Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts
John Stuart Mill · en
Fumigation with brimstone, or fresh leaves of penny-royal sewed in a
bag, and laid in the bed, will have the desired effect.
325. _Liquor for destroying Caterpillars, Ants, and other
Insects._--Take a pound and three-quarters of soap, the same quantity
of flower of sulphur, two pounds of champignons, or puff-balls, and
fifteen gallons of water. When the whole has been well mixed, by the
aid of a gentle heat, sprinkle the insects with the liquor, and it
will instantly kill them.
326. _To destroy Rats._--Cut a number of corks or a piece of sponge
as thin as sixpences; stew them in grease, and place them in the way
of the rats. They will greedily devour this delicacy, and will die of
indigestion.
327. _To kill Rats, another way._--There are two objections to the
common mode of killing rats, by laying poison for them; first, the
danger to which it exposes other animals and even human beings;
second, the possibility that the rats may cause an intolerable
stench, by dying in their holes. The following method is free from
these objections, and has proved effectual in clearing houses
infested with these vermin.
Oil of amber and ox-gall in equal parts, add to them oatmeal or flour
sufficient to form a paste, which divide into little balls and lay
them in the middle of a room which rats are supposed or known to
visit. Surround the balls with a number of vessels filled with water.
The smell of the oil will be sure to attract the rats, they will
greedily devour the balls, and becoming intolerably thirsty, will
drink till they die on the spot.
328. _To expel Rats._--Catch one in a trap; muzzle it, with the
assistance of a fellow-servant, and slightly singe some of the hair;
then smear the part with turpentine, and set the animal loose; if
again caught, leave it still at liberty, as the other rats will shun
the place which it inhabits. It is said to be a fact that a toad
placed in a cellar will free it from rats.
Rats may be expelled from cellars and granaries simply by scattering
a few stalks and leaves of mullen in their paths. There is something
very annoying in this plant to the rat. It affords, therefore, a very
easy method of getting rid of a most perplexing evil, and much more
economical and less troublesome than gunpowder, "rat exterminator,"
cats, or traps.
329. _To destroy Fleas and other Vermin on Animals._--To destroy
them on dogs, rub the animal, when out of the house, with the common
Scotch snuff, except the nose and eyes. Rub the powder well into the
roots of the hair. Clear lime-water destroys the flea-worm without
injuring the skin or hair.
Oil of turpentine, when applied to animals, which were covered with
insects, destroyed the insects, without hurting the animal.