Evening star., 1945-03-06
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce,UeU.
"VARNUM STREET

'VARNUM STREET.
Dear Sir:
We enjoy your column very much
and have obtained much information
from it.
May make request? Would you
write about buffalo bugs or moths?
Last fall found them in a cedar
closet in the attic. They had done
little damage but 1 dread the coming
summer
II have been told there is q stage
which looks like lady bug. 1t lays
eggs. the larva matches ande eats the
cloth.
What is best to kill them and keep
them out?
Yours sincerely, L. P. B."
Buffalo moth is the common name for
carpet beetles.
The Department of Agriculture has
two leaflets. No. $50 and No. 145. on
buffalo moths and clothes moths,
respectively, which any householder can
secure by calling up for them.
This Is one OF the advantages of living
here, and all persons should avail them
selves of such services offered freely by
the Government. In the States. one
must write, but here all one has to do
is call up.
These booklets are by E. A. Back.
principal entomologist, Division of
Insects Affecting Man and Animals,
Bureau of Entomology and Quarantine.
The control of carpet beetles, DR.. Back
says, Is not difficult in storage units,
but when infestations throughout are of
long standing only persistence in con-
tinuing the application of remedial
measures will stamp them out.
Carpet beetle control will result in
the control of clothes moths" he says,
'as clothes moths and carpet beetles
have very much the same food habits :"
He tells us that when clothing is
stored in tight trunks or closets, pro-
lection can be secured cheaply by using
flake naphthalene or paradichloroben-
zene crystals. THAT word. alone, is
enough to scare a moth to deathD
In trunks, these chemicals are to be
used at the rate of l pound for each
trunKful of clothes. In closets, either
of these chemicals may be used at the
rate of about pound for every 100 cubic
feet of closet space.
Contact sprays" says the pamphlet,
such as the oil-pyrethrum sprays COM
monty found on the market are excel
lent for spraying floor cracks. Per-
sistence in the application of contact
spray, in addition to the frequent clean
ing OF rugs on both sides, will ultimately
eliminate carpet beetles"
Carpets and rugs that cover the en-
tire floor, and carpets tackled down,
favor the increase of beetles.
Sometimes single piece of furniture
ic the of F1,
house. Fortunately, DR.. Back declares,
the furniture carpets beetle is limited
in its distribution. Infested pieces are
best sent to fumigating firm.
Persistent use of a spray around the
baseboards and in floor cracks and
vacuum cleaning of floor coverings on
both sides, with removal of all dust and
lint. are suggested. Filling floor cracks
and cracks about baseboards with q
crack filler Is essential
The pamphlet has the following to
say about bushes about the home:
There is very general belief that
spirea and other Towering bushes plant
ed about the house attract carpet beetles
TO it. Countless numbers of adults of
the carpet beetle can be seen clustering
on the flowers Of spirea and other orna-
mentals late in the spring or early in
the summer. These beetles like sun
shine and fly from house to house
when they can get out There is no
proof. however, that those seen on
flowers find their way back into the
house, and it seems safe for landscape
architects and others to disregard the
carpet beetles in planning the beauti-
flcation Of premises"
1t might be suggested that window
screens would keep other peoples err
rant beetles out, as well as all other
insects. including the ubiquitous mos
quito. All window screens should be
inserted Ia March,