MiaCELLANEOTTS. 571 



pests. It says: "Hot alum water is a recent suggestion as an insecticide, 

 (insect killer). It will destroy red and black ants, roaches, spiders, chintz 

 (striped or spotted) bugs, and all crawling pests which infest our houses. Dis- 

 solve alum, 2 lbs. in 3 or 4 qts. of boiling water; then apply it with a brush, 

 while nearly boiling hot, to every joint and cre\nce in your closets, bedsteads, 

 pantry shelves and the like. Brush the crevices in the floor of the skirting or 

 mop boards, if you suspect that they harbor vermin. If, in whitewashing a 

 ceiling, plenty of alum is added to the lime, it will also serve to keep insects at 

 a distance, and also cause the white-wash to stick better; 2 lbs. to a pail is 

 enough. Roaches will flee the paint which has been washed in cool alum water 

 of this strength. 



Remarks. — This is confirmed by the Cincinnati Times, only the Times rec- 

 ommended it as strong as 2 lbs. to 2 qts. of water, put on hot with a white- 

 wash brush. It also recommends carbolic acid diluted with water, and applied 

 with a brush of feathers for the destruction of red ants; and says: "If they do 

 not leave the first time, apply again stronger," but it does not give the proper 

 strength. The crude, or black, dirty acid, which the crude is, could not be 

 used on shelves in the cupboard or closets, but the pure, which is clean and 

 transparent would have to be used, such as druggists sell, of about 50 per cent, 

 strength, for about 25 cts. an oz. This strength would kill them certainly, and 

 I think if as much water is added, it would still be strong enough. 



Roaches may be driven away by putting Scotch, or other highly dried snuff 

 into their Iiaunts, or crevices, and about the shelves, etc. 



10. Roaches Utterly Destroyed.— A correspondent of the Country 

 Oentleman says: " I give a recipe to your correspondent who wishes to know 

 how to get rid of the insects he calls the cockroaches, although I think he mis- 

 names them. Let his wife finish making peach preserves late at night in a 

 smooth, briglit, brass kettle ; then persuade her it is too late to clean the kettle 

 till morning, but set it against the wall where the insects are thickest and retire 

 to rest. In the morning he will find the sides of the kettle bright as a new dol- 

 lar, but he will find every insect that was hungry in the bottom of the kettle, 

 when, if he uses the recipe I did, he will treat them to a sufficient quantity of 

 boiling water to render them perfectly harmless. As I thought molasses cheaper 

 than peach preserve juice, I ever afterward baited the same trap with molasses, 

 and I caught the last one of millions. I pity any person troubled with them. 

 I have lived 30 years since making the discoveiy (accidental), and have never 

 had to repeat it." 



Remarks. — There is no mistake about the name, as Webster's Unabridged 

 calls them cockroaches; but, for short, I have called them roaches, which 

 everybody understands just as well; as it is only because they are so very 

 troublesome, and hard to get rid of, that I have given so many plans by which 

 they can be driven away or destroyed. 



1. BED BUGS— To Destroy.— Take a quart bottle and fill it with 

 equal parts of best alcohol and spirits of turpentine, and add camphor gum, 1 

 oz. Shake well when used, and with a small brush wet the crevices, foldings 

 of the curtains, etc., if there is the least sign of the bugs having been about 



