Semi-weekly herald., 1915-07-05
SWAT THE ELY EGGS.

btblel Vilt s7Wot tiis tBHps
Probably every magazine and news
paper in the United States printed
last season from one to score of
Arrangements of the common house fly
the disease breeder, the thyphoid
fly; the infantile paralysis fly; in a
word, the twentieth century pest, an
enemy of mankind "Swat the fly"
has become the slogan of the day.
For every fly killed in May there
will be ten thousand less in June,
million less in July, and by Sept
ember the most ambitions boy, eager
to earn the prize for the greatest
number of flies killed, couldn't pos
sibly lift the progeny of this single
fly which escaped him in the spring
time. All very true; but where will
allthese flies lay their eggs and rear
their precious babies? Can we find
the nests, can we destroy them by
wholesale the larvae or the eggs? We
can, easily and cheaply, and every
city with ordinary regulations may
become flyless town. Flies breed in
filth, principally manure, and the or
binary pile of stable manure will
bring forth enough flies to keep five
hundred families fighting the pests
from morning till night. If one
tenth of the money invested in fly
screens were spent on killing fly
eggs laid in manure piles and gar
bage cans, there would be no need Of
the fly screens which keep out the
flies and incidentally a large proper
ton of the cooling breezesc of sum
mer.
Our government has carried on an
extensive experiment with manure
piles and the eggs which each fe-
male fly deposits therein by the thou
sand, and has found the remedy. 1t
is ordinary borax, one of the common
est and cheapest of minerals produc-
ed in abundance in the United States
and it takes very little to make
the fly egg quite useless as future
fly. Borax costs about five cents a
pound, and the crude boraX mineral,
eolemanite. considerably less. while
three-fifths of pound sprinkled over
10 cubic feet-about eight bushels
of manure viii kill 90 per cent of the
eggs and maggots of the fly.
A long series of experiments look
ing to the destruction of fly eggs and
fly larvae in manure piles has been
carried on under the direction of DR..
L. o. Howard, the cntomologist of the
department of agriculture, the ma
nure being treated in boxes or cages,
the collection of these resembling a
group of bee hives. The manure, well
infested with fly eggs, was treated
with borax, kerosene, potassium cya-
nide, formaldehyde, copper sulphate'
Paris green and ten or dozen other
chemicals, but none gave satisfactory
results except the borax. Strangely
enough the Isthmain Canal commits
sion larvicide, consisting of carbolic
acid, resin, caustic soda and water,
which kills mosquito larvae in less
than half an hour, had but slight
effect upon fly larvae.
An important consideration in the
borax treatment is in the effect on
the manure. Some of the chemicals
tested, rendered the manure danger
Gus as fertilizer, making it more
harmful than beneficial 10 plant
growth, but the horax not only makes
the manure possibly more beneficial
as a fertilizer, but prevents burning
or fire fanging, a natural process
with ordinary manure piles. which
considerably reduces the fertilizine
effect
The borax treatment is simplicity
itself. DR.. Howard's advice is to ap-
ply to 10 pounds of borax to every
eight bushels Of manure Immediately
upon its removal from the barn
sitting the borax around the outer
edges of the pile with common flour
sitter and then sprinkle large water
ing pot of water over it. The flies
lay their eggs on the fresh manure
and the borax when it comes in CON
tact with the eggs prevents their
Matching The few eggs which do
hatch into maggots will soon encoun-
ter the horax, too, and die. The
treatment should be repeated with
each addition of fresh manure, since
the eggs hatch out in one day, but
remain in the manure as maggots for
several days more. When the manure
is kept in closed boxes or pits less
frequent APPLICATIONS will suffice.
Refuse and garbage shes'd be treat
ed in the same way. The cost of
manure treatment is figured at one
cent per horse per day.
The borax treatment is so simple,
so effective and so inexpensive and
an small "A hurIau IN fha individual