The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-07-13
HOW FAST FLIESBREED
Figures That Stagger the Mind Are
Produced by Experts.


ed the mind. Such as the familiar
one concerning the number of changes
to be wrought with the alphabet, or
that of the Shah of Persia, who offer
ed the inventor one grain of wheat
for the first square on the chess board
two for the second, four for the third,
eight for the fourth and SO on. But
the fly seems to have all these calcu-
lations beaten to a FRAGILE.
AS the Hawkeye explained hereto
fore, it takes, with average conditions,
ten days from the laying of a fys egg
to the emergence of the adult fly. 1t
takes about ten days more before the
fly begins to lay its eggs.
Though flies continue to issue from
rubbish piles after early September,
sometimes even in November, the
chance for breeding between April
18th and September 10th is bad
enough and gives us ten fly genera
tions.
DR.. Leland o. Howard, the chief of
the governments experts on flies, has
carefully estimated the number of
flies which would be born were none
destroyed before egg laying. He
saws; ..-- ... ---..- -- ~. 60.
This number of generations has a
direct bearing upon the number of
flies, not only at different periods
during the summer, but also in the
early autumn, since there is, barring
accidents, a constant and definite and
enormous increase or course some
summers are warmer than others and
some are mOister than others, and
upon these two factors, taken in con-
nection with that of available places
for breeding, the number of flies
must depend.
Take for example, the possibilities
| in Washington, and let us estimate
on the basis of the survival of all
| eggs and all individual flies, upon
| plenty of places for the insect to de-
velop and for the larvae to feed, upon
an average of ten days to a genera
| ton in midsummer (this period in
creasing in the autumn and being
greater also in the springtime), and
also upon period of ten days after
emerging of the adult flies before SEX
ual maturity is gained (this point of
| the duration OF the existence of the
| adult fly before the attainment of sex
ual maturity has been the weak ele-
ment in other calculations that have
been made Of house fly abundance
let us start on April 18th with single
-wintering fly which on that day
lays 1870 eggs. and we will have the
| following table
April 18th the r-wintering ,fe-
male fly lays 100 eggs. 90
| May list, 1870 adults issue, of which
60 are females.
May 2Sth, 1900 adults issue, of
which $500 are females.
June Sth, $500 females lay 100 eggs
each.
June Goth, $4,000 adults issue, of
which 100000 are females.
June Goth, 216,OOO females lay 100
eggs each.
July 10th. 25,92O,OOO adults issue. of
which 12,960,O00 are females.
July 10Th, l2,9S00 900 females lay 120
| eggs each.
July goth, 1855 200, 900 adult sissue
of which 777,6OO,OOO are females.
August Sth, 777,6ON,oOO females lay
100 eggs each.
August 18th, 93,312,OOO,O 900 adults is
sue, Of which 46,656,00O,OOO are fe-
males.
August 28th, 46.656.OOO,OOO females
lay 100 eggs each.
September 10th, 5,598, 100, O0O, 900
adults issue, of which one-half are fe-
males.
CFrom The House Fly-Disease
Carrier" by DR.. l.. o. Howard. Copy
right 1911 by Frederick A. Stokes
| Company
Such figures made one feel that we
can never even begin to combat the
house fly. But, of course, they sup
pose that all the eggs hatch, that
none of the larvoe is killed, and that
all the dies lay eggs before they die
Actually, of course, huge per cent
of them do not. But these figures sug-
gest how well it is to kill all the flies
possible, and the earlier the better,
for in killing one we kill not merely
one, but countless millions.
That this theoretical estimate is
not exaggerated is shown by the fact
that scientist of the university of
California, by counting the larvae in a
eggs in part and estimating the rest,
found a total of $4,000 larvae in a
single large pile of manure weighing
about 1000 pounds; Major N. Faich-
ME, of the Royal Medical corps. esti-
mated 1000 flies from one-sixth cubic
foot of trench ground; while another
scientist has found 200 fly puparia in
less than one single cubic inch of
manure.
One fly lays eggs on April 18th. On
September 10th, $685., 720, 100000 flies
are born as descendants of hers, If
none gets killed. Doesn't 1t seem to
the readers of the Hawkeye desirable
to kill the flies, to kill them as early
as possible, and to
KILL ALL THE FLIES?
He Destroys Papers.