FROM THE MAIL-BAG

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 23, 1 December 1939, Page 44

FROM THE MAIL-BAG

Slaters or Woodlice Dear Aunt Daisy, I tuned in to your session the other morning just in time to hear you say something about bran and slaters; so I take it you had just given a mixture for killing the little wretches. Will you please publish it, for these pests are eating every little green shoot which appears in my garden? They have even invaded the roof of the cottage, and maybe they will start on me next. I feel rather green when I see my hopes of some lovely early sweet peas, etc., dashed to the ground, and instead of tender shoots, heaps of " beautiful" pale grey slaters. Please help me, as every time I look up from this letter I see another crawling on something or other. As I have a nine months’ old babe creeping all round the place, you can imagine my horror to see her very seriously studying these little brutes before she decides whether she will make a meal of them, or not!-Yours sincerely, " Manawatu." Here is a good and proved formula, which I feel sure will prove a success; but don’t let the baby get any of it-

or even a slater which has eaten some of itl-for it is deadly poison. Keep the fowls away from it, too, and the dogs and cats. Put small balls and lumps of the mixture under the boxes of planis, or under light boards or logs, or the wood heap, or anywhere the wretchéd

things come. The ingredients are simple enough — four ounces of Paris Green, from the seedsman, six pounds of bran, and a little sugar. Moisten this with treacle mixed with hot water, and form it into little balls (or rissoles, shall we say?) and use it as I have suggested. Let me know how you get on, won't you? Nugget Stains Dear Aunt Daisy, I heard you speaking about nugget ‘Stains on wedding shoes this morning. ‘Do you know this wrinkle? Put the ‘nugget on the boots or shoes or any leather goods with a brush, and then wet a piece of cloth thoroughly, wring it out dry, and rub all over the leather. Finally polish with a dry cloth and no black marks will come off at all on to stockings or white shoes. I always polish my shoes that way, and it gives an extra fine polish to the leather, also-* Just Another Listener,’ (Auckland). That is a very good hint; thank you ‘very much, Prevention is certainly better than cure, every time. However, if the mischief is already done, here are some ways of cleaning the shoes. If they are of light silk or satin, try sponging the nugget marks with eucalyptus or wit acetone, which you buy from the chemist. I think carbon-tetra-chloride would do, also. If the shoes are just ordinarily grubby, and not marked with nugget, try rubbing (with the weave, not across), with a rag of silk moistened with methylated spirits. Velvet shoes can be cleaned in the same way, using a velvet rag. Always try to clean marks with a piece of the same material as the soiled article,