Abolish open drains near dwelling places.
Stable manure should be frequently sprinkled with lime and kept covered.
Earth closets and privy vaults should be treated with lime, crude creolin or crude carbolic acid at frequent intervals.
Earth closets and privy vaults should be cleaned frequently in order to prevent excrement accumulating to an undue extent.
To Kill Flies.—Dissolve one dram of bichromate of potash in two ounces of water, add a little sugar to this solution and put some of it in shallow dishes and place about the house. Sticky fly paper and fly traps may also be used.
To clean the room where there are many flies, burn pyrethrum powder (Persian insect powder). This stupefies the flies and in this condition they may be swept up and burned.
Probably the best and simplest fly killer is a weak solution of formaldehyde in water (two teaspoonfuls to the pint). This solution should be placed in plates or saucers throughout the house. Ten cents' worth of formaldehyde, obtained in the drug store, will last an ordinary family all summer. Don't smell formaldehyde in the pure state; it is very pungent and strong. In the solution of the strength used for flies it has no offensive smell. It is fatal to disease organisms, and is practically non-poisonous except to insects. Flies will not stay in the house when this solution is around.
Moths.—Late spring and early summer is the time to guard against moths and beetles. Many of these fabric-destroying insects are brought into the house on flowers.
May and June are especially bad months, as both moths and beetles are only dangerous to fabrics in their young or grub stage.
These insects will destroy almost anything from coarse rugs to the finest of ball gowns and dress suits. Carpets that are rarely swept and garments that are seldom disturbed are most liable to damage.