242 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Ciiap. IL 



Altliough several birds, of wliicli the crow ami Baltimore oriole are the chief, 

 feed upon tlio pea-weevil, they are very far from destroying it, and the evil 

 is annually increasing. How can this insect bo destroyed, is a fiuestioii 

 worth solving. "We think it can be, if farmers and gardeners would make a 

 united effort, totally annihilated from the country. The remedy is very 

 eimplc. It is to steam all the seed peas. Tiiis can be done in a small way 

 in families by taking the seed, so soon as gathered, shelled, and dried, and 

 placing it in a cullender, covered with a cloth or plate, and placed over a 

 kettle of boiling water until the tteam is thoroughly jiassed througli the peas, 

 when they are to be dried in the sun and put away in paper bags. Upon a 

 large scale, the peas nuiy be steamed in bags or barrels, by inserting a steam- 

 pipe from a boiler at so low a j^ressure that it will not cook the peas, but it 

 ■will the pupae of the pea-weevil. Let it be remembered that steam, prop- 

 erly api)lied, will totally eradicate the pea-weevil from the land And if 

 iium peas, why not from wheat, corn, and rice, easier and better than by 

 kiln-drying? It would be very easy to dry the steamed grain. Passing it 

 througli a fanning-miil would probably be sufficient; or pouring it out of a 

 basket, where it would fall fifteen or twenty feet through the air. 



2t;6. Freserviug Insects. — Insect collectors will find the following method 

 of killing the insects they wish to preserve one of the most convenient of 

 any tliey have ever tried. Dissolve cyanide of potassa in water to satura- 

 tion, and keep it tightly corked in a small vial, and it will always remain 

 in good order for use. A\"hen you catch a fly, moth, insect of any kind, 

 or a beautiful butterfly that would be injured in fluttering, dip a needle- 

 point in the solution, and prick your cajitive just under the wing, and 

 see how quick and calmly they will lie down and die. Some large or 

 hard-to-kill insects may require more than one stab to make them die peace- 

 ably. This solution is used by scientific entomologists in making their 

 collections. 



267. Household Insects. — UaWs Medical Journal states that household 

 vermin may be got rid of as follows : Half an ounce of soap boiled in a pint 

 of water, and put on with a brush while boiling hot, infallibly destroys the 

 bugs and their eggs. Flies are driven out of a room by hanging up a bunch 

 of common plantain (fleawort) after it has been dipped in milk. Kats and 

 mice speedily disappear by mixing equal quantities of strong cheese and 

 powdered squills. They devour this mixture with greediness, while it is in- 

 nocent to man. "When it is remembered how many persons have lost their 

 lives by swallowing mixtures of strychnine, etc., it becomes a matter of hu- 

 manity to publish these items. 



'Yhe Sfiififijic Anuriran says: " Common red -wafers scattered about the 

 haunts of cockroaches will often drive away if not destroy them."' Tticse 

 wafers, like candies, are colored red by oxyd of lead, a most deadly poison ; 

 and so is the acetate of lead, or sugar of lead, as it is sometimes called, on 

 visiting cards, which, being a little sweetish, has been known to destroy 

 younw childreu, to whom they were liauded to be amused with. Fashion 



