d8 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[February, 



THE HOUSE-MOTH. 



The simple term Math incliules a multitude 

 of ditferent siiecies of destructive insects, 

 not even belongiiij;: to the same family or order; 

 but it is presumed that everj' intelligent house- 

 wife knows what we mean when we say House- 

 Moth. That there were, or may still be some 

 who do not know a moth, even when they see 

 it, we have seen ludicrously demonstrated on 

 several occasions. On one particular occasion 

 we entered a house and found the good lady 

 thereof engaged in her "shaking up" and 

 mid.summer investigation of her previous 

 winter blankets and woolen clothing, and 

 mournfully deploring the ravages of the 

 "pesky" house-moths. She painfully rec- 

 ognized their pernicious work, but she did 

 not seem to have an intelligent idea of the 

 little creatures that caused the havoc among 

 her woolens ; for just as we entered, she 

 removed a bundle of old newspapers, and 

 immediately seized a dusting brush, and with 

 the back of it, in rapid succession, dealt a 

 series of blows upon something that was as rap- 

 idly making its escape to some otlier place of 

 concealment, as often as it was exposed to 

 view. This, she alleged, was one of the " in- 

 fernal moths," and she was determined to 

 summarily extinguish it with the back of the 

 brush. We ventmed to admonish her that 

 she was quite mistaken, and that any insect 

 that could run as swiftly and hide as quickly 

 as the one she was pursuing, could not possi- 

 bly be the one that had so effectually scored 

 lier blankets and woolen clothing — tliat the 

 real author of the mischief never made any 

 attemjit to run away, and indeed could not 

 run. We called her attention to the true moths, 

 on the carpet, on the walls, and on the furni- 

 ture, slowly dragging their variously colored 

 woolen cases along in the direction of the 

 places from which they had been dislodged ; 

 and which, on the slightest disturbance, would 

 draw in their heads and collapse the ends of 

 their cases. 



Hers had been a sort of " wild-goose chase " 

 after a species of Lepsima, those three-tailed, 

 silvery-scaled, swift-running, degraded Neit- 

 ROPTERA, which, whatever else they are guilty 

 of, are not very formidable as the destroyers 

 of blankets and woolen clothing; althougli it 

 is said they will occasionally eat woolen cloth, 

 and the surface of photographs. 



"As the winter passes away and the genial 

 sun once more pours his warm rays ovei' the 

 earth, making all things bright and cheerful, 

 l)lankets, overcoats, wraps, furs, and all arti- 

 cles that can comfortably be dispensed witli, 

 will be laid aside for those of thinner texture. " 

 And here is just where a rational caution 

 should be observed in regard to the articles 

 thus laid aside during the summer season. 

 The "House-Moths" {Thica taptzietla, ves- 

 tianella, et pdlionella) may be seen in its 

 winged state from the first of May to the 

 first of July, and sometimes until the first 

 of August ; but it is most aliundant in the 

 month of June, and it is during this month 

 that the greater nundjer of the eggs are 

 deposited, although there are either several 

 broods, or successive alternations of the same 

 brood. About this period too it is when most 

 of the winter fabrics are put away, and the 

 eggs are so small, and adhere so firmly, that 

 they may easily be packed away with the arti- 

 cles intended to be preserved. Although such 

 preventives as tobacco, pepper and cami)hor 

 are recommended, and no doubt to a certain 

 extent are beneficial, our experience has taught 

 us that tlie most effectual remedy is in pack- 

 ing the articles in fine linen or paper bags, 

 with every aperture completely closed, through 

 which a moth could possibly dejwsit its eggs. 

 If no eggs have been inclosed with the articles, 

 this precaution is perfectly safe. 



A writer from Paris under date of Januaiy 

 3, 1870, states that in that city there are i)er- 

 sons who make it a business to receive furs 

 and woolen articles, and for a reasonable com- 

 pensiition, keep them free from moths until 

 they are again wanted. Where no such estab- 

 lishments exist, or where people prefer to have 

 their property in their own custody, the bag- 



ging process should be used, and this may be 

 also exteiHlcd to woolen carpets. We would 

 recommend the use of tough strong paper 

 (manilla) out of which small -flour sacks are 

 now made, but care should be taken that every 

 hole, no matter how small, be perfectly closed. 

 Cayenne pejiper. or pieces of red-peii]ier pods, 

 toliacco and camphor, may also be put among 

 the articles ; but if we could be certain that 

 we have enclosed no eggs, these articles would 

 be altogether lumecessary. Under any circum- 

 stances they will do no harm if they do no 

 good. 



Be sure you do not improvise a woolen bag, 

 for this would only attract the insects, and 

 they would destroy the covering before attack- 

 ing its contents. Before bagging articles to 

 be preserved tliey shoidd be violently beaten 

 and shaken, and all the moths, if any, in them 

 should be at once thoroughly destroyed. Some 

 people are in the habit of hanging their arti- 

 cles out in the sun, to give them "an airing," 

 as they call it, without seriously disturbing the 

 moths. The Paris writer says — "As the 

 gnawing insects cannot invade linen or cotton, 

 it is enough to have this envelope impenetra- 

 ble at all points, provided we do not attempt 

 the preservation of ;in object already infested 

 with vermin or with their eggs and larvie." 

 Under certain peculiar circumstances, how- 

 ever, we have found that moths will invade 

 both linen and cotton, but if it lie closely 

 woven stout material, it is questionable if 

 they coidd penetrate it as they do woolen 

 cloth. On one occasion a box in our store, 

 containing jiieces of canvas, padding and cot- 

 ton flannel, which had been for years undis- 

 turbed, was finally removed in making some 

 improvements. On examining its contents 

 hundreds of moths were found in it, and these 

 had scored the linen and cotton material as 

 well as the woolen, forming their cylindrical 

 cases out of one kind as freely as another, the 

 only difference being that they did not cut 

 throuyh the linen and cotton as they did 

 through the woolen. Ordinarily, however, 

 moths are rather nice in their tastes, for we 

 have found the finer and softer fabrics more 

 liable to their infestations than those of a 

 coarser and harder quality ; but, where opjjor- 

 tunities for this discrimination do not exist 

 they will attack everything and anything that 

 is woolen, and rather than starve, they will 

 also appropriate linen and cotton, unless its 

 surface is too smooth and hard to make an 

 imiiression iqion it. 



The sum and substance, then, of these re- 

 marks is, that the cheapest, safest and easiest 

 remedy against moths, is the perfect isolation 

 of the articles we desire to preser\'e, and where 

 this has been perfectly accomplished, there is 

 little need of anything else; nevertheless, as 

 we are liable to omissions and other inadver- 

 tencies, the introduction of pulverized cam- 

 phor, pepjier and toliacco will not be amiss as 

 repellents, if they do not kill. 



Every iiarent moth that is seen should be 

 killed — a little silvery whitish and sluggish 

 day and night flier, that ajijiears most abun- 

 daiitly in May and June, and just slow enough 

 in its" Hight to be easily clapped between two 

 shingles, made in the form of bats or paddles, 

 one in each hand. Its little cylindrical cases 

 should also lie gathered and destroyed, as they 

 contain the lurrae. 



WHAT KIND OF OIL.' 



In the proceedings of the January meeting 

 of the "Agricultural and Horticultural Soci- 

 ety," reported on page 14 of the January num- 

 ber of The Farmer, where we are reported 

 as having stated that oil was the best remedy 

 for " scale insects, " or " bark lice ; "the next 

 question would naturally be, '■'vhot kind of 

 oil?'''' and, indeed, that question had been 

 answered briefly, before the meeting closed, 

 although no report had been made of it. 



In a fuller answer of that question, allow 

 us to relate one of our experiences in the oil- 

 remedy as well as other remedies, and also 

 the practical results of their application by 

 other experimenters. Some ten or twelve 



years ago, a neighbor of ours had two fine 

 young pear trees that were badly infested by 

 "the " Oyster-shell ]5ark-louse, " and some one 

 had reconmiended scrubbing them with fish- 

 brine, aiiplied with a stifl' brush. After the 

 application of the lirine and the scrubbing, 

 the trunks and laiger branches of his trees 

 had a reddish or rJSty appearance, but be- 

 fore the end of the succeeding summer sea- 

 son it became manifest that they were not 

 cured, and the insects reappeared all over the 

 surfece almost as numerously as tliey had been 

 before the remedy had been applied. The 

 projn'ietor became discouraged, neglected his 

 trees, and finally one of them died, and as 

 the other seemed to be slowly following in the 

 wake of the first one, it was also subsequently 

 removed; opposite and north of these trees, 

 on our own jiremises stood a pear tree, and an 

 apple tree, both of which became infested with 

 these insects, as well as a number of " sweet- 

 brier " or wild-rose bushes. We also scrubbed 

 our trees and bushes with saline and alkaline 

 solutions, as well as soap, and tobacco decoc- 

 tions, but finally we had to succumb and re- 

 move the trees and bushes in order to arrest 

 the further spread of the infestation. Some 

 years subsequently we received a copy of Mr. 

 Walsh's Report of the destructive insects of 

 the State of Illinois, (we think it was his first 

 and only report, for, by an accident he lost 

 his life sometime thereafter.) In this report 

 he gave some detailed experiments in the dif- 

 ferent remedies for the destruction of this 

 pest, from which it appeared that oil had, on 

 the whole, been the best, if not the only relia- 

 ble remedy, so far as his experience extended. 



We received this Report in the winter (either 

 in January or February) and in the following 

 spring, after the buds of the trees had begun 

 to burst, Major Howell invited us to look 

 at half a dozen fine dwarf pear trees on his 

 premises, with which something seemed to be 

 "the matter." On viewing and examining 

 his trees we immediately recognized the same 

 pests that had destroyed our neighbor's and 

 om- own trees, and, on the .strength of Mr. 

 Walsh's experiments, we did not hesitate to 

 reconmiend the oil remedy. Mr. H. imformed 

 me that he had a quantity of "neat's-foot oil," 

 and inquried if that would answer, and we 

 rejilicd that we thought it would. 



We need hardly say that neat's foot oil is an 

 oil extracted from the marrow of leg bones of 

 animals, especially those of ruminants or ox- 

 kind, and farmers are generally well acquaint- 

 ed with it, but it is always limited in quantity, 

 so that there is hai'dly enough on hand at any 

 time or place to make a general application of 

 it iis an insecticide. Be that as it may, Mr. 

 H. applied it, and finer, cleaner, healthier 

 trees we never saw than his were during the 

 following summer. Every scale was loosened 

 and the subsequent rains washed them ofl", 

 and left the trees as perfectly renovated as 

 could be reasonably expected from trees so 

 badly infested ; but about midsummer it could 

 hardly have been told that they had ever been 

 afflicted with bark-lice. Now, it is not to be 

 inferred from this that no otheroil will answer 

 the purpose but neat's-foot oil, for we presume 

 that any pure and clean liquid oil will answer. 

 There are some oils, however, that we would 

 by no means recommend, such, for instance, 

 as linseed-oil, or any oil that leaves a gummy or 

 mucilaginous deposit on the bark, and by 

 which the yiores would be closed. Nor would 

 we recommend coal-oil, camphene, or any 

 illuminating compound of that kind, for these 

 are known to have been injuricius to the trees. 



But lard-oil, sweet-oil, or any other liquid 

 oil or fat than those excepted. Neither would 

 we recommend applying the oil during cold 

 winter weather, for the reason that it would 

 be apt to congeal, and not penetrate sufficient- 

 ly the places intended to be reached by its ap- 

 plications. Moreover, during winter there are 

 nothing but eggs under the dry shells of the 

 females of the previous season. But in the 

 warm sjiring, and just before the leaf and 

 blossom buds have expanded, we would con- 

 sider the most iiro)ier time ; because the oil 

 would then remain liquid and gradually pene- 



