The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-06-12

to reduce their numbers in the COIN
t8 munity, that the diseases they convey
| may be reduced also, even abolished.
| One method of dealing with disease
q bearing insects is to trap and kill as
many can. For this reason kill
- that fly" swat that fly crusades
nave been instituted in many places. But it has
been found by experiment that cannot hope
to Kill sufficient es to reduce seriously their total
numbers. This is because flies breed at very
great rate when the weather is warm, and the
total numbers which we can kill is SO small, when
compared to the total numbers born. that the re-
suit of the "swatting" campaigns has been disap-
pointing
All efforts should be directed at preventing
house flies from breeding-for prevention is bet
ter than cure. The best way to do this is to OBJ
serve strict cleanliness municipal cleanliness
and home cleanliness. Then these insects will
desert the neighborhood, and the diseases they
convey will vanish This the policy pursued
on the Suez and Panama canals to prevent
laria and yellow fever which conveyed from
one person to another by mosquitoes The method
was most successful.
The house fly breeds in filth. Each female fly,
as soon as the weather is enough, lays
about $50 eggs collections of manure, decom-
posing garbage, street rubbish or house refuse,
and the eggs hatch into tiny maggots After five
days have passed, each maggot becomes a rolled
up, bean-shaped chrysalis and after another five
days each chrysalis gives birth to a two-winged.
sfxlegged, whiskered, bristly flying insect known
to US as the house fly. Bluebottles breed
similarly, but they prefer to lay their eggs on
rottIng carcasses decaying animal matter.
The house fly and the lesser house fly convey
disease by bathing their legs in germ-laden ma
terial, which they find during their feeding forays
The germs stick to their legs and to the lips of
their telescope proboscides, and then are carried
TO the milk jug, the teacup, to the cut loaf and
to the culinary utensils. Sometimes the flies
swallow the germs. which multiply inside Them
and afterwards the concentrated disease focus is
again deposited wherever the fly settles
We can be rid of flies if we observe the ordi-
nary common sense rules of cleanliness and SAM.
tat1on No fly lairs, or breeding places, must be
permitted near human habtations All uncIean
places must be made clean regularly once week
by the sanitary or municipal authorities and then
the fly maggots will be unable to come to ma
turity, and so the pest will be exterminated Re
Gently flies has been taken up assidu-
ously by the press, and the medical officers of
health are exerting themselves to start antiHy
campaigns.
Thus the municipal authorities have made a
start, and it remains for the individual house
holders to help them. Each one of US can do our
share Of fly prevention. We can prevent flies
in our own homes. On morning, every week
we must INSPECT premises Begin in the
kitchen. Observe every nook of the sculIery the
pantry. the cellar. even the dining room and see
that every corner and Granny is scrupulously
clean. Next. must examine the dustbin to
see if it is completely cleaned out. Let there be
small collections of tea leaves spilled out of
it, or rotting Feelings scraps of bread, or any
other places where flies breed. Let the
cheese be well covered, and the bread be in its
pan, and all food within the Harder in its proper
place. And let everything be clean and whole
some.
1t is most important, also to inform our neigh
bors every convenient occasion Of the disgust
ing and dangerous character Of house flies aud
to ask them to cooperate in preventing them.
Then there will be an organized campaign against
these insects. The more talk about it the
will the thing be done. The education
of children in the matter is also most essential
Then a generation will grow up knowing
the dangers of flies and how to prevent them.
Schoolmasters and schoomistresses should be IN
vited to teach their charges about flies and should
set the example by instFucting them in the tenets
of school cleanliness This will help US greatly.
If ali keep our own homes sweet and clean,
our childrens lives will be spared the horrors of
summer sickness, typhoid will be lessened doc
tors bill will be reduced, and the health of the
community will be improved enormously. With
regard house flies and fy-borne diseases the
remedy is simple Let apply it.
AS a result of experiments, the specialists
of the United States department Of agriculture
have discovered that small amount of ordinary
borax sprinkled daily on manure will effectively
prevent the breeding of the typhoid house fly
Similarly, the substance applied to garbage
refuse open toilets, damp floors and crevices in
stables cellars markets, will prevent fly eggs
from Matching Borax will not kill the adult
fly nor prevent it from laying eggs but its
thorough will prevent any further breeding
The investigation, which included experiments
with many substances undertaken TO dis
cover some means of preventing the breeding
of flies in horse manure without 1essenfng the
value of this manure a fertilizer for by the
farmer. 1t felt that if some means of pre-
venting the breeding of flies near human habi
tation could be devised the diseases spread b.
these filthy germ carriers could be greatly re
duced While the swat the fly campaign traps
and other devices for reducing the number o
typhoid-carrying flies of value, they o.
less Importance than the prevention of the breed
ing 1t was realized, however, that no measure
for preventing the breeding of flies would come
into common unless it was such that tn
farmer could use it on his pile withou
destroying its usefulness for growing plants an
without Introducing into the soil any substanc
that would intecfere with his crops.
AS a result OF experiments carried on at the Al
Ington farm, in Virginia, and New Orleans, La