bretnall] MOLDS IN THE HOME 33 



of the fruit and the steam of. the lid will drive out all air and spores 

 from under the lid. There will then be no spores or air in the jar 

 of fruit and no mold will be found. In my laboratory we have 

 canned fruit in wide mouthed bottles with only cotton batting 

 stuffed in the mouth of the bottle for a stopper, and it kept per- 

 fectly. We, however, were careful to heat everything enough to 

 sterilize it and were careful to keep out all mold spores as well as 

 all kinds of spores. 



I have found this same kind of mold on tooth brushes which 

 were shut up in a cabinet in a bath room. These brushes were 

 some of those with holes back of the bristles, the kind which are 

 the most sanitary for the holes help the brush to drain and dry 

 out. These brushes looked dark with age at first glance but on 

 looking closer I found a little black mold plant in each hole. 

 I could pull these out each having the shape of the hole. I found 

 other mold plants between the bristles Tooth brushes should 

 be hung out where they can dry. Any cover put on them should 

 be open enough to allow them to dry properly. If the bath room 

 is kept well cleaned and free from dust the tooth brushes can be 

 hung out free so that they can dry quickly Here the moisture 

 gives the condition of growth and the reversal of the condition 

 keeps the brushes free from mold. Moisture is the one big factor 

 to consider in keeping the molds out of the house. This is seen 

 in bringing the clothes in from the line before they are dry and 

 leaving them piled in the clothes basket. We say they mildew. 

 This is a mold which stains the clothes and you cannot wash the 

 stain out if it gets in very badly. If you take the stain out with 

 chemicals a hole soon appears for the mold has used the clothes 

 for food and weakened them. These molds can live on almost 

 anything around the home. Sometimes we find them in the door 

 mat. 



A place where mold is often found and where it does great 

 damage is in the sills and rafters under the house which make the 

 ceiling to the cellar. This mold lives in the rafters and does 

 its damage before being seen. Where there is a great deal of 

 dampness it will show on the outside. In mines where water 

 drips down on the timbers supporting the roof of the passages 

 it hangs in great white festoons like masses of snow. To prevent 

 this mold in the under part of the house the foundation should, be 

 high enough to take the house well up from the ground and the 



