410 



DOXreSTlC ECOXOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



Patchouli is recommended as a preventive of motlis. Sachets do patclv- 

 oidi are made of cotton-wool, among which a few grains of the powdered 

 patchouli leaves are mixed, and folded in paper. Placed among clothes, 

 they are said to drive away moths. In Ilindostan, patchouli is used by the 

 women for scenting their hair, and it is also mixed with tobacco for the 

 hookah. In this country the patchouli leaves, it is said. M-ill retain their 

 scent if dried in tho dark by being placed singly in a drawer, and turned 

 daily for a fortnight. The Arabs dry the leaves and stuff pillows and mat- 

 tresses with them, believing that they prevent contagion and prolong life ; a 

 belief which attaches among the ignorant to sage and other odoriferous 

 plants. As a scent, patchouli is used by perfumers chiefly for mixing with 

 other aromatics. 



Eenzoin is used in the museum of tho Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, to 

 keep the moths out of the skins of the animals. 



Tallow packed with clothes is also a moth preventive. But after all, fre- 

 quent shakings are the best preventives of all injuries by moths or mold. 



Bugs may be killed with alum. Make a solution of alum, as strong as 

 M-ater will dissolve, and apply that hot to places infested with bugs of any 

 sort, in bedsteads, closets, or trees and plants, taking care not to applj' it so 

 as to kill tender plants, and the bugs will take a strong dislike to the 

 locality. You may brush it in cracks and crevices of floors, ceilings, or 

 walls of a room, or in the holes and nesting-places of these small vermin in 

 trees. 



Corrosive sublimate is excellent for bugs and ants. For bedsteads it may 

 be mixed with soap. For ants, with lard and sugar, through which draw 

 woolen yarn, and fi.x it in cracks infested with ants. 



458. Rat Keinedics. — Chlorid of lime has frequently proved a sure thing 

 to drive rats^away from any place infested by them. An ounce of it, scat- 

 tered in the place where they come to feed, or wrapped in a bit of muslin 

 and put in their holes, where it acquires dampness, produces a gas that is 

 not offensive to man, but is to the rats. If chlorid of lime is moistened 

 with muriatic acid, and placed in a drain, vault, or cellar, and closed from 

 the air a little while, the rats will depart, because it will be death to remain. 

 This is also a good disinfectant, and will for a time remove the efliuvia of a 

 dead rat. One application of dry chlorid of lime to rat holes has driven 

 them away for a year. If they return, a renewal of it will start them again. 



Cats are the best rat-traps that we have found after many years' ex- 

 perience, and next to cats, the chaft-trap. This is best made by partly filling 

 a large, smooth kettle with water, and then covering with a few inches of 

 chaff. Tlie first rat that gets in makes a great outcry, M'hich brings othcra 

 to share his fate. 



The best food with which to mix poison for killing rats is pumpkin seeds. 

 Wet them, and sprinkle on a little arsenic, which will adhere to the feeds. 

 They will be eaten by rats and mice, while cats, fowls, etc., not being fond 

 of such food, will not meddle with them. Wherever poison is put for these 



