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To Get Rid of Ants

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 9, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 44.

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To Get Rid of Ants

THE tiny red ant that gets into pantry or kitchen is perhaps the most difficult to fight. It builds in or on the foundation usually, and not outside in the ground. Hence it is difficult to find or destroy the nest. For these saturate a sponge in sweetened water and put it where the ants run. From time to time pick up the sponge, and plunge it in hot water to kill the ants that have collected there. Saturate sponge in sweetened water and repeat. Keep this up several days, and you will get nearly all of them, and will so weaken the colony that the young will perish.
Other ants build their nests out of doors. A little patience will trail them to the nest, which may be destroyed with hot water, kerosene, or gasoline. Or the ant colonies may be destroyed by pouring an ounce of carbon bisulphide in a saucer, setting it down quickly beside the nest entrance, and covering all with a tight tub. Throw dirt around the edges of the tub to make it tight. Do not let sparks or any kind of fire near the carbon bisulphide. It is highly inflammable and will explode. The liquid carbon bisulphide evaporates quickly, and its gas, being heavier than air, penetrates the nest, and asphyxiates the insects.
Cloves, ground or whole, sprinkled on pantry shelves or where ants run in the house, are said to drive them away. Oil of lemon, sprinkled about, is said to have the same effect.
The writer had a four days’ tussle with red ants. They were winged, and were about one-fourth inch long. They had a nest under the porch. Boiling water was the cheapest and handiest thing the house afforded. So, at sundown each day, several buckets of boiling water were poured on the nest. The fourth day chloride of lime was sprinkled over the nest, and boiling water then poured on. That finished the colony. But the first two applications of water didn’t seem to diminish their numbers very much.
To the foregoing suggestions add a little patience and determination. It’s easy to get rid of ants if you don’t expect to do it all in ten minutes.—Kansas City Star.