Cockroaches

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 378, 20 September 1946, Page 27

Cockroaches

Dear Aunt Daisy, Through the "Daisy Chain" many housekeeping problems have been solved, so I am wondering whether you will be able to help us with ours, Our house is an old one, and cockroaches are a great pest in it. We are always killing these little insects, but is there any poison which will kill those that do not venture out into. the open? I would be so glad if you would answer through The Listener pages, and thank you in advance. "A Northern Reader." Cockroaches are horrible, and very difficult to get rid- of. They seem to | come out more in the warm weather, | and will always be about if there is any | food about. Here are one or two sug- | gestions, but I think the most effective way would be to use D.D.T., the new type of insecticide which was discovered during the war. One method is to mix borax and sugar in equal parts, and sprinkle where the cockroaches come. The sugar tempts their appetite and the borax kills them. And you can also wash freely round their haunts with strong

alum water-leave it standing in little pools, too, Another way of using borax and sugar is to mix in seme cornflour too, and add enough water to make a batter. Keep the mixture continually damp in shallow tin dishes. The cockroaches suck up the water. Then there is the old-fashioned method of a "beertrap." Half fill a bowl with water, and add a glass of beer. Cover the bowl with newspaper so that the edges rest on the floor. Cut a small round hole in the paper over the middle of the bowl. During the night the cockroaches will climb up the paper and fall into the liquid through the hole.