FLEAS Controlled By Creosote Oil Sprays and Other Insecticides

The widespread and serious annoyance caused by fleas in practically all parts of the United States during 1928 has greatly stimulated interest in methods of fighting them.  All fleas must have blood to enable them to reproduce, and infestations by fleas are always connected either directly or indirectly with the sleeping places of dogs, cats, hogs, or chickens.  The eggs are laid by the fleas while on the host.  These fall among the débris, mainly in the sleeping places of the animals, and soon hatch into slender maggots which live in the dust and produce another brood of adults in several weeks without food, a fact which explains how hordes of hungry fleas may greet one in his home upon his return from a vacation.

To combat fleas the breeding places should be located and sprayed lightly but thoroughly with creosote oil, by means of a good force pump.  If handled carefully, creosote oil may be used in basements and outbuildings, although it stains considerably.  The same treatment is applicable to chicken houses and runs which become infested with the hen flea or sticktight flea.  If fleas are found to be breeding under rugs, or in the cracks of floors, the rugs should be removed, hung up in the sun and thoroughly beaten, and the floors wiped up with gasoline.  Flaked naphthalene, scattered over the floor at the rate of 5 pounds to a room and left in the closed room for 8 to 10 hours, is also effective in killing the adults and young.

At the same time that the breeding places are treated the infested cats and dogs should be dusted with fresh pyrethrum powder, or better with powdered derris root.