The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-09-14
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SCIENCE OF MAGGOT FARMING
> Cultiyating These Insects Whose
. OdOr Is Actually Wonderful
+ Medicine.

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For some time past rumors have
hoated around the scientific world
concerning the beneficial powers of
the gases given OFF from a "maggot
farm near Bradford, England. This
farm exists to supply the demand for
maggots as bait for anglers, and the
gases, which have long been claimed
to be wonderfully beneficial in cases
of consumption. are given off by the
maggots and the decaying meat upon
which they are bred. The unpleasant
odors arising from the breeding sheds
have been examined by F. w. Rich
ardson, the cit yanalyst of Bradford,
who reports that they are composed
principally Of ammonia and trime-
thylamine, which even in very weak
solutions have the power of destroy
ing microbes after a few hours ex-
posure. Mr.. Richardson is of the
opinion that when these fumes are
inhaled, and come into contact with
the tubercle bacilli, they reduce the
vitality Of the bacilli and may posi-
bly, kill them. The fumes have no
injurious effect on the human organ
ism. In consequence Of this report
plans have been prepared for the &C.
commodation of patients, and a citi-
zen of Leeds, England, has offered
$4,000 toward the cost of erecting
proper buildings in the "maggot
farm"
The story Of the maggot farm is a
singularly interesting one. Five and
a half years ago Mr.. Bryant, the pro-
prietor, was a collier working four
days a week, and fighting a perpetual
struggle to make ends meet. One day
on the river bank a gentleman asked
him If he could obtain some maggots
for him, and offered six-pence a pint
for as many as he could breed. He
executed the order and came to the
conclusion that he was likely to
make more money out of maggot
breeding than out Of mining. With
some considerable difficulty he sue
ceeded in borrowing ten pounds, and
with 1t he built a ramshackle barn in
which his early breeding operations
were conducted.
In the short space of five and a half
years Mr.. Bryant has put up thirty
breeding houses. and has purchased
as many acres Of land. Today he is
the greatest maggot farmer in the
world. and has the monopoly Of Great
Britain and the continent. He breeds
twelve thousand pints of maggots ev-
cry week, and the operations proceed
throughout the simmer and winter. A
writer in the London Daily Dispatch
thus describes his visit to the maggot
farm:
OdOrs and Sights.
by this time l had got somewhat
accustomed to the penetrating odor,
and when Mr.. Bryant invited me down
to the breeding chambers, I accepted.
Slowly we paced down the we'll worn
paths Of three fields until we came to
a dip. Down below, in the hollow.
there al a hazy mist. and this rose
to meet us-the rankest compound of
villainous smell that ever offended
nostril. AS first it was really un-
bearable and yet I found men and
women sitting huddled over steam
ing troughs of putrefying horseflesh
and millions Of maggots squirming in
the mess"
When MI. Bryant started this bust
ness he was a sickly consumptive;
now he is a strong, robust man, and
he attributes the change to the fact
that for five and a half years he has
lived in a constant atmosphere of
maggot-waft