The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-08-07
IN AN ANGLERS BAIT FACTORY
Where Millions of the Worms
Are Bred TO Lure the
Willy Fish.
STRANGE ESTABLISHMENT

| fish, One of the most popular balts
is the humble maggot. His lively
wrigglings have often been the
means of Turing roach, perch and
kindred coarse fish to an untimely
end.
There is a factory near Bradford
which sends out each week, in the
| height of the season, quite $50
worth of live maggots. They are
packed in canisters with airholes.
which retail at &c each, and on
modest computation there will be at
| least 5000 in each tin, so that one
can picture an army about 10000
900 strong sent forth each week to
serve as the anglers ally.
The factory is quaint structure
situated in a disused quarry, and
! consists 'ot a number Of shanties
similar in appearance to navvies'
| huts. The approach to it is through
some OF the most beautiful sylvan
scenery that Yorkshire can boast,
and the first indication that one has
of it's proximity is the presence of
companies of bluebottles and pun
gent odOr that somewhat staggers
the nostrils at the first onslaught.
Around the neighborhoOd of the
quarry at intervals are placed
pieces of flesh, which attract the
bluebottles from far and near, and
from these they pass on to the quar-
ry itself, where richer fare awaits
them, and where they usually spend
the remainder of their days dining
| like gourmands and laying their
/ eggs. The floor of the quarry is lit
tered with the carcasses of dead
horses, diseased cattle that have
had to be slaughtered, and fish.
The first shanty one goes into
has the door covered with bags to
prevent the bluebottles that have
entered escaping. On entering, the
ears are assailed by a noise compar-
able only TO the whirr and hustle of
wooden factory. The tempera-
ture is like that of an oven.
The air is literally black with
thousands of bluebottles buzzing
around, and you have to shout to
make yourself heard. Here the
first stage in the manufacture is
carried on. In tanks about feet |
long by 3 feet broad and 2 feet |
deep, are deposited carcasses in va
rious stages of decay. On these the |
bluebottles feed and blow their |
eggs, and when these have develop |
ed sufficiently, the tanks, or baths, |
are removed to the next shanty. |
Here the maggots emerge from the
eggs and begin to feed on the flesh.
They worm their way through it,
working with remarkable rapidly, |
from the bottom to the top of the
bath, until they have reduced the |
carcass to the appearance of masses
of string, having extracted every
ounce of nutriment from it. Then
fresh pieces of flesh are thrown in.
and the same process gone through
again. When the maggots have at
tanned a certain stage in their de-
velopment, the tank is removed to
third room and more flesh is put in.
The odor in this place is so power
full that your eyes water violently,
and it takes the visitor a minute or
two to realize his whereabouts.
The odor is caused by the fumes
from the ammonia exuded by the
maggots. Here they reach their
maximum development, about half
inch to three quarters inch long,
and then they are transferred to
beds of sawdust, through which
they wriggle, in that way cleaning
themselves, and at last fall through
a sieve into a clean tank under
meath. They are now ready for the
market, and are packed in canisters
and sent off to fish and tackle deal
ers and anglers.
The owner of the factory Is a :
man who was considered by the
doctors as we'll advanced in con-
but through working in
the factory, he has been completely
cured. Two or three of the work
men who were also consumptive
have been cured. and all the men
about the place, though the work is
somewhat disagreeable, are in the
best of health.
Medical experts have visited the
place, and they attribute the won.
derful cures that have been wrought
to the quality of the ammonia made
by the maggots. In their judgmen'