1905. Bed-bug Poison

1905.    Bed-bug Poison. Mix together 2 ounces camphor, 4 ounces spirits of turpentine, 1 ounce corrosive sublimate, and 1 pint alcohol.

1906. To Kill Bed-bugs

1906.    To Kill Bed-bugs. Benzine or gasoline will kill these pests as fast as they can be reached. By using a spring-bottom oiler, the fluid may be forced into cracks and crevices more thoroughly than by any other means. As this fluid is highly inflammable, contact with fire must be avoided. The room should be well aired and ventilated afterwards, until the gas passes away. (See No. 346 (Cautions about Benzine).)

1907. To Exterminate Bed-bugs

1907. To Exterminate Bed-bugs. Wash the article infested with a weak solution of chloride of zinc. This is an effectual banisher of these pests.

1908. Benzine as an Insect Destroyer

1908. Benzine as an Insect Destroyer. A mixture of 10 parts benzine, 5 parts soap, and 85 parts Water, has been very successfully used to destroy the parasites which infest dogs. It has also been used with good results in veterinary practice, as an application in certain diseases of the skin ; and thus diluted, is found to answer better than when used pure.

1909. To Disperse Black Ants

1909.    To Disperse Black Ants. A few leaves of green wormwood, scattered among the haunts of these troublesome insects, is said to be effectual in dislodging them. (See No. 1848 (To Destroy Black Ants).)

1910. To Exterminate Red Ants

1910.      To Exterminate Red Ants. Grease a plate with lard, and set it where these insects abound. They prefer lard to anything else, and will forsake sugar for it. Place a few sticks around the plate for the ants to climb up on. Occasionally turn the plate bottom up over the fire, and the ants will fall in with the melting lard. Reset the plate, and in a short time you will catch them all. Powdered borax sprinkled around the infested places will exterminate both red and black ants. (See No. 1901 (To Exterminate Cockroaches).)

1911. To Kill Flies

1911.    To Kill Flies. Beat up the yolk of an egg with a table-spoonful each of molasses and black pepper finely ground; set it about in shallow plates and the flies will be rapidly killed. A sweetened infusion of quassia will answer the same purpose. Dissolve 1 drachm extract of quassia in a gill of water, mix with 1/2 gill molasses and pour the mixture on a flat dish where the flies have access. The quassia acts on them like a narcotic.

1912. Fly Poison

1912.    Fly Poison. Boil 1/4 ounce small chips of quassia in 1 pint water; add 4 ounces molasses. Flies drink this with avidity, and are soon destroyed by it.

1913. To Banish Fleas

1913.     To Banish Fleas. The oil of pennyroyal will certainly drive them off; but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to dip dogs and cats into a decoction of it once a week. Mow the herb and scatter it in the beds of the pigs once a month. "Where the herb cannot be got, the oil may be procured. In this case, saturate strings with it and tie them around the necks of dogs and cats, pour a little on the back and about the ears of hogs, which you can do while they are feeding, without touching them. By repeating these applications every 12 or 15 days, the fleas will leave the animals. Strings saturated with the oil of pennyroyal, and tied around the neck and tail of horses, will drive off lice; the strings should be saturated once a day.