570 I>R- CEASE'S RECIPES. 



that the large leaves often wither and die for want of a ready support from jae 

 transplanting. 



1. ANTS, ROACHES, LITTLE SPIDERS, ETC.— To Destroy. 



>— " Hot alum water," says a recent practical woman writer, " is the latesi sa,^ 

 gestion as an insecticide (insect killer). It will destroy red ants, black ants 

 roaches, spiders, chintz bugs and all other crawling pests which infest oui 

 houses." 



Remarks. — This writer does not say how much alum to use. I should t^ay 

 J^ lb to 1 pail of water, sprinkled about their haunts boiling hot, would do the 

 work well. 



2. Another writer, after being pestered with red ants a year or tw(/, diove 

 them away by placing raw sliced onions about the closets. 



3. Another by putting tar, 1 pt., into water, 2 qts., and placing in ,ohaliow 

 dishes in the closets. 



4. Another by wetting sponges in sweetened water and placing where 

 they enter the house, if that can be found, else in the closets, and after an hour 

 or two dipping into boiling water. 



5. Another.— Destroys roaches by distributing the freshly dug roots of 

 the black hellebore, bruised or strewed around the floor, or places where they 

 frequent at nights, claiminr; it to be as infallible as it is poisonous, and they 

 eat it with avidity. It grows in marshy places, and it is kept by drugolsts- 

 these being dry however, would have to be soaked or steeped a little to allow it 

 to be mashed. The water then might also be placed in shallow dishes, with 

 bits of shingle laid on the edge to allow them to go up to it. See 8, 9 and 10, 

 etc. 



6. Ants, to drive from Lawns or other Grounds.— CarboliG 

 Acid, crude, 1 part to the water 40 parts, (ounces, pounds, or pints); mix and 

 sprinkle upon their mounds. "Why not good then, about the houses where 

 they infest? Standing the legs of safes for victuals in dishes of water wih beat 

 them all badly as to getting their dinner from that quarter. 



7. Roaches.— Have been driven off, or killed, as I suppose by laying 

 red wafers around for them to eat; the red being the result of the use of red 

 'ead, which is poisonous and destructive. Lozenges made with red lead would 

 do the same thing; a mixture of red lead, say one oz., with corn meal, % pt. 

 moistened with molasses to a consistence of batter, and spread on the bottom 

 of plates turned up, or on thin pieces of boards, wiU also destroy them, as they 

 eat it greedily. 



8. Roaches. — I have seen it stated that a lb. of powdered borax scat- 

 tered around their haunts would clear any house of roaches. I have scattered 

 it upon them where they nested in drawers, etc., and have seen' them scatter 

 with the dust upon them, like leaves before an autumn wind — like the leaves, 

 never to retxirn. Yet I have heard others say it did no good; but with some 

 of these plans, perseverance must conquer. 



9. Roaches, Ants, Spiders, Chintz Bugs, etc., to Destroy.— 

 ^ie Journal of Chemistry publishes the following, as efficacious for all Uiese 



