Hygiene in the Home
Proper Care in the Kitchen Included Among
The Pratcal Suggestions for Safeguards

so that il any one Of these happens
! to be contaminated it will not affect
the others.
The garbage can requires special at
| tention because it receives the wastes
of the kitchen, which being of little
value are often neglected, and also be-
cause the materials which it contains
spoil readily and give rise to disagree
able odors which. mingled with the
air Of the kitchen, tend to furnish bad
A., air. Some dangers also go with the
garbage can, since whatever infectious
| materials may have chung to the out.
sides or the wrappings of the raw
materials coming into the kitchen are
| very liable to reappear here.
The best kind of garbage can to
use is not rough. battered, rusty,
and perhaps leaky old receptacle al.
ready rejected for all other uses. but
rather a new, clean. and smooth re.
ceptacle which will lend itself readily
to frequent cleaning with scalding hot
water.
Fighting Household Pests.
Insect and animal pests are not
only sagreeable, but they are often
a. menace to health and injurious to
the house ana furnishings. In spite
Of all precautions. insect and animal
pests frequently get into a house and
irust then be exterminated or con.
trolled. Ants are attracted by various
food substances, especially fats and
sugars, SO these foods should be kept
In closed containers and crumbs or
small amounts spilled on shelves or
tables cleaned off at once. The most
effective way of r'idding a house OF
ants is to find and destroy she nest
by treating 1t with carbon bisulphid.
benzine. gasoline, or Kerosene, or IL
the nest itself cannot be found, often
the ants may be traced to the opening
or crack through which they enter.
Squirting kerosene into it or plugging
1t with cotton saturated with the oil
will in many cases drive them away.
A temporary method for controlling
ants is to moisten small sponges with
sweetened water and place them
where the ants are most numerous.
Attracted by the sugar they will crawl
into the sponges and then may be
killed by dropping them into boiling
water.
Woolen materials and garments and
furS should be thoroughly cleaned.
brushed, aired and summed before they.
are put away. in order to dislodge any
moth eggs on them. Sealing such
articles in clean, heavy paper bags
will keep moths out. Ordinary firm
wrapping paper is satisfactory, or sew
eral thicknesses of newspapers will
serve. Clotf es moths do not eat into
paper to reach clothing. Naphtha-
line in the form Of moth balls or
flakes and when fresh is one of the
safest and best materials for pro.
tecting fabrics against moth injury.
To get definite results it must be used
In tight chests, trunks or other con-
tainers, where the fumes given OF by
the slow evaporation of the crystals
will be confined. Gum camphor may
be used in the same way, but Is not
quite so effective. If in good condi.
ton as regards tightness, cedar chests
are effective in protecting fabrics
from clothes moths IL precautions are
first taken to beat. brush, and, if pos
sible, sun the articles before they are
placed in the chest. If closet be-
comes infested with moths it should
be fumigated.
Carpet beetles, or buffalo moth, are
difficult to aexternainate once they be.
come established in a. house in which
the floors have carpets tackled over
them. If these pests are found, the
carpets should be taken up and
cleaned, then sprayed with gasoline or
benzine, and aired or summed. Cracks
and crevices along baseboards should
also be sprayed, then the cracks
should also be filled with a crack filler.
Closets infested should be treated in
the same way.
Sifverflsh are insects attracted by
starch, and are injurious to books, pa.
pers and starched clothing. A good
y v to destroy them 10 to mike about
one teaspoonful Of powdered white
arsenic with one.hak a .cupful Of flour.
make a thin paste by adding boiling
water, spread 1t on small pieces of
cardboard, and place them when dry
where the silverfish have been found.