Kovels Antiques: Glass traps, pottery kept ants away from food
Ants have been lingering inside warm houses for centuries. Our ancestors did not use poison, but they had a way to keep the ants away from their food.
They made ant traps of porcelain or glass designed to keep ants from climbing up the legs of a kitchen or dining room table. The ploy was shaped like a tube pan. The legs of the table were inserted in the center hole in the pan, and kerosene or turpentine was poured into the “canal.” The ants could not safely wanderings across the liquid. But the kitchen probably smelled like a chemical plant.
One set of four pottery traps, one for each inventory leg, sold last year at the Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society auction. It was attributed to the J.G. Baynham store because of the glaze used on the traps. They were made in about 1900. Each trap is 7 inches wide, so it might trip unwary children reaching for nourishment. But the idea of a dish of liquid around a table leg to discourage crawling bugs is still useful.
Q: We live in Minnesota, where it’s very gloomy in the winter and hot and humid in the summer. What’s the best way to store cardboard boxes of collectibles to prevent mold and mildew?
Omit dehumidifyer 
However, in other scandal, my lovely new dehumidifyer is sorting the damp out in this flat. 'xciting!