REPELLED
(Investigator 16, 1991
January)
Certain herbs,
legumes
and trees are
supposed
to repel insects. I put one plant to the test by planting it around my
door.
Plants that
supposedly
make flies
take flight
include Basil, Tansy, Pyrethrums and Rough Halgania.
Mosquitoes are
said to
give a miss to
Basil,
Rosemary (Rosemarinus officialis), Pyrethrum, Beans, Peas and also
Walnut
trees.
Aphids and
weevils
allegedly stay
away from
Garlic plants, Pyrethrum and Mint.
The plant I
tried
around my front
door was
the Pyrethrum.
When the white
flowers
bloomed
haphazard
observation soon revealed that flies strolled over the leaves, and
mosquitoes
landed on the flowers, as much as on neighbouring plants such as
Fuchias
and Azaleas.
In the hope
that
science would
succeed where
nature failed I parted with $12.50 and bought an "Electronic Insect
Repeller"
which, according to the label, "drives mosquitoes off with a high
frequency
sound".
The packaging
of this
cigarette-lighter-sized,
Hongkong-made, object said:
"American
scientists…found
that
the only mosquito that bites humans is the pregnant female. One thing
she
can't bear is the sound of the male mosquito. Sentinel Insect Repeller
emits a sound identical to his."
After
two
minutes in the garden while
protected by the Insect Repeller I noticed two itchy lumps on my chin.
Certainly that
was a
discouraging
start.
"Perhaps insects need more time to adjust to the idea of being
repelled"
I reasoned. I haven't tested this yet because the high-pitched, whining
"Repeller" gave me a headache and soon began to repel me.
There was one
redeeming feature.
Mosquitoes
that had landed remained comparatively immobile when the "Repeller" was
on and could be easily squashed with a finger.
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