44 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
In light soils penetration can be obtained by punching holes 12 
inches apart and 30 inches deep with a heavy pointed iron rod and 
filling them with orthodichlorobenzene or 5-percent pentachloro- 
phenol. The holes should be filled (or plugged) with earth. Creosote 
alone does not penetrate very well in the soil, and in fact, it has a 
tendency to cake, especially when the soil is dry and of heavy texture. 
PROTECTING FINISHED ARTICLES AND WOODWORK 
Seasoned wood products such as furniture and wooden parts of 
buildings are subject to the attack of a wide variety of insects, such 
as roundheaded and flatheaded beetles, weevils, powder-post beetles, 
wood-nesting carpenter ants, carpenter bees, wood-boring wasps, and 
termites. 
CONTROL OF WOOD-NESTING ANTS 
Several species of wood-nesting ants, such as the small “tacrobatic” 
and large “carpenter” ant, cause considerable dam: age by boring holes 
in poles, posts, and the woodwork of buildings as places for rearing 
their broods. They usually attack wood that is somewhat decayed 
or already open to the interior through knotholes or deep cracks, al- 
though occasionally sound wood is infested. 
For the most satisfactory control it is necessary to find the insect nest, 
which is usually in a partly decayed porch column, sill, or joist. Re- 
placement of this infested wood is desirable, but often good results 
can be obtained by injecting such chemicals as 2-percent chlordane, 
5-percent pentachlorophenol, orthodichlorobenzene, carbon disulfide. 
or creosote diluted with kerosene or gasoline into the nests. Friend 
and Carlson (777) discussed the methods of controlling the ants in 
telephone poles. 
Caution, of course, is necessary in the use of inflammable 
chemicals. 
Often it is difficult to locate the nest, as the ants are seen coming 
from cracks in the building, at the Junction of the floor and walls, and 
not right at the nest. Good control can frequently be obtained by 
dusting sodium fluoride, 10-percent DDT powder, or powdered derris 
containing 4 percent of rotenone into these cracks. The material 
should be left there for some time. If other broods develop and 
worker ants appear again, the treatment should be repeated as often 
as 1s necessary. 
SUBTERRANEAN TERMITE CONTROL 
Except in coastal regions of the South, the Gulf States, and parts 
of California, termite infestation in the United States is restricted to 
the subterranean forms; that is, the insects must have communication 
with the ground for nesting and in order to maintain an adequate 
moisture supply. Upon this fact is based the principal means of pre- 
vention or control, namely, isolation of all untreated woodwork from 
contact with the ground by use of some materials impervious or toxic 
to the termites. The reader is referred to U.S. Bureau of Entomology 
(418) for a complete treatment of the subject of termites. 
Good Construction 
Termite control should begin when the plan for the building is under 
consideration. Generally speaking, the same practices acceptable as 
good construction methods among builders are well adapted to the 
