Cockroaches.–Cockroaches are brownish or black in color, broad and flattened in shape and smooth and bard to the touch. All cockroaches should be destroyed. They not only annoy, but, even though it has not been proven, they, no doubt, carry disease germs by coming in contact with discharges, etc., from ill persons and convey filth and germs to food, etc.

When we lived in Boca Raton several years ago, we used to see extremely large ‘palmetto bugs’ which look a great deal like a cock roach but are a little different.  Many people only run into these bugs taking Orlando vacations or hit the beach in Florida or the gulf, but when you live there the relationship is up close and sometimes personal!

They are very numerous in pantries, kitchens and in the walls near a stove and fire places. They are apt to be abundant in oven rooms or bakeries and wherever the temperature is kept above normal. They usually appear at night or wherever light is absent and thus are protected from their common enemies. Owing to their shape they can squeeze into tiny cracks. They scurry away when surprised and generally escape capture or destruction, due to their speedy gait. They feed on animal matter, cereals and any food material ; also eat woolens, leather cloth and leather bindings of books (clue to the presence of paste). They give off a fetid, nauseous odor, which persists even after thorough cleaning. They taint food supplies, stain shelves and dishes and when present in large numbers, render the air of a room unbearable. This is duo not only to their excretion, but mostly to an oily liquid secreted in the scent gland and a dark colored fluid in the mouth. They will destroy bedbugs. No contagious disease can be said to be properly treated or isolated, if cock­roaches are scurrying about the walls, carpets, food, etc., of a sickroom and allowed to persist and possibly convey the germs of the disease to others in the house or to neighbors.