Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-10-03
DON'T SWAT"
BUT CLEAN UP
The Best Way to Get Rid Of the
Aouset|y.
NO FILTH and NO DISEASE.
Tackle These Pests In Their Breeding
Places, Says Government Expert, and
the Result Will Be More Apparent.
Some Precautions.

the Result Will Be More Apparent.
Some Precautions.
Something like 100000, 900 flies
were killed in the campaign of 1911,
100000 in Washington alone. This
certainly is prodigious slaughter, and
the figures are impressive until we
consider the number that escaped the
executioners. DR.. Howard of the bu-
reau Of entomology has taken his pen-
Gil in hand. In the luxuriant climate
of the national capital twelve genera
tons Of flies are hatched in q single
summer. A single overwintering moth
er will start-say about April 15-with
an average brood of 120. If all these
eggs should hatch and in their turn re-
produce in the like ratio the end of the
fly season would see the progeny of
that n mother fly making up a tidy
genealogical tree of some 1906 49,
249.311. 72O, 900, O0O, 900. 0 branches.
twigs and budlets. and. as each female
usually lays four patches Of eggs. their
unchecked development through twelve
generations would make a mass of flies
measuring $685. S.165. e61 cubic miles.
or considerably more than the total
size of the earth. Fortunately there
are many things destructive to egg
larvae and adult flies, so the number
of the latter Is kept down to a possi-
BILE figure.
Various communities are paying for
dead fies-so much for a quart meas
IRE of them. so much for a gill Q.600
to the gill;. II one could conceive all
Of the flies in existence being caught
and paid for. and the hunters given a
living wage. every treasury on earth
would go insolvent One must con-
clude. then. that the only way to get
rid of flies is to get rid Of the filth
and the refuse which are their natural
environment and pabulum.
The fly is a natural scavenger, and
scavengers have a reason for exist
ence. Let her be killed by all means.
but before relying on this alone we
should follow her up to her breeding
place. which is seldom beyond 300 to
500 feet away, and then make that
place decent and sanitary. One should
not rest content with killing the fly.
but should get rid of the places where
she lays her eggs-the insanitary clos
cts. the manure heap. the uncovered
| garbage an. the putrescent dead dog
and horse on the public highway.
All refuse and d%ecaying material
and all vegetable and table waste
should be removed and be burned or
covered with lime or kerosene oil. All
| garbage cans must be covered or
| screened or their contents sprinkled
with kerosene or lime. The sewage
| system must be in good order, up to
date. not leaking. not exposed. Kero-
sene should be poured into drains.
Manure should be put into tight pits
or vaults. with an outer door from
| which it a be shoveled away. A
barrel of chloride of lime is to be on
| stantly at hand. from which each de-
posit Of manure should be sprinkled.
Shallow dishes should be placed
about the house, one in each room. con-
tanning each two ~teaspoonfuls of for
maldehyde to a pint two tumblefuls' Of
water or a t%easpoonful of bichromate
of potassium In a quarter tumblerfuI
Of water and sweetened with plenty
of sugar. Pyrethrum powder burned
in a room %stupeties the flies so that they
fall to the floor. whence they can be
gathered up aud burned or sold If the
market rates make 1t worth the while
All food aud drink must be screened
OF covered in some way. All windows
in dining room and kitchen doors must
be screened. Groceries, fruit stores.
meat and fish stores must have their
wares screened. and. above all things
else. flies must not get near the milk
The American people are much i'm
pressed by slogans. Swat the fly" is
disgusting and suggestive of cruelty in
the mind of the boy already so dis.
posed. A better one is "No filth. ne
flies" and no disease.-Medical Record