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Household and Garden Pests: Paris

THE COMMON COCKROACH OR CROTON BUG Exterminators of Cockroaches.- Substances recommended to kill or disperse cockroaches are fumes of hydrocyanic-acid gas, sulphur, pyrethrum, bichloride of mercury, borax, phosphorus, plaster of Paris, arsenic, pokeroot, chloride of lime, hellebore, and various mechanical means of trapping the insects. To completely exterminate cockroaches in dwellings, warehouses, libraries, and stores, fumigate with sulphur or hydrocyanic-acid gas.

Or mix in a glass bottle 1 ounce of corrosive sublimate and pint of water. Let stand a day or two and shake occasionally. Then add 1/2 pint of alcohol. Apply to cracks infested by cockroaches from an oil can or syringe. This liquid soaks into the wood and leaves a thin powder of corrosive sublimate covering the crevices. This is a deadly poison to cockroaches and other insects, but is also poisonous to human beings and must be handled with the utmost care. Do not allow this mixture to touch brass or copper.

Or mix equal quantities of grated sweet chocolate and powdered borax, or equal quantities of powdered sugar and powdered borax, and spread freely on shelves where cockroaches run, or spread on pieces of slightly moistened bread.

Or spread phosphorus paste on moist bread in their runways or under a damp dishcloth, towel, or mop.

Or mix in a saucer 1 part of plaster of Paris and 3 parts of flour, and place in the runways. Place near by another saucer containing pure water.

HOUSEHOLD AND GARDEN PESTS Lay thin pieces of cardboard from one to the other as bridges and float on the water bits of thin board touching the margin. The cockroaches eat the flour and plaster of Paris, become thirsty, and drink. The plaster then sets and kills them. This is an Australian method. It is simple, safe, and said to be very effective.

Or scatter pulverized hellebore on shelves, behind baseboards, about sinks, etc.

Or scatter hellebore on moistened bread, but remember that this is also poisonous to children and household pets. Cockroaches eat it freely.

Or mix hellebore with molasses, powdered sugar, or grated sweet chocolate.

Or mix arsenic with Indian meal or molasses. Spread on moistened bread.

This also is a dangerous poison, and cockroaches will not take it as freely as other poisons.

Or mix in saucers chloride of lime with sweetened water and place in the runways, with bits of pasteboard leading up to the saucers and strips of wood floating on their surface touching the edge.

Or boil 2 ounces of pokewood in 1 pint of water 15 or 20 minutes.

Strain through cheese cloth, mix with molasses, and spread on moistened bread or plates.

Or dust the cracks, shelves, etc., with powdered pyrethrum by means of a pair of bellows or otherwise. This is especially useful in libraries, but it stupefies and does not always kill the cockroaches; hence they must be swept up and burned.

Or scatter fresh cucumber peelings in their runways.

Or mix plaster of Paris, 1 part, oatmeal, 3 parts, powdered sugar or grated sweet chocolate, 1 part; scatter on moistened bread and place near to open water.

Or mix equal parts of carbolic acid and powdered camphor, and let stand until dissolved. Apply with a small paint brush to cracks and crevices haunted by them.

But of all the above, powdered borax, with or without flour, and powdered sugar, or both, is perhaps the safest and most useful remedy. It may be dusted freely on shelves, sinks, and kitchen floors, and also forced by means of bellows into cracks and crevices, about floors, baseboards, cupboards, sinks, etc. It is cheap, and harmless to children and household pets, and is far superior to any socalled "cockroach powder" upon the market.