PLAN No. 503. BANISHING FLIES BY FUMIGATION
Reading edition
A western man who was interested in the swatting-the-flies idea, yet wished to do so without using the messy, sticky stuff you put on fly papers generally, or running the risk of poisons, invented a fumigating flypaper that is easy and clean to use, and gets rid of the flies in a hurry. He makes it as follows:
Powdered quassia, 4-ounces; powdered chlorate of potash, 11⁄2 ounces; French oil of pennyroyal, 3⁄4 ounce. Mix these well, then add 3⁄4 pint of clear water and mix all together thoroughly. Soak sheets of blotting paper about 4x9 inches in size in this solution, stirring it up frequently. Dry the sheets in the sun or by gentle heat. A sheet thus prepared, if burned in a room, will clear it of flies.
The man put these up in packages of ten sheets each, and retailed it at 10 cents per package. The druggists and grocery stores bought large quantities, and when he advertised it in a list of good papers, he received a great many orders.
His first year’s operations netted him a very good livelihood.