Fighting the House Fly and Mosquito
House flies carry disease. They breed in filth, human waste, animal droppings, decayed animal or vegetable matter, and are so made that they carry filth wherever they go. Since the fly alights wherever it pleases, it carries dirt from outside and distributes it wherever it CHOOSES.
Clean up all heaps of rubbish where flies may breed. Keep your garbage pail absolutely clean. Disinfect outdoor water-closets and cover with gravel or slacked lime. Get fly traps to set on your porches. Kill all flies that come into the house, especially the early ones, in the spring. Keep your windows and doors screened.
Fight mosquitoes just as you fight flies. Leave no still water even in an old tin can, for the eggs of mosquitoes are deposited in still water and hatch there. The mosquito, like many other insects, has an intermediate stage between the egg and the grown mosquito. During this stage it swims about in quiet water. Mosquitoes in great numbers may be growing in old cans or bottles, rain-filled and hidden away under the bushes in your yard. Watch for such breeding places; clean up your yard and banish the mosquito.
Taking Care of Waste
All waste must be carefully disposed of. It should never accumulate in the kitchen; but the important thing is to have no real waste. See that everything is put to the utmost use. If you live in the country, chickens and pigs will take the parings, the outer leaves of vegetables, etc., and you can bury or burn waste. If you live in the city the garbage man will collect all waste.
The garbage can must be kept thoroughly clean. It should be rinsed and scalded whenever it is empty, so that there will be no bad odors about the kitchen. Find out how garbage is taken care of in your town. How can you help to keep your neighborhood clean? What should be done if there is carelessness about garbage?
Taking Care of Woolen Things
Housekeepers must fight moths as well as flies. The clothes moth loves to lay its eggs in wool. It is very keen in searching out bits of wool and finding a place for its baby to thrive. Unless you have a care it will lay its eggs in your best winter dress which you forgot and left hanging in the hot summer days.
When the baby worm pokes its head out of the egg, it begins to feed upon the wool; and when some cold winter morning you get your dress you will find holes neatly cut where the little worm has gnawed, and beside the holes the little woven cradle which the tiny creature spun for itself, and in which the crawling worm changed to the flying, silvery moth.