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Show w5? .,$(jfeHAt(WlET MAY WILSON What to Do About Moths There is probably no housewife in the United States who has not, at some time or other, brought some garment out of storage, only to find it rendered unfit for use by the depredations of the destructive clothes moth. At such a time she is likely to exclaim in despair, "What can I do? The place seems to be full of these things! I thought I had that garment put away safely." As a matter of fact the clothes moth is nearly omnipresent. It is to be found in nearly all dwellings, its abundance being influenced by the temperature and humidity of the house, its furnishings and the thoroughness thor-oughness of the house cleaning. The clothes moths that are most troublesome are very small, with a wing spread of perhaps a half inch. The webbing clothes moth is uniformly uni-formly yellowish; the case-bearing moth is of a similar color with indistinct in-distinct dark spots on its wings. They ' like darkness and may be found flying about slowly in dark corners or just beyond the range of the lamp rays. If clothing or other objects are disturbed the moths will run or fly swiftly to conceal themselves them-selves In folds of clothing, or cracks, or any dark spot where they may hide. The parent moths do not eat clothing; it is the larvae which do the damage. The moths lay their eggs in clothing, rugs, upholstering, and similar places but the eggs are not attached to the fabrics. The eggs hatch in from four to eight days in summer; In from three to four weeks in colder weather. MOTH CONTROL If an entire dwelling is found to be overrun with the pest, then drastic dras-tic measures such as fumigation or spraying will be necessary, but as a rule, local treatments assisted by careful and thorough house cleaning will suffice for riddance. Fumigants such as hydrocyanic acd gas are dangerous to human life and should be made use of only by persons experienced in handling them that is, by licensed pest-control operators, working under health department permits. Sprays which are advertised for the control of moths and other insect pests are usually made of an odorless, odor-less, stainless, kerosene oil combined com-bined with pyrethrum or derris extracts. ex-tracts. These sprays are contact sprays that is, they kill only the insects actually bit or made wet in the spraying process. They can be used to advantage to kill moths on clothing and upholstered furniture, furni-ture, in floor cracks, around baseboards, base-boards, etc. DRY CLEANING Dry cleaning kills all forms of moths at the time of treatment; washing in a strong solution of neutral neu-tral soap will also kill all moths present in the fabric washed; but neither process will prevent reinfes-tation. reinfes-tation. After a garment has just been dry cleaned or washed, if it is wrapped in paper wide enough so that the ends can be deeply folded back and sealed in place, it will remain safe from moth attack. Since the eggs of the clothes moth are very soft they are easily crushed or dislodged by brushing. In brushing, brush-ing, particular attention should be given to seams and pockets. The larvae can not endure hot sun and will drop to the ground from clothing cloth-ing left hanging in the sun, especially especial-ly if it presents no folds where they may find shelter from the sun rays. PREVENTIVE MEASURES Meticulous housekeeping combined com-bined with careful attention to all woolen garments, upholstery and the like will go far to keep down the clothes moth menace. Woolen garments gar-ments which are not packed away during the summer should be frequently fre-quently brushed and sunned; rugs and upholstery should be kept well vacuumed; woolen rags or discarded discard-ed woolen clothing should be disposed dis-posed of by storing, if necessary, in sealed cartons. CLOTHING IN CLOSETS Brush all clothing; clean the closet thoroughly; seal all cracks in plaster plas-ter or about baseboards with crack filler; equip door-frames with rubber rub-ber gaskets so that the doors may be shut tight at all points; place on the top shelf, or hang in muslin bags from hooks, one pound of flake naphthalene naph-thalene for each 100 cubic feet of closed space. The fumes given off by the slow evaporation of the crystals crys-tals will stop the larvae from feeding feed-ing and, if continued long enough, will eventually kill them. For practical sad authoritative methods of moth control with reference to clothing, carpets, furniture, rugs, trunks and boxes, send five cents to Superintendent of Documents. Docu-ments. Washington. D. C. asking for copy of Leaflet No. 143. Dept. of Agriculture. AIRPLANE SPRUCE This tree is a veritable giant among the spruces of North America. Ameri-ca. It was known as the Sitka or Tideland spruce, previous to the World war. Since that time it has been known as the airplane spruce because of its peculiar adaptability to airplane construction. e HACKBERRX TREE The hackberry which is variously mown as sugarberry, nettle-tree and hoop ash, is a member of the nettle family. |