Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-14

Following is The sixth 81 series d articles
CN the NJ babies during the hot summer
months These articles. which have been pre-
pared nv an expert. to be printed In Inc
Star from week to week. Every citizen. lartic-
ularly mothers. is urged +" cooperate In lower.
5ng infant mortality in Washington anu pe''c1 uS
the conditions of hahicsh
When the modern mother sings
''Baby-bye here's a fly to her infant
she changes the second line of the Old
nursery song 70 read Let US swat him.
you and l. The common house fly is
no longer an object of tolerant In
terest. but has become an object of
hatred and distrust. He is Known to
1e the principal factor in the distri-
button of the germs of typhoid.
Especially is he regarded as the enc
my of the baby. as there is reason to
believe that he carries about the germs
of summer diarrhea and leaves them
behind him. with other filth, when he
lights on the nipple of the feeding bot
lie. or craw1s over the saucer of cereal,
or falls in the milk. Thus he is real
danger not only to the baby but to
the whole family. and every effort
should be made to do away with him.
Flies may be kept out of the house
to considerable extent by usipg
screens at the doors and windows, and
those that get inside may be trapped,
poisoned or swatted Hut petter ftnah
any of these methods is to destroy the
flies in the larval stage and thus pre-
vent them from hatching. The follow
ing information is furnished by the
Department of Agriculture:
Hellebore a Fly Weapon.
A safe and effective weapon against
the typhoid or house fly has been
found in powdered. hellebore by sci
entists of the Department of Agricul-
1ure. Files lay their eggs chiefly in
stable manure. Powdered hellebore
mixed with water and sprinkled over
the manure will destroy the larvae
which are Matched from the eggs. Since
powdered hellebore is readily obtain
able, this puts in the hands of every
one a remedy for one of the pests that
has been found dangerous as well as
troublesome. Powdered hellebore'
however, will not kill adult flies. which
must be swatted or trapped.
1T has long been known that MES
breed in manure, but previous methods
of destroying the larvae there by the
use of strong chemicals have been open
to the objection that the treatment
under some conditions lessened the
actually injured vegetation. This is
not true of powdered hellebore. Gov
eminent experiments have shown that
the hellebore is entirely deeomposed
in the course of the fermentation of
the manure and that even in excessive
quantities it does no harm except to
the larvae it is intended to destroy.
Chickens picking in manure treated
with it suffer no i'll effects.
"One-half pound of hellebore mixed
with ten gallons of water is sufficient
to kill the larvae in eight bushels, or
ten cubic feet, of manure. The mix
ture should be sprinkled carefully
over the pile. especial attention being
paid to the outer edges. In most places
hellebore is obtainable in 100-pound
lots at a cost of II cents a pound. This
makes the cost of the treatment a lit
tie less than seven-tenths of cent per
bushel of manure A liberal estimate
Of the output of manure is two BUSH
els a day per horse. The money in
volved is therefore trifling in COM