The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-09
ELIMINATE THE FLY
Powdered HeLs dse simple and ERectsve Means o9 Destroying
 the iDangarogzs Fest

S Is .t 5 An educatIonaI de against the house fly in which every proper means of publicity should be enapioy- led is urged by the Departrpeal of i Agriculture- In a new Farmers, Bull letin, No. 6T9, it is stated that the
 danger from the house fly must be brought more forclb7y home to the
 people be8nre health officers can do effective work By the expenditure Q
 of sufficient pains, any one individual
 may prevent flies breeding on his premises. but this will not rid him Of the danger from flies if his neigh
 bors are careless.
 There is, however, no excuse at the ] present time for permitting flies to
 breed in anything like the numbers 1 in which they have done in the past
 The vssst majority of flies develop 1 from eggs which are laid in horse ma nure, and there are two simple ways
 of destroying the larvae, as the youn g insects or maggots, which hatch from the eggs, are called. Sprfnlzlin g the manure heap with solution pre- pared by adding 1-2 pound of powder ed helIebore to 10 gallons of water will destroy according to recent ex- perkments. from IS to S9 per cent Of the larvae in the manure If this is not done. the use Of 8 simple mag got trap will prove equally effective.
 By expeT1In ents carried by the Bt1-
 reau of Entomology Of the U. S. De- partnaent of Agriculture at the Mary
 found that the trap used there de- stroyed fully s9 per cent of all the
 maggots or larvae breeding in g
 given lot Of manure.
 Such a trap is simplicity itself, een6ist1ng merely of a slated plat form standing about foot high upon a. concrete floor which is surrounded by d rim or wall of concrete 4 inches high. The floor slopes a. little to- l ward one corner in order to allow H-
 off into a small cistern. Ordinarily. however. this drain is plugged with ! a stopper and the concrete floor fill ed with water to a depth Of inch in the shallowest part Each morning the Fraaa1lre is removed from the
 stable and heaped upon the platform.
 The flies lay their eggs on it as
 usual and the larvae hatch as usual.
 The larvae, however, when about to enter the pupaIS or resting stage, pre-
 liFninary to emerging as adult flies, invariably endeaNor to migrate,
 crawling about in search of suit
 ably dry spot in which to enter into
 p9Ipatfon. In the rnaggot trap, there fore, as soen. the larvae attempt to leave the manure which they have been feeding, they fall through the openings in the slated platform into
 the water below and are drowned.
 Each week the drain should be open ed and the dead maggoIs washed from
 the floor of the trap into the eistern
 nearby, A platform 1ox20 feet in
 size will hold the manure from 4 horses during a period of 4 months, or 1 from 25 horses for about 90 days.
 The slafs should be 1-Ineh strips with
 1-2 to Linen spaces between them.
 Experience with naaggot. traps has 1 brought about the fact that these are e.f Jzy7ale -ie
 kept eeH4pactly heaped and well
 m6istsHed. This is due to the IaFvae's
 desire te find a eempaFaEiveiy dry
 place iR which to pHpate and, con seaueHf4y, they crawl away from wet man uFe. Wherever possible, there fore, it is advantageous to preserve all the liquid manure both ia order te
 melsten the pile and because of it's
 own ferti1izing value. In the second
 place, the platform shesIld stand net