If bed bugs appear, go over the bed with great care and examine the bedstead. Wash it off with kerosene, putting this well into the cracks. A single insect may be brought in on the clothing. If they continue to appear, all wall paper should be removed, woodwork
varnished or painted. It may be necessary to resort to fumigation, but this should be done by an expert. Croton or water bugs are difficult to destroy, if they are once in a house. No garbage should be left about, to attract them at night. There are powders that drive them away, and another remedy is sulphur paste, which comes for the purpose, and which may be spread on slices of potato. The U. S. Department of Agriculture issues free bulletins on the suppression of household insects.
Precautions against fire.—So many disastrous fires occur as a result of a careless act that we need to train ourselves in caution. The matches used should be of the safety type. They should be blown out, never shaken, and never thrown into a basket of papers. When matches are used, always have a small fire-proof receptacle in each room. Smokers are often careless in regard to their matches, cigars, and pipes. Be careful in summer to see that a breeze cannot blow some light curtain over a candle or lamp.
If a kettle of fat catches fire, pour on sand, but never water. As a general rule, extinguish a flame by covering it rather than by throwing on water.
If clothing catches on fire, wrap a rug or any large woolen article tightly around the body. To rush into the air is fatal.
If a towel or apron catches fire, roll it up quickly before the blaze spreads. This can be done without injury to the hands.
Small fire extinguishers are not expensive. Most kinds contain a solution of soda and a bottle of sulphuric acid which mix when the extinguisher is inverted, and throw out a stream of water charged with gas from a small hose. This works well just as a fire starts. Extinguishers arranged to throw a stream of carbon tetrachloride are also on the market.
Repairs.—Too often in planning the budget, and the daily work, the housekeeper forgets to allow for the constant wear and tear on the house itself, and its furnishings; but to preserve the beauty and usefulness of both the house and furniture, as much thought and time are necessary as for the
repair of clothing. In addition to the care and cleaning, there must be a constant attention to small repairs.
Inspecting and reporting.—Have a series of cards in the card file, or pages in the notebook, where needed repairs may be jotted down. Have a regular time for looking over different parts of the house; and give a brief daily look as you pass from room to room. Each member of the family should be asked to report whatever goes wrong in his province,—a leaky faucet, a squeaky door, or broken castor, a tear in a curtain, a shade roller that does not work.