V 



g LEAFLET 150, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



4 



the ends so that it can be turned back several times to prevent the 

 entry of insects at the ends of the rug. 



Treatment of furniture. — Upholstered furniture containing hair is 

 sometimes badly infested with the furniture carpet beetle, and a 

 single chair may be a source of carpet beetle supply for an entire 

 house. Fortunately the furniture carpet beetle is limited in its 

 distribution. Infested pieces should be sent to a fumigating firm to 

 be treated, as fumigation is the best method of killing the insects 

 within. Upholstered furniture can also be sprayed with a power 

 sprayer to good advantage. Hand sprayers are of little value in 

 treating the interior of furniture unless they are equipped with 

 devices (such as perforated needles) for carrying the spray into the 

 interior of the upholstering, in which case persistence and thorough 

 treatment can be depended upon to eliminate infestations. 



Fumigation of the entire house or of a single room. — The fumiga- 

 tion of an entire house, or of a single room, is the best method known 

 to reduce carpet beetles quickly and often serves to stamp them out 

 completely. If the infestation is of long standing and the construc- 

 tion of the house furnishes hiding places for the insects in wall and 

 floor spaces where fumigants do not penetrate well, some few insects 

 may reenter the room later, despite the fumigator's efforts. Proper 

 fumigation will kill all carpet beetles that are in the room space 

 at the time of the treatment. Since fumigation requires the use of 

 poisonous gases, it is advisable to secure the services of professional 

 fumigators to conduct it. 



Brushing and vacuum treatments. — Frequent brushing and vac- 

 uum-cleaning of clothing, rugs, and other susceptible articles remove 

 many carpet beetle larvae, and if the dust is taken promptly from 

 the house, or burned, much good is done. 



Good housekeeping. — In combating carpet beetles, nothing is more 

 effective, aside from fumigation, than the persistent use of a spray 

 about the baseboards, the quarter round, and floor cracks, and the 

 vacuum-cleaning of floor coverings on both sides, particularly along 

 the edges. Dust and lint should be removed from beneath the quar- 

 ter round where it is loosely fitted to the baseboard. Filling floor 

 cracks and the cracks about baseboards with a good crack filler elimi- 

 nates hiding places, makes house cleaning simpler, and keeps the 

 carpet beetles where they can be reached in the ordinary routine of 

 good housekeeping. 



Bushes about the house. — There is a very general belief that spirea 

 and other flowering bushes planted about the house attract carpet 

 beetles to it. Countless numbers of adults of the varied carpet beetle 

 (but very few of the other species) can be seen clustering on the 

 flowers of spirea and other ornamentals late in the spring or early 

 in the summer. These beetles like sunshine and fly from the house 

 when they can get out. There is no proof, however, that those seen 

 on flowers find their way back into the house, and it seems safe for 

 landscape architects and others to disregard the carpet beetles in 

 planning the beautification of premises. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1938 





For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. Washington, D. C. 



Price 5 cent 



