Rats and Mice.-1. Mix a few grains of powdered nux vomica with oatmeal, and lay it in their haunts, observing proper precaution to prevent accidents. 2. Another method is to mix oatmeal with a little powdered phosphorus. 3. Dried sponge cut small, and dipped in oil of rhodium and honey, proves mortal to those that eat it, by distending their intestines. 4. Birdlime laid in the places which they frequent will adhere to their skins, and become so troublesome as to make them leave their old quarters. 5. Balls made of a mixture of malt dust and butter, with a little of the oil of aniseeds, or rhodium, will allure them into a trap, when other baits have failed. 6. Having kneaded some wheaten flour or malt meal into a paste, when it becomes sour mix with it fine iron filings, and form the whole into balls; then put them into the crevices or holes, and it will kill them. 7. Mix two or three grains of arsenic in a ball of dripping and flour, and strew several of these balls in the places most infested by the rats. 8. Another mode is to mix about a drachm of the poison in a dish with boiled potatoes, slices of bacon, &c. ; or to melt some cheese, and mix the arsenic with it. All these, however, have been known to fail, when arsenic, mixed with plain boiled potatoes, without any highly-flavoured food, has been effectual. When it is found that the rats, for a considerable length of time, avoid one kind of bait, another should be tried; and persons should not despair of their taking the poison eventually because they avoid it for several days together, as they will sometimes do this, and then in a single night devour all the bait.

Notwithstanding the efficiency of these poisons, and the numbers caught ir traps, a good cat will do more ser

vice in destroying and frightening away rats and mice than the whole list of poisons and all the traps that were ever made.

In places where cats cannot safely be allowed-as cupboards, &c.-traps and poisons must, however, be employed, and of those given above the strongest and best-though very dangerous-is strychnine, which is a very powerful preparation of nux vomica, mixed, a few grains nightly, with food. This is not easily detected by the rats or mice, and, if eaten, is instantaneously fatal. The greatest care must in all these cases be exercised, and servants or children should on no account be allowed to have anything to do with the preparation. It has been stated that vermin have a great aversion to the smell of garlic, and, if a clove or two of this vegetable be introduced into their holes, they will leave the place and seek some other haunt.

Insects.-The Habits of Insects.— The butterfly which lives on honey, and did live on leaves, lays her eggs on a twig. She seems to feel that honey will not suit her young, and that the leaves will wither and fall before another spring comes round.The gnat, which lives in the air, and feeds on blood, lays her eggs on the surface of water; and the sugar-loving house-fly knows that very different food is necessary for her young. -The nut-weevil chooses the embryo of the nut; the goat-moth the bark of the willow; the rhipiphora braves the dangers of the wasp's nest; the œstrus lays on cattle; the ichneumon in caterpillars; the gall-fly in the still almost imperceptible bud; and some insects even in the eggs of others.-Generally the larvæ forage for themselves; but, in some cases, the mother supplies her young with food. Thus, the solitary

wasp builds a cell and fills it with other insects. If, however, she imprisoned them while alive, their struggles would infallibly destroy her egg; if she killed them they would soon decay, and the young larvæ, when hatched, would find, instead of a store of wholesome food, a mere mass of corruption. To avoid these two evils, the wasp stings her victim in such a manner as to pierce the centre of the nervous system, and the poison has the quality of paralyzing the victim without killing it. Thus deprived of all power of movement, but still alive, it remains some weeks motionless and yet fresh.--But, perhaps, the ants are the most remarkable of all. They tend their young, they build houses, they make wars, they keep slaves, they have domestic animals, and it is even said that in some cases they cultivate the ground.

Insect Poison.-Petroleum oil possesses the highest efficacy as a destroyer of all kinds of insects injurious to plants or animals, and the less purified, and consequently the cheaper, it is the better. Thirty parts should be mixed with one thousand of water, and applied where required. Vermin of houses may be destroyed by introducing into the holes or cracks a few drops of petroleum.-A solution (one to twenty of water) of carbolic acid, which is said to kill every insect from the size of a mouse downwards. It is also said that Russia leather drives away all manner of vermin if a small piece of it is worn near the person, or even kept in the pocket.

Moths are very destructive, and, when suffered to make inroads into wearing apparel, &c., are with difficulty got rid of. To preserve blankets from them, fold the blankets up and lay them between feather-beds and mattrasses that are in use, unfolding them occasionally, and shaking them. Woollen stuffs, such as cloth cloaks, merino dresses, &c., are best placed in drawers, with sheets of paper, moistened with spirits of turpentine, laid between them; lavender flowers, cedarshavings, and cuttings of Russia leather will also produce a similar effect.

Damp harbours moths; therefore great care should be taken in putting woollen things away for the summer, that they have been well brushed and are perfectly dry. Furs should be occasionally taken out, shaken, beaten with a cane, and hung in the open air. Great care must be taken that they are dry when put away, but they must not be placed near the fire. Other methods are employed for the same purpose, such as laying a few pieces of camphor among the furs; peppering them with black pepper; bitter apples, obtained of any chemist, are also placed in little muslin bags, and sewn over in several folds of linen, carefully turned in at the edges.

Bugs.-Take of corrosive sublimate, two drachms; spirits of wine, eight ounces. Rub them well together in a mortar until the sublimate is dissolved ; then add half a pint of spirits of turpentine. This is an effectual destroyer of bugs; but, being a strong poison, great care should be taken in using it. Another plan is to rub the bedsteads well with soft soap or lamp oil. This alone is good, but, to make it more effectual, get sixpenny-worth of quicksilver and add to the mixture. Put it into all the cracks around the bed, and the pests will soon disappear. The bedsteads should first be scalded and wiped dry; then lay on the mixture with a feather. Or, dip a sponge or brush in a strong solution of vitriol, and rub it over the bedstead. will expel the bugs, and destroy their nits. Cleanliness, however, and frequent examination, will prove the best remedy.

This

In houses infested with bugs-and sometimes old houses are so, in spite of all precautions—the following is an effectual cure. Take one pound of common lump brimstone, or sulphur, value twopence; place it in an old iron saucepan, and put a piece of red-hot iron on it to set it on fire, having previously filled up the chimney and every crevice; allow the room to remain closed about three hours. The fumes of the brimstone will smother every insect in the room; repeat as often as required; be sure to leave no

children, birds, or domestic animals in the room while fumigation is going on; put a piece of iron or stone under the saucepan containing the brimstone, so as not to damage the floor.

When bugs are in the walls and floors, all the crevices should be stopped with glazier's putty; and, before the walls are re-papered, the old paper should be stripped off, and at least one coat of oil-paint be laid on. If they are in bedsteads, the bedstead should be taken to pieces, well washed and dried, and aqua-fortis laid with a brush in all the holes and crevices, or some size may be made and laid on with a brush; this, when dry, is an eternal prison for bugs, and also for their eggs. Another very good plan is to put spirits of wine, or strong tobacco-juice, on every part of the bedstead that is suspected, doing this by portions at a time and setting fire to it; this will not injure even a polished bedstead, if the part be immediately rubbed up with a cloth covered with a little beeswax: Where bugs are very numerous, and they are in situaCions which cannot easily be got at, there is but one effectual remedyfumigation, as above directed.

Fleas.-Numerous remedies are resorted to by good housewives to get rid of and prevent the increase of this most prolific domestic torment; but the best preventive and also remedy is great cleanliness. The rooms should be frequently washed, and the bedclothes exposed to the free action of the outer air. A bit of camphor in the bed, or camphor sprinkled in the bed in powder-which is made by dropping upon a lump of camphor a few drops of spirit, and then reducing it by the hand to powder-will prevent fleas from coming near the perAnother Remedy.-Sprinkle the floor with a decoction of wormwood; hang near the bed a bag filled with dry moss, or lay therein some fresh leaves of pennyroyal sewn up in linen. As dogs and cats harbour fleas very much, they should not be allowed to come into bedrooms.

son.

Flies may be expelled by fumigation, and by various preparations of fly

paper and fly-water. But as these are poisonous, they are dangerous where children are about. The following is efficacious, and without risk :- Put a handful of quassia chips into a basin, and pour a pint of boiling water over them; let them infuse for a time, then strain off the liquor, and add to it two ounces of ground black pepper, and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Put this mixture in plates or saucers, in places where the flies are most numerous.-Another effectual method is :Take a common drinking-glass and a slice of bread; wet the latter, and turn down the glass upon it, so that the rim makes a deep groove. Make a hole with your finger through the bread, trim off the waste, and spread one side of it with treacle or sugar; half fill the glass with water, and fit on the cover of bread with the treacle side beneath. The bread-trap is now ready to be placed on the places frequented by flies. Attracted by the sweet treacle, they will swarm down the hole and get caught; others following will force them into the water, and thus, in the course of the day, the glass will get full. The curious fact is that the flies cannot return through the hole. Throw the doomed flies on the fire, or otherwise effectually destroy them; if thrown on the dust-heap they will soon recover. The ordinary house-fly breeds year after year in the same dwelling; and if, in the early spring, its eggs were carefully sought and destroyed, the nuisance of flies would soon be mitigated, if not abolished. The great meat-flies, or blue-bottles, are of a different species. They breed principally in the yard or garden, live on decaying flesh and garbage, and come into the house in search of food. Whenever they alight on a piece of meat, they leave behind them an egg, which in a few hours developes into a disgusting maggot. Meat flies should, therefore, be destroyed without mercy; a simple netting of black thread will prevent them entering an open window.

Cockroaches and Crickets:-Cucumber peelings are said to destroy cockroaches. Strew the floor in that part

of the house most infested with the vermin with the green peel cut pretty thick. Try it for several nights, and it will not fail to rid the house of them.

Or, take a teacupful of well bruised plaster of Paris, mixed with double the quantity of oatmeal, to which add a little sugar; then strew it on the floor or in the chinks where they frequent, and it will destroy them.

Kitchens infested with cockroaches may be cleared by employing a hedgehog, which requires only bread and milk, and an occasional piece of raw meat or a dead bird.

Beetles may be got rid of by half filling a basin or pie-dish with linseed oil, sweetened beer, or treacle, and setting it in such places as they are accustomed to frequent. Place two or three strips of wood slantingly from the dish or basin to the floor. Attracted by the smell, the insects will venture up and be drowned on the other side. The drowned insects should be burned or crushed. An eminent naturalist tells us that his servant having removed one morning from the trap about two hundred cockroaches seemingly drowned, to make assurance doubly sure, poured over them boiling water, and then threw them in front of the house; in less than three hours the influence of the sun had revived nearly the whole of them, and they were again crawling about in full vigour. The tenacity of life in the beetle tribe is very great. Many cats will eat cockroaches, but they do not thrive on them but become thin and languid, and sometimes diepoisoned !

Or, Place quicklime in the holes of the wall whence they issue, or scatter it on the ground. For trapping them the beetle-wafers sold in the shops to poison "black-beetles" are made by mixing equal weights of flour, sugar, and red lead; but as these wafers are liable to be picked up and sucked by children, they are objectionable.

Ants.-Houses infested with ants, black or red, may be disinfected by a

little attention. A sponge is one of the best things. Sprinkle it with dry white sugar: the sponge being slightly moist, it will adhere. The ants will go into the cells of the sponge after the sugar in large numbers, and can be destroyed in hot water, and the sponge squeezed out and sugared again, and returned to the closet for another haul, until all are caught.

Gnats.-These troublesome insects, which are closely allied to the terrible mosquito. Both belong to the class of creatures whose mouths are furnished with bristly stings, included in flexile sheaths. They pierce the skin by means of the proboscis, in order to feed upon the blood, and, at the same time, inject a poisonous fluid, producing considerable inflammation and swelling. Their activity usually commences towards evening, or after sunset. The Laplanders use tar-cream to prevent the insects biting them, but that could scarcely be used in this country. The common Goulard water, scented with Eau de Cologne, is a good remedy in allaying the irritation, as also preventing the attacks. Gnats seldom or never frequent rooms houses where chloride of lime has been exposed.

or

Sting of Bees.-Although the poison a bee emits when it inserts its sting, is proved to be a highly concentrated acid, the application of all alkalies will not neutralize the acid. The more gentle alkalies-chalk, or the "blue bag," are much more likely to effect a cure, and cannot injure, The same person will be variously affected by the sting of a bee; at one time, scarcely any inconvenience will attend it; at another, much swelling; again, but little enlargement, although great pain, &c.

The eye suffers considerably, though in general the uneasiness is local; but if the back of the ear be stung, there is frequently a general affection of the system; sickness, giddiness, numbness, nervous trembling, &c., &c., which will sometimes continue for hours. A draught of camphor jalap, and total repose, has been known to be beneficial,