Virtues of Turpentine
After a housekeeper fully realizes the worth of turpentine in the household, she is never willing to be without a supply of it.
1 — It gives quick relief to burns.
2 — It is an excellent application for corns.
3 — It is good for rheumatism and for sore-throats.
4 — It is the quickest remedy for convulsions or fits by applying to the back of the neck.
5 — It is a sure preventive against moths; by just dropping a trifle in the bottom of drawers, chests and wardrobes, it will render the garments secure from injury during the summer.
6 — It will keep ants and bugs from closets and storerooms by putting a few drops in the corners and shelves. It is sure destruction to bed-bugs and will effectually drive them away from their haunts, if thoroughly applied to all the joints of the bedstead in the spring cleaning time, and injures neither furniture nor clothing.
7 — A little in suds washing day lightens laundry labor.
Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames
Filed under Remedy | Tags: ames, ants, bedbug, bedbugs, bugs, burn, burns, convulsion, corn, corns, fit, fits, laundry, moth, moths, rheumatism, sore throat, throat, turpentine | Comment (0)To Prevent Bedbugs From Remaining Either in the House or Bedstead
Take two tablespoons of lard and one ounce of quicksilver; beat the white of an egg then stir them all together. With a small brush or stick put this mixture in every crack or crevice where vermin can hide; do this after cleaning house and you will never be troubled with vermin. If you have them already, use corrosive sublimate first. Take off your rings while applying this preparation as it injures gold.
Source: 76: A Cook Book
Death to Insects
Two pounds of alum dissolved in three or four quarts of boiling water and applied to all cracks and crevices, will keep out ants, roaches, spiders, bedbugs, etc., etc.
Source: 76: A Cook Book
To Destroy Insects and Vermin
Dissolve two pounds of alum in three or four quarts of water. Let it remain over night till all the alum is dissolved. Then with a brush, apply boiling hot to every joint or crevice in the closet or shelves where croton bugs, ants, cockroaches, etc., intrude; also to the joints and crevices of bedsteads, as bed bugs dislike it as much as croton bugs, roaches, or ants. Brush all the cracks in the floor and mop-boards. Keep it boiling hot while using.
Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette
Vermin Exterminator
A blessing to housekeepers, and no danger of poison: Take a half pound of alum to one pail of water boiling hot; dip in the ends of the slats; then take a good scrubbing brush and apply thoroughly to all parts affected, all cracks in the plastering or wood work. A certain cure for bed-bugs. Tried.
Source: The Kansas Home Cook-Book
To Destroy and Prevent Bed Bugs
Take two ounces of lard, and one ounce of quicksilver, mix well, and apply with a soft brush or feather where the pests frequent. Apply once a year.
Source: The Kansas Home Cook-Book
How to Get Rid of Bedbugs
Bedbugs cannot stand hot alum water; indeed, alum seems to be death to them in any form. Take two pounds of alum, reduce it to a powder — the finer the better — and dissolve it in about four quarts of boiling water. Keep the water hot till the alum is all dissolved; then apply it hot to every joint, crevice and place about the bedstead, floor, skirting or washboard around the room, and every place where the bugs are likely to congregate, by means of a brush. A common syringe is an excellent thing to use in applying it to the bedstead. Apply the water as hot as you can. Apply it freely, and you will hardly be troubled any more that season with bugs. Whitewash the ceiling with plenty of dissolved alum in the wash, and there will be an end to their dropping down from thence on to your bed.
Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information