In praise of garlic

[MassVOL]

Re: In praise of garlic

"I have used the same garlic tablet method for several years now and I confirm the same findings. It works great. The one time I forgot to do it, I found two ticks on my after the event. Now if I could find something that works as good against poison ivy!"


What kind of garlic tablets were you using?

[Jake Marley]

Re: In praise of garlic

It may be the garlic, but it's also likely that the biting arthropod pests are between feeding stages or generations when you're in the field at any particular time, and their absence may be perceived as deterrence. Nicotine definitely has insecticidal properties, however. Some insecticides are actually chemically modeled after nicotine molecules. So pipe smoke will probably drive away flying or crawling pests, while chewing tobacco in the haversack may help keep away the sort of beetles that can infest hardtack and other grains.

Nic Ellis
Penn State Dept. of Entomology

[Jake Marley]

Re: In praise of garlic

I suppose I was wrong about garlic. I'll have to read the other posts before I start replying, next time.

Nic Ellis

[Hank Trent]

Re: In praise of garlic

I've also seen period references to regular campfire smoke, rather than smoke containing nicotine, used to keep mosquitoes away, especially when camping. For example, "Before [the bark hut] are blazing logs, for the nights are cool, and were it not so, the smoke and the flame are needed to keep off the mosquitoes..." (1855)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Jake Marley]

Re: In praise of garlic

Hank-

Great reference from '55. That would make sense...beekeepers use smoke when working around apiaries because the smoke obscures pheromones that the bees use to tell each other to attack. I'm guessing here, that campfire smoke deters mosquitoes for similar reasons. Maybe because it covers up the body odors that come from campaigners in bivouac (who can get pretty ripe, as my shirt which hasn't been washed in about two or three years can demonstrate) and say, "Hey--there's a new Hardee's in town!"

Nic Ellis

[RockCityGuard]

Re: In praise of garlic

Maybe because it covers up the body odors that come from campaigners in bivouac (who can get pretty ripe, as my shirt which hasn't been washed in about two or three years can demonstrate)Nic Ellis

It's not the smell they're after exactly... They are attracted to carbon dioxide emitted from the body and now some think certain chemicals mixed with that gas. I for one am not nearly as concerned with mosquitoes as I am the ticks (greybacks, lice, soldiers companions, etc...)

"Only female mosquitoes bite. (why)? They need a blood meal to develop and lay their eggs. How do they find the blood they need? As with all of nature’s creatures mosquitoes have evolved to survive by highly developing only the exact senses they need to live long enough to reproduce. So do they see better than other creatures? NO! It has been proven that a mosquito can not only find you in complete and total darkness, but will go strait for you!

Here’s how they do it. Scientist have known for some time that mosquitoes sense carbon dioxide in the air. Not only do they sense it they home in on certain chemicals carried in that carbon dioxide. It’s called a carbon dioxide signature."

If you want to read the whole article it's at:

http://altnature.com/library/Mosquitoes.htm

[justthemiller]

Civil War Garlic Reference...

Hello All,

A few weeks ago I paid a visit to Appomattox CH NHP and, at one of their markers there was an interesting reference to the use of garlic. It seems that as the war ended there the Federal army set up a station nearby to handle the feeding of expatriate Confederate soldiers and the sick and wounded of both sides. The place was of course called "Camp Starvation" and one of reasons for this may be construed from a letter of a Union soldier who bitterly complained of the rations that were issued. One of things he spoke of was the beef rations "soaked in garlic" and being hardly edible. I wonder if this helped in alleviating the bug problem back then. :sarcastic

[Jake Marley]

Re: In praise of garlic

Russ--

Good call, on the mosquitoes' olfactory stimulus. I suspected as much, but didn't want to speculate. Ticks also respond to CO2 signatures. I don't know if garlic will deter ticks, however. They are not insects, and as such, they may not function the same way as insects, and therefore may not be affected by garlic in the same way. Female ticks are the blood-feeders, though, so that's the same. It's unlikely you will get lice in the field, unless somebody else passes them on to you. Lice must be transmitted between hosts in close proximity. Hence their being common in armies.

Nic Ellis

[Jake Marley]

Re: In praise of garlic

A little research revealed that garlic is indeed marketed as an insecticide for organic pest management.

Here's a link to a site describing vitamin B1 as an insect repellent, by an entomologist and a reenactor. Maybe you will find it useful.

http://extlab1.entnem.ufl.edu/Olustee/related/b-1.htm

Nic Ellis

[RockCityGuard]

Re: In praise of garlic

Lice was an overarching term that included what we call ticks today. You didn't really think they raced microscopic headlice did you? :tounge_sm

[Jake Marley]

Re: In praise of garlic

You know, I always wondered about that. I've seen lice, and they are tiny and soft-bodied. I never could figure out how soldiers could race them. But a tick on the other hand--now they can move fast, if they're on the ground. I'll bet they were racing ticks and wagering on them.

Nic Ellis

[Michael Comer]

Re: In praise of garlic

I would have to disagree with the tick being grouped with lice unless you can give me some period documentation showing that people used the term "lice" as an all encompassing term to cover all these pests.

The creature being referred to is a body louse, not a head louse. The body louse, while still small, is larger than a head louse and can be seen with the naked eye. I am sure there were plenty of head lice to go around too, but those stories of soldiers popping "graybacks" ( I have not seen a gray tick), and holding jackets over the fire hearing the popping of the lice are about the body louse.

Did they race ticks on a hot plate? Could very well be but I think they knew the difference between a louse and a tick. So, I think if a soldier talks about a louse race he meant a louse, not a tick.