CARPET BEETLE 



1198 



CARPETS AND RUGS 



up their residence in the South with a view to 

 representing those states in Congress. 



CARPET BEETLE, sometimes called BUF- 

 FALO Bua or BUFFALO MOTH, a troublesome 

 beetle about one-eighth of an inch long, marked 

 with black, white and red. The larva (young) 

 is a short, brown, hairy grub that feeds on 

 carpets and woolen clothing, hence the name. 

 This beetle and its young are difficult to 

 remove. The best preventive is use of rugs 

 instead of carpets on hardwood floors. Spray- 

 ing a carpet with benzine and then airing, and 

 putting tarred paper underneath when laying 

 again, will kill beetles. Pyrethrum, powder 

 and naphtha balls are also helpful. See 

 BEETLE. 



CARPETS AND RUGS, textile coverings for 

 the floor. The Latin word carpita, from which 

 the name carpet is derived, really means rug, 

 but at the present day a carpet is regarded 

 as distinct from a rug. The difference lies in 

 the fact that a carpet is used to cover the 

 entire floor surface of a room, while a rug 

 covers only a part. Also, while most rugs 

 are woven all in one piece, carpets are usually 

 made up of strips of varying width sewed 

 together. 



Antiquity of Carpets. Carpet making and 

 rug weaving by hand have for centuries been 

 Oriental arts, and it was not until the nine- 

 teenth century that machinery was employed 

 to meet the growing demand for floor cover- 

 ings. In ancient times, even in the remote 

 days when our ancestors dwelt in caves and 

 lived by hunting, it is probable that their 

 rude dwellings were made more habitable by 

 the use of skins for rugs and for hangings at 

 entrances. Couches were no doubt made of 

 skins, and it would be only natural that if 

 the supply were sufficient more should be 

 placed on the ground or floor of the cave. 

 Thus it is certain that the first floor covering 

 was a rug, and not a carpet, in the modern 

 sense of the word. Gradually the use of skins 

 was extended to coverings for seats, and as soon 

 as the art of weaving was discovered textiles 

 began to take their place. 



That carpet making is of very ancient 

 origin is proved by the fact that there are still 

 in existence carpets known to have been made 

 nearly 1,500 years before the Christian Era. 

 The palaces of the Pharaohs of Egypt were 

 decorated with carpets and rugs, and these 

 were also used in the temples. 



H<r*r Carpets and Rugs Are Made. The 

 methods employed in weaving Oriental carpets 



are the same now as they were centuries ago. 

 On a wooden framework, its size depending 

 on the length and width of the carpet or rug 

 to be made, are stretched threads of hemp, 

 cotton, wool, or silk, to form the warp, or 

 foundation. To these threads are knotted tufts 



HOW ORIENTAL RUGS ARE MADE 

 of wool, silk, camel or goat hair, or mixtures 

 of those materials. The ends of the knotted 

 pieces are allowed to protrude, all on the same 

 side of the warp. After a row of such pieces 

 has been added, a thread of the same material 

 as the warp is run in alternately over and 

 above the warp threads. The knots and weft 

 thread are pressed tightly together by means 

 of a blunt comb. Row after row of knots and 

 weft thread are added, until the desired size 

 is obtained. On the number of knots in a 

 square inch largely depends the value of the 

 carpet. In some carpets the number may be 

 200, or even fewer, while in others there may 

 be as many as 750 knots to the square inch. 

 Such weaving is, of course, a very slow process, 

 and often the work of several weavers for 

 more than a year is required to complete one 

 carpet. 



In Eastern countries most of the weaving 

 is done in the homes of the people, and the 

 patterns woven are sometimes handed down in 

 one family for generation after generation. 

 Throughout the East the method of weaving is 

 the same, with variations only in the form of 

 knot tied and in the patterns used. Rugs 

 and carpets produced in Mohammedan coun- 

 tries have patterns of geometrical design only, 

 as the laws of the Koran forbid the reproduc- 

 tion of the image or likeness of any living thing. 



