A War for Women

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1933, Page 7

A War for Women

"Great Britain is to be the cockpit of a great and devastating war. - It will be a war of extermination. Homes will be drenched with poison gas and the 'fighting' become so desperate that women will be enlisted in the ranks of the combatants," is the somewhat startling introduction to an article in the "Daily Mail." This war, the writer informs us, will be waged against clothes and house moths, those most deadly enemies of every well-ordered household. Major E.-E. Austen, Keeper of the Department of Entomology at the British. Museum, declares that their depredations are of more general con-cern-than are those of any other household pest. They attack anything and practically everything—-cloth and woollen clothing, hair, wool, furs, feathers, and materials of animal origin used in the stuffing and upholstering of furniture.

METHODS OF DEFENCE.

While agreeing that the impulse to kill these moths on sight is understandable, Major.Austen points out that the actual damage is caused by the larvae —small .white or whitish caterpillars. These are the methods recommended for the preservation of various articles from their depredations: All clothes not in use, including cloth" or woollen clothes and furs, should be "sunned," brushed, and beaten at least once a fortnight. In default of sunshine hang before a hot fire. Have clothing cleaned before it is put away, wrapped in. stout paper with the edges and ends tightly folded and secured with pins. If placed in boxes, care must be taken to seal by gummed paper or adhesive plaster. Paradichlorbenzene or flaked naptha!ene placed among the clothing will kill any young larvae. . Camphor is effective for use in airtight receptacles and fresh pyrethrum powder dust may be used as an alterna- | tive.