Alcohol is drawn through pyrethrum in a funnel until the powder is
well washed and a large part of the resinous principle extracted. To
do this, the powder is placed in a large funnel with filter-plate and
a layer of cotton wool at the bottom. An aspirator is attached and
the alcohol is at first slowly and later rapidly sucked through six
or eight times, during which operation it becomes highly colored. To
this liquid as a basis, are added several oils to give permanence
to the application. Both alcohol and pyrethrum evaporate so quickly
that it was thought best to carry in some heavier volatile oils whose
effects would last several days or even weeks. The formula when
completed stands as follows:
To the extract made by washing 400 grams of pyrethrum with 2,000 c.
c. of strong alcohol, are added--
50 grams gum camphor.
150 c. c. cedar wood oil.
25 grams oil citronella.
25 grams oil lavender.
The application is best made with a large sized atomizer, one holding
a pint or more and working with a piston instead of a rubber bulb.
* * * To obtain the best results, repeat the treatment after about
two weeks. We have tried this mixture repeatedly, and with uniformly
gratifying results. Usually one application, if thoroughly made, put
a period to the complaints, about eight or ten ounces being required
in an average sleeping-room. The odor remains some little time in a
room, but is not disagreeable to the average person.
This remedy can be readily prepared by a pharmacist in any drug store.
Various bedbug remedies and mixtures are for sale, most of them containing
one or another of the ingredients mentioned, and these are frequently of
value. The great desideratum, however, in a case of this kind, is a daily
inspection of beds and bedding, particularly the seams and tufting of
mattresses, and of all crevices and locations about the premises where
these vermin may have gone for concealment. A vigorous campaign should, in
the course of a week or so at the outside, result in the extermination of
this very obnoxious and embarrassing pest.
The possibility of temperature control is indicated in the discussion
elsewhere of the effect of temperature on this insect, and it may be that
if infested houses in cold climates could be opened up and allowed to
remain at a temperature well below freezing for a week or more, the bedbug
would be thoroughly exterminated. This method of control would be rarely
practicable except perhaps in the case of summer houses which are left
untenanted in winter.
* * * * *
=Transcriber Note=
Illustrations move to prevent splitting paragraphs. Minor typos may have
been corrected. Produced from files generously made available by USDA
through The Internet Archive. All resultant materials are placed in the
Public Domain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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