12 
HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 
insect should be killed whenever individuals are met with, and it should be borne 
in mind that frequent handling of starched and silk clothes will tend to 
render the goods so handled less likely to be attacked. Since they are fond 
of starch, the poisoning of starch with an abundance of arsenic, smearing 
the same on pieces of cardboard, and placing these poisoned baits on 
shelves and drawers where the insects are known to occur, presents an 
effective means or reducing their numbers. A similar poisoned bait prepared 
with glue in place of starch might be equally effective, though we cannot 
speak as frankly of this medium as we can of the starch. Inasmuch as 
this insect sometimes eats the sizing off of heavily glazed paper, leaving, 
however, the inked parts (text) untouched, indicating a marked dislike for 
printer’s ink, we recommend when silk material, or anything in fact 
containing starch or glue, has to be stored away for any length of time, 
that the same be wrapped in several layers of newspaper. 
F. L. W. 
ANTS IN HOUSE AND GARDEN. 
At the time of year, when ants are apt to trouble housekeepers 
and, to some extent, gardeners, one must bear in mind that there are 
different kinds of ants which require different kinds of treatment. There 
is the large black ant, and the large blackish and reddish ant, which make 
large mounds in the fields, and sometimes in the lawn; then the small red 
ant, which makes the tiny hills, in our walks, or in the sod; and then an 
extremely minute reddish ant, which lives almost entirely in houses, and 
which once established is an awful pest. 
While ants, when seen climbing up apple trees, or shrubbery and plants, 
generally, do not directly injure the plants, since they are for the most part 
after the plant lice which give up to them in response to their caresses, 
sweet honey dew, of which ants are very fond, nevertheless the black ant 
sometimes girdles and kills shrubs like the lilac and snowball. 
Remedies. — When ants are girdling a snowball or other shrubbery, we 
first have recourse to strong tobacco water, to see whether we can drive 
them away. If they still persist in eating the bark, we advise uncovering 
the crown and larger roots, mixing up arsenate of lead with a little water, 
and applying it as thick whitewash to these parts. Arsenate of lead is a 
poison, which, however, applied in that w^ay, would not injure the bush. 
Ants in houses are sometimes very annoying. There are various ways 
of getting rid of them. First, one must find out from where they come, 
and aim to destroy the queen or queens, which in all ant colonies are the 
only ones which produce eggs, and as long as the queens are left living 
the colonies will continue to increase. 
Our read'ers are familiar wdth the old-time remedy of powdered borax 
scattered about the shelves, and possibly are familiar with the device of 
putting the legs of the refrigerator or the tables holding food in pans filled 
with water covered with kerosene. There is also the time-honored method 
of filling a sponge with sweetened water, or several sponges, and putting 
