1879 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
309 
of mosquito-netting, attached to a hoop with a han¬ 
dle, as in the engraving, large numbers can be 
caught, especially in early morning when their 
flight is slow. Children will soon become very ex¬ 
pert with the net, and when one is caught, a pinch 
of the upper part of the body, through the net, 
only anticipates a death that would naturally occur 
a few days later. Kill all the butterflies possible, 
as with each female at least 50 eggs, and conse¬ 
quent “ worms ” are destroyed. The eggs, which 
are tapering, or bottle-shaped, and prettily marked 
under the microscope, stand upon end in clusters 
of 2 to 12, and should be destroyed when found. 
Still, in spite of all care in killing the butterfly and 
destroying the eggs, some caterpillars will be found, 
and these should be attended to—the earlier the 
better. It must be remembered that the part upon 
which the worms work is the food portion of the 
plant, and any thing poisonous, like Paris Green, or 
Hellebore, will not answer in this case. Ashes and 
slaked lime have been used by many with success. 
Hot water—about 160°, just hot enough to kill the 
worms and not injure the plant is one of the best 
remedies on the large scale. A weak brine, made 
with a pint of salt to a pailful of water, applied 
with a watering-pot provided with a fine rose, is 
economical, efficacious, simple, and perfectly safe. 
Whatever application is made, do it early, as the 
caterpillars soon hide under the leaves of the form¬ 
ing head, and being thus out of reach, may next be 
met with upon the table. 
The Huckleberry Fungus. 
Branches of the liuckleberry-bush are often sent 
to us, upon which there is a peculiar abnormal de¬ 
velopment of the flowers, fruit, orleaves, or all com¬ 
bined. The engraving is made from specimens, 
which were sent from Steele Brothers, La Porte, In¬ 
diana, who state that is very common in that sec¬ 
tion. The cause of this trouble is a miuute fungus, 
kn#wn botanically as Mcobasidium Vaccinii, and be¬ 
longs to the great group, which includes the 
muf'^om, toadstools, puffballs, and larger fungi, 
HUCKLEBERRY FUNGUS. 
but differs from them in its habit of growth; they 
growing on dead organic matter, while this is found 
only on living plants and is a true parasite. This 
fungus assumes many different forms, depending 
on the species infested, and the part of the host- 
plant affected. When upon the leaves and branch, 
it is first manifest in the stunted growth, followed 
by a thickening of the parts and a taking on of the 
most beautiful shades of red, scarlet, and orange, 
thus making the affected branch resemble a large 
and showy flower, often mistaken for, and gathered 
as such, for their beauty, by those who see no 
deeper than color in flowers. When the flowers 
and young fruit are attacked by the fungus, they 
enlarge to several times their natural size, and soon 
become covered with a white powdery surface, 
which is due to the vast multitude of spores which 
are formed. In the engraving, some of these en¬ 
larged berries are shown in the upper portion of 
the cluster, with normal ones below ; and a twig 
affected, though not as badly as many we have seen, 
is given below and to the left. The remedy for 
this disease is to remove and burn all affected parts. 
THE E®I[J§ElE!©m 
For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Measles. 
This seems like vent tiring upon forbidden ground, 
for I know that the Editor does not want any 
“remedies” for diseases sent in, nor any disserta¬ 
tions upon particular diseases from “ lay-members.” 
But three of my little flock have just passed in 
safety this way-mark in the progress of childhood, 
and the subject has interested me so much, that I 
want to impart such help as I can to mothers who 
may wish to know how to meet this particular 
emergency. This is one of the diseases sometimes 
called self-limited. It is popularly formulated thus : 
“ three days to come out, three days out, and three 
days to get over it.” This is the general rule, but 
there are exceptions. The first symptoms appear a 
week after exposure to the disease, though they are 
sometimes so slight as to escape notice, and the 
eruption, nine or ten days after exposure, is the first 
intimation of the presence of measles. It usually 
seems at first like a severe cold—a cough, running 
nose, headache, red and watery eyes, with more or 
less nausea just before the breaking out upon the 
surface of the body. Often the child plays about 
as usual—my children did on the first two days, 
before the breaking out, and the youngest did so 
every day, except on the fifth day, or on the great 
breaking out day. Then he lay and slept a good 
deal. Of course you can not do anything to cure 
the measles. The contagion once fully at work in 
the system, the disease must run its course, and 
then the child will be “cured,” but by no medicine 
or nursing of yours. Good nursing may bring it 
safely through, and lack of it, or the opposite of 
good nursing, may cause its death. Only try to keep 
the body in good condition, and so give Nature a 
fair chance to expel the poison in her own way. 
Keep the skin clean—a bath before the breaking 
out begins is desirable, and I believe (from actual 
experience) that a warm bath (decidedly warm) 
very carefully given, so that no part of the body be 
chilled, is better than any herb teas for “ bringing 
out” the measles well. But neither warm bath nor 
warm tea is necessary if the body is in other re¬ 
spects in good condition—the bowels open, the 
stomach nourished by plain easily-digested food 
without stimulants, the temperature of the room 
as warm as may be comfortable, the air pure, and 
no over-taxation of body or mind. I treated the 
cough that goes with measles as I do all coughs in 
their beginnings—and this “ stitch in time ” saves 
the necessity for treating hard coughs, I find—I put 
a bandage wet in cool water, and covered by a dry 
one, around the neck. The great caution univer¬ 
sally given is : “ do not let the patient get chilled in 
the least. Keep warm." It is desirable that the 
measles should “come out” well. The eruption 
usually appears first upon the head and neck, and 
spreads gradually downward, fading away first from 
the head, downward. It begins to appear about the 
fourth day, if the disease progresses as it should. 
The great fear seems to be that the measles either 
will not “come out” thoroughly, or that having 
“ come out,” they will “strike in” or disappear 
suddenly. Getting chilly is the main cause of the 
so-called “striking in,” but improper eating or un¬ 
due exercise, or mental excitement, may have this 
effect, and then warm drinks (simple hot water is 
the best thing) or warm baths, or both, must be re¬ 
sorted to—anything to open the pores of the skin 
and bring the spots out again. If one does not pass 
through the measles well, some troublesome dis¬ 
ease may follow as a sequel to measles. The most 
common of these are bronchitis (or “ sore throat”), 
ophthalmia (sore eyes), and difficulty about hearing. 
One of my little girls complained much of her eyes, 
wished the room darkened, and wanted a wet cloth 
on her eyes almost constantly for a few days. I 
did not let her use her eyes for reading, writing, or 
sewing, during her recovery, and for some days 
afterward. The other two had the measles very 
light, though one of them was as spotted as a per¬ 
son could well be, and speak of their “spots” in 
the plural number. The one who had the disease 
most severely was first taken, though I think the 
other two were exposed at the same time with her, 
and possibly she might have escaped had she been 
in equally good health at the time. The others 
caught it of her, and were a week and a day behind 
her in the symptoms. The baby went through it 
all, living in the room with it night and day, with¬ 
out catching measles at all. I was very particular 
about airing their day clothing at night and their 
bed clothing during the day, and about ventilating 
the rooms, sometimes covering the patient all up 
in bed while I opened the windows, though the 
spring weather made ventilation usually quite safe. 
I am told that babes under six months of age sel¬ 
dom catch the measles. It is desirable that chil¬ 
dren should go through this ordeal in their early 
years, as the disease goes harder with adults, and 
is more likely to leave some lingering disease. 
Plies in the House. 
Yes, I think I see them—in your house perhaps, 
but not in mine. For I write this before the flies 
have fairly begun to come, and when you read it 
they will be buzzing about in the most disagreeable 
and impertinent manner in dwellings where no care 
has been taken to keep them out. I have never 
taken much pains in this respect, but I have suf¬ 
fered the penalty for former neglect until I have 
resolved to bear it no longer. I have said that I 
would rather take the bother of the flies than the 
worry of keeping them out of the house, but now 
we are all agreed to make an effort to have com¬ 
fortable rooms all through the house. We have 
netting on all of the windows, cellar included, and 
netting on outside doors, with springs to make these 
shut themselves. It is worth a great effort to have 
a decent table and eat without quarreling with the 
flies, to have a quiet place where baby can take, his 
naps in peace, and to have your own early morning 
dreams undisturbed by buzzing crawling insects. 
We are ready for the flies now, and I do not think 
more than half a dozen have got into the house 
as yet. We shall hunt those down, and if neces¬ 
sary I shall set occasional traps to catch them. For 
this purpose I have never had anything better than 
a tumbler partly full of soap-suds covered with 
a slice of bread cut to fit over the top, with a 
hole in the center of the bread smeared with 
molasses, and with molasses on the under side of 
the slice. The flies crowd together to feed upon 
the molasses and tumble into the suds and drown. 
Where do Flies Come from P 
The economy of Nature is very wonderful. They 
tell us that the mission of flies is to feed upon 
poisonous matter in the air. They breed in filth 
and thrive in unclean atmosphere. Then the spi¬ 
ders come to catch the flies. It is hardly a personal 
matter. Where dwellings are far apart, and the 
whole neighborhood is cleanly from a sanitary point 
of view, flies will be scarce, but they will come into 
your house and annoy you in various ways, how¬ 
ever nice your house-keeping, if there are breeding 
places for flies near by, and if the air that circulates 
through your house shares the impurity common 
to the common neighborhood. So you can never 
afford to attend to your own premises and your own 
family alone. It is minding your own business to 
keep an eye on the whole neighborhood. You need 
not be prying and meddling with other people’s 
affairs, but after you have made sure of setting a 
good example, try to have every one around you 
enlightened somehow in regard to healthful living 
—the necessity for pure air, pure water, and a care- 
