For Bugs in the Ear

January 28th, 2022

If a bug or other small insect gets in the ear and causes severe pain, pour a little melted butter in the ear and there will be instant relief.

Source: Fowler’s Household Helps, A.L. Fowler

Virtues of Turpentine

February 11th, 2018

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

To Prevent Bedbugs From Remaining Either in the House or Bedstead

January 8th, 2018

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

October 12th, 2017

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

June 16th, 2017

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

To Destroy and Prevent Bed Bugs

October 7th, 2015

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

To destroy Cockroaches, Ants, and other household Vermin

August 22nd, 2015

Hellebore, rubbed over with molasses, and put round the places that cockroaches frequent, is a very effectual poison for them. Arsenic, spread on bread and butter, and placed round rat or mouse holes, will soon put a stop to their ravages. Quicksilver and the white of an egg, beat together, and laid with a feather round the crevices of the bedsteads and the sacking, is very effectual in destroying bugs in them. To kill flies, when so numerous as to be troublesome, keep cobalt, wet with spirit, in a large shallow plate. The spirit will attract the flies, and the cobalt will kill them very soon. Black pepper is said to be good to destroy them — it should be mixed, so as to be very strong, with a little cream and sugar. Great care is necessary in using the above poisons, where there are any children, as they are so apt to eat any thing that comes in their way, and these poisons will prove as fatal to them as to vermin, (excepting the pepper.) The flour of sulphur is said to be good to drive ants away, if sprinkled round the places that they frequent. Sage is also good. Weak brine will kill worms in gravel walks, if kept moist with it a week in the spring, and three or four days in the fall.

Source: The American Housewife

How to Get Rid of Bedbugs

April 27th, 2015

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

To destroy Fleas and Bugs

April 4th, 2015

Cover the floor of the room with leaves of Alder, gathered while the dews hangs upon them; adhering to these, they are killed thereby.

Or powder stavesacre, and sprinkle it on the body, or on the bed.

Source: Primitive Physic: or an easy and natural method of curing most diseases, John Wesley.

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    NOTE: these remedies are listed only for information and/or amusement. They are not to be construed as medical advice of any type, nor are they recommended for use. Consult your doctor or other medical professional for any medical advice you require.