Moreover, vermin must be banished. This is an easy thing to say, but hardly a housekeeper of middle age can be found in the length and breadth of the country who has not had a struggle with the pest in some form or other. In one home it may have been cockroaches or water-bugs; in another it may have been black or red ants; in many it has been that worst and most dreaded of plagues, bedbugs. Sporadic cases of any of these may be conquered without much difficulty, but when once the enemy is intrenched in the home it seems almost as if the only way to get rid of them finally is by burning the house down! On all considerations, therefore, the house-hunter must make sure that vermin are not established in the new dwelling. If there is even a possibility of their presence she must insist upon radical measures being taken before she will contemplate entering the house. When the pests have been there and have been driven out it is still wise to take reasonable precautions against their return. No picture-moldings should be tolerated in the bedrooms, since these make a lurking-place for insects. The walls of sleeping-rooms should be painted rather than papered, and dark cupboards, drawers, etc., should be scoured out, disinfected, and painted. I have dwelt upon the need of such care in the bedrooms, but it is no less essential in the kitchen and pantries. While bedbugs occasionally get a foothold even here, the usual plague is the roach or Croton-bug. He is said to be inoffensive and he does not possess the deadly odor of the _Cimex lectularius_, but apart from the damage he undoubtedly does in nibbling table-linen and the like, he is an exceedingly unpleasant housemate. He frequents uncovered garbage-pails, bread and cake boxes which have been left open, wire safes with imperfectly closing doors, and the provision compartments of refrigerators; and it does not tend to improve the appetite to have him pop out of the cereal carton or run from under the cold roast. So every precaution should be taken against such creatures as well as against mice and rats before renting the house. Mice-holes should be choked up with broken glass and dusted with red pepper; boiling water should, when possible, be poured down the runways of insects; borax scattered about their haunts. After that, strict care in the way of keeping food put away closely, pains to see that no crumbs or drippings are allowed on the floor or the shelves, and rigorous cleanliness of every vessel which has been employed in cooking are the best agencies against the return of the adversaries. Other points should be looked to about the kitchen. The stove is the chief consideration after light, cleanliness, and pantry space.