Dissolve two pounds of alum in three or four quarts of water. Let it remain over night, till all the alum is dissolved. Then, with a brush, apply, boiling hot, to every joint or crevice in the closet or shelves where croton bugs, ants, cockroaches, etc., intrude; also to the joints and crevices of bedsteads, as bed bugs dislike it as much as croton bugs, roaches or ants. Brush all the cracks in the floor and mopboards. Keep it boiling hot while using.

To keep woolens and furs from moths, be sure that none are in the articles when they are put away; then take a piece of strong brown paper, with not a hole through which even a pin can enter. Put the article in it, with several lumps of gum camphor between the folds. Place this in a close box or trunk. Cover every joint with paper. A piece of cotton cloth, if thick and firm, will answer. Wherever a knitting-needle can pass, the parent moth can enter.

Place pieces of camphor, cedar-wood, Russia leather, tobacco leaves, whole cloves, or anything strongly aromatic, in the drawers or boxes where furs and other things to be preserved from moths are kept, and they will never be harmed. Mice never get into drawers or trunks where gum camphor is placed.

Another Recipe. Mix half a pint of alcohol, the same quantity of turpentine, and two ounces of camphor. Keep in a stone bottle, and shake well before using. The clothes or furs are to be wrapped in linen, and crumbled-up pieces of blotting paper dipped in the liquid to be placed in the box with them, so that it smells strong. This requires renewing but once a year.