The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-03-28
A Practical Method of
Destroying the Housefy

Washington. u. G. March asa
trap Co destroy he msggots ct the
typhoid houscfiy before they develop
into winged insects Is a possible solu-
tion OF the ny problem and one that
should interest health officers, SAINT
tarians ana others who might make
use of IL on al heaps where his
Common pest breeds. The department
uf agriculture's scientists "a their
preliminary experiments with sue q
trap nave succeeded in destroying
from 30 to 90 per cent of the nuggets
In "a pile OF m This method 81
attack differs uom those which have
been E%encrally used. Fly poisons has q
been made 10 tempt the appetite -
h adult ny. OF ny eight rcceptaclos
have been used 10 keep the adult fc-
male from laying her eggs In manur p.
The mower method is based on the
knowiedge ct certain habits OF the
undcyeloped ny maEgot
The maggots of the typhoid rs. Il
has been discovered. have "A habit q
migrating from their breeding places
into drier portions OF the manure
heap. This seems a distinct move on
their part to permit the adult ny to
issue from the refuse In the easiest
and quickest manner. The efficiency
VI The new trap is based on the reg.
uiarity OF this deep-seatcd habit.
Description Of a Maggot Trap.
a large galvanized iron pan. meas
uring 8 By . feet. with sides 4 inches
high. was made. In this stood a on
tainer on legs s Inches high. This
container measured Z by ? by 2 feet
The sides and bottom were Of heavy
wire. i-i-inch mesh. supported by a
light wooden framework. Twelve
cubic feet OF manure well infested
with eggs and larvae were placed IN
this conuiiner and %sprinkled with wa
ter. Water was also poured into the
pan below 10 a depth of about one
inch. surrounding and covering both
pan aud coutainer was a ny-tight IN
closure made 81 q large cage. G by &
b. g feet. This prevented further in
fostation of the manure, and an ar
rangement o. traps IA the top of the
cage made a possible TO capture aud
keep a record Of any flies that might
emerge. Al The Time for the emorg-
cnce OF flies the sides of the cage were
NNNhNltN WIN hAANh WYNN w. NANNA ~
drive the dies into the traps al the
top. Each day the maggots were coz
iccted from the pan and counted, and
each day the manure In the container
was Eprinkled thoroughly with wateg
and the pan was washed out and agaia
partly allied with water TO drown the
larvae which fell into IL.
The experiments Of the depart
ments entomologisis showed That
from ss TO 30 per sent Of All the mag
gots In the manur pile were destroy
ed. N the was kept moist.
From comparatively dry manure
about 20 per zen, were destroyed.
These experiments. as yet. have
been tried olly on a comparatively
small scale. The question immedi-
ateiy arises whether the trap which
appears 80 successful on a small
scale can be adapted 10 the handling
Of manure IN a practical way on q
large scale. Every consideration
points to tins probability that Il can
and that Il will AFFORD IAN additional
weapon OF areat value" However. the
ANAL verdict as 10 the value ~ ths
magaOt trap must wait upon the snlu.
ton Of certain practical problems. IT.
point out some Of these here is to sus'