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Classic
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page 452
of pulverized borax, camphor gum and saltpetre together, making a powder.
Sprinkle it dry under the edges of carpets, in drawers, trunks, etc., etc. It
will also keep out all kinds of insects, if plentifully used. If the
house-keeper will begin at the top of her house with a powder bellows and a
large quantity of this fresh powder, and puff it thoroughly into every crack and
crevice, whether or not there are croton bugs in them, to the very bottom of her
house, special attention being paid to old furniture, closets, and wherever
croton water is introduced, she will be freed from these torments. The operation
may require a repetition, but the end is success.
MOTHS IN CARPETS.
If you fear that they are at work at the edge of the carpet, it will sometimes
suffice to lay a wet towel, and press a hot flat-iron over it; but the best way
is to take the carpet up, and clean it, and give a good deal of attention to the
floor. Look in the cracks, and if you discover signs of moths, wash the floor
with benzine, and scatter red pepper on it before putting the carpet lining
down.
Heavy carpets sometimes do not require taking up every year, unless in constant
use. Take out the tacks from these, fold the carpets back, wash the floor in
strong suds with a tablespoonful of borax dissolved in them. Dash with insect
powder, or lay with tobacco leaves along the edge, and retack. Or use
turpentine, the enemy of buffalo moths, carpet worms and other insects that
injure and destroy carpets. Mix the turpentine with pure water in the proportion
of three tablespoonfuls to three quarts of water, and then after the carpet has
been well swept, go over each breadth carefully with a sponge dipped in the
solution and wrung nearly dry. Change the water as often as it becomes dirty.
The carpet will be nicely cleaned as well as disinfected. All moths can be kept
away and the eggs destroyed by this means. Spots may be renovated by the use of
ox-gall or ammonia and water.
A good way to brighten a carpet is to put a half tumbler of spirits of
turpentine in a basin of water, and dip your broom in it and sweep over the
carpet once or twice, and it will restore the color and brighten it up until you
would think it new. Another good way to clean old carpets is to rub them over
with meal; just dampen it a very little and rub the carpet with it, and when
perfectly dry, sweep over with meal. After a carpet is thoroughly swept, rub it
with a cloth dipped in water and ammonia: it will brighten the colors and make
it look like new.
TO TAKE OUT MACHINE GREASE.
Cold water, a tablespoonful of ammonia, and soap, will take out machine grease
where other means would not answer on account of colors running, etc.
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