248 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST! - 
[J UNE, 
THE EDUSUn 
B3F For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
A Handy Wash Bench. 
A good, strong Wash Bench is a household 
article that is always appreciated by those who 
have to work over it. In many cases benches 
are made too frail, and soon become loose in 
the joints, if they do not quite break down, 
or they do not set level and steady, and the 
tub is continually slipping. Mr. E. C. Shook, 
Dutchess Co., N. Y., sends a sketch of a wash 
Fig. 1. —A FOLDING WASH BENCH. 
bench which is both simple and substantial. 
It is made of two 3 by 3-inch joist, about 3 
feet in length. Cut them both in the middle, 
as shown in figure 1, so that they will cross 
like a pair of shears. The legs, one in each 
end of the joists, may be about 20 inches to 
the top of the bench. After setting the tub 
upon the center of the bench, mark where 
the outside comes on the joist, and bore holes 
for pegs, which, when put in, will hold the 
tub firmly in place, figure 2. Other holes 
may be bored for smaller or larger tubs. 
When not in use, the “ shears”—which should 
have a bolt through the center—may be clos¬ 
ed and the wash-bench put out of the way. 
The Treatment of Bed-Bugs. 
Many persons, when they have occasion to 
speak of Bed-Bugs, try to find some synonym, 
as “Night Walkers,” or “Tortoises,” and 
some borrow the French and call them 
“Chinches,” or “ Punaise.” In a very pleasant 
letter “ Mrs. M. A.,” Fairfax Co., Va., writes: 
“Bed-Bugs—yes, its an ugly name.” True, 
but it is an ugly thing, and “ things should 
be called by their right names.”—When one 
means Bed-Bugs, it is best to have no mis¬ 
understanding, and to say Bed-Bugs. When a 
London firm put on their sign “Bed-Bug 
Destroyers to Her Majesty,” we know what 
kind of bugs the firm destroy, and infer that 
even Royalty itself is not free from the 
troubles of ordinary humanity. As to how 
the bugs “originate in bedsteads,” as our 
correspondent asks, there is but one way— 
they come from the eggs laid by other bugs. 
But one may be sorely troubled at night, and 
the most careful search will not discover any 
bugs in the bedstead. It does not seem to be 
generally known that the bugs do not always 
harbor in the bedstead. They will hide under 
the base-board, in the cracks of the floor, 
under the loose edges of the wall paper, or 
wherever they can find a shelter. From 
these places they will come at night, make 
their attack and retreat to them again by 
daylight. They have been known to travel 
20 or 30 feet to reach the bed. One of the 
remarkable things about the bed-bug is the 
length of time it will live without food. It 
is well known that the bugs have lived for 
13 years in a corked bottle, and when re¬ 
leased were alive, but very flat and hungry, 
and one case is mentioned of a bedstead that 
had been taken down and stored for 45 years, 
at the end of which time it was found to con¬ 
tain bugs still alive, though, it is added, “they 
were like living skeletons.” Generally the 
difficulty in getting rid of the bugs is due to 
the fact that the bedstead alone is looked to, 
while the crevices in the room abound with 
them. The old-fashioned treatment of bugs 
was, at the May house-cleaning, to thorough¬ 
ly scald the bedstead. Quicksilver was then 
beaten up with the whites of eggs and 
every joint smeared, and every crack filled 
with the mixture. This was a very useless 
performance, so far as the quicksilver was 
concerned ; wherever the white of egg filled 
a crack, or varnished over a bug or eggs, it 
would be of use, but the quicksilver itself 
was utterly useless. The next, in order of 
time, was the bug-poison of the apothecary : 
a solution of Corrosive-Sublimate in alcohol. 
This would, no doubt, kill every insect it 
touched, but so many fatal accidents resulted 
from keeping such a dangerous poison in the 
house, that its use has been properly well 
nigh abandoned for better methods. Bugs 
may be killed at once by the use of Kerosene, 
or Benzine. Kerosene retains its odor for a 
longtime ; Benzine soon evaporates, but there 
is danger from fire in using it, and this should 
always be kept in mind. By the use of a 
syringe or pipette with a rubber ball attached 
—such as is used for filling some of the foun¬ 
tain pens, benzine may be forced into every 
crevice of the bedstead, or into the cracks of 
the wall and floor. This should be done early 
in the day and the room well aired before 
night. If the bedstead is taken down, on 
putting it together fill every joint and crack 
with hard soap, and let every visible crevice 
around the base-board and elsewhere be filled 
in the same manner. By proper care the 
bugs may be easily destroyed and kept out. 
Our correspondent does not seek relief from 
the trouble, but wishes to know how to keep 
free. We can only advise her to watch, and 
whenever a bug is discovered, find where it 
hides and kill it. It is useless to begin war 
until the enemy is seen. By killing off the 
advance, much future trouble will be avoided. 
A Folding Clothes-Horse. 
The “ Handy Clothes Dryer,” given in the 
April number, has induced several of our 
readers to send sketches and descriptions 
of other forms of home-made “ holders,” 
“ horses,” or “ bars,” for drying clothes. The 
engraving here presented is from a drawing 
sent by Mr. M. O. Lanfair, Franklin Co., 
Mass., who writes: “We have found it to 
be very handy and useful. The sketch shows 
the clothes-bars when opened. When it is 
not in use, it can be folded so that it takes 
up only about six inches of space, and can 
therefore be easily put out of the way.” The 
size of the “bars” will depend upon the re¬ 
quirements of the family. Mr. L. has the 
A HANDY HOME-MADE CLOTHES-HORSE. 
legs and cross-rods 40 inches in length, and 
the other parts of the “ horse ” in the propor¬ 
tions to them, as indicated in the engraving.. 
An Adjustable Boot-Jack. 
A Boot-Jack is often a convenience, and to 
some persons a necessary article of daily use. 
Mr. E. E. Keller, Genesee Co., N. Y., sends 
a description, accompanied by drawings, of 
a boot-jack which he has had in use for some 
time. “It is like a common one, only that 
the back is split lengthwise through the cen¬ 
ter, so that it can be set for any size of boot. 
This is done by setting one heel between the 
two halves at the back end, thus making the 
front end, where the other boot heel goes, 
narrower, at the same time pressing the sides 
of the pieces against the boot. The construc¬ 
tion of the “ jack ” is shown in figure 1, and 
the position of the parts when in use in fig. 2. 
More About Water Jugs. 
In April last we gave a method of supply¬ 
ing a Water Jug with a bail. This reminds 
Frederick Johnson, Clinton Co., Ill., to say 
something more about jugs. He very prop¬ 
erly suggests that a water jug to be taken to 
the field, no matter what kind of a handle it 
may have, should be wrapped in several 
thicknesses of some kind of cloth, securely 
bound around it. For this purpose pieces of 
old carpet, or quilts, or even gunny bags will 
answer. By thoroughly wetting this cover¬ 
ing at the start, and moistening it as it gets 
dry, if the jug be placed in the shade, but 
where there is a free circulation of air, the 
water will keep very cool, and be vastly more 
refreshing than from a jug without such a 
covering. This cooling of the water in a jug 
thus covered is due to the fact that evapora¬ 
tion reduces the temperature. Every boy 
knows this, when he wets his finger to know 
which way the wind blows. The writer once 
