New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1915-08-21
DESTROY THE FLY!

w ltIl inc HlOACIA Hio'hSA S Q
"Baby-bye, here's a fly" to hel
infant, she changes the second
line of the old nursery song to
read "Let us swat him, you and
T." The common house-fy is nc
longer an object Of tolerant inter.
est, but has become an object OF
hatred and DISTRICT. He is known
to be the principal factor in the
distribution Of the germs OF ty-
phoid.
Especially is he regarded as the
enemy of the baby. as there IS rea-
son to believe that he carries
about the germs Of summer dlar-
rhea and leaves them behind him,
with other filth, when he lights
on the nipple of the feeding bot,
tie, or crawls over the saucer OF
cereal. or falls in the milk. Thus
he is a 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 a considerable extent by
using screens at the doors and
windows, and those that get in
side may be trapped, poisoned, or
swatted. But better than any OF
these methods is to destroy the
flies in the larual stage, and thus
prevent them from Matching. The
following information is furnish
ed by the Department Of Agricul-
ture:
GA safe and effective weapon
the typhoid or house-fy has been
found in powdered hellebore by
scientists Of the Department OF
Agriculture. Flies lay their eggs
chiefly in stable manure. Powder
ed hellebore mixed with water
and sprinkled over the manure,
will destroy the larvae which are
hatched from the eggs. Since
powdered hellebore is readily OBJ
tainable, this puts in the hands OF
everyone a remedy for one of the
pests that has been found dan
gerous as we'll as troublesome.
Powdered hellebore, however,
will not kill adult flies, which
must be swatted or trapped.
cit has long been known that
flies breed in manure but prev
ious methods Of destroying the
larvae there by the use of strong
chemicals have been open to the
objection that the treatment I'M
der some conditions lessened the
fertilizing value of the manure or
actually injured vegetation. This
is not true of powdered helle-
bore. Government experiments
have shown that the hellebore is
entirely dcomposed in the course
Of the fermentation Of the manure
and that even in excessive guam
titles it does no harm except to
the larvae it is intended to des-
troy. Chickens picking in manure
treated with it suffer no i'll ef-
fects.
"One-half pound of powdered
hellebore mixed with 10 gallons
of water is sufficient to kill the
larvae in 8 bushels, or 10 cubic
feet, Of manure. The mixture
should be sprinkled carefully over
the pile, especial attention being
paid to the outer edges. In most
places hellebore is obtainable in
1OO-pound lots at a cost of IL
cents a pound. This makes the
cost of the treatment a little less
than seven-tenths of a cent per
bushel of manure. A liberal esti-
mate of the output Of manure is
two bushels a day per horse. The
money involved is, therefore,
Drifting in comparison with the
benefits to the individual and the
community from the practical
elimination Of the disease-spread-
ing fly.
although fresh manure is the
favorite breeding spot, flies lay
their eggs in other places as well,
such as outhouses, refuse piles, !
etc. In these places, from which
no manure is taken to spread on
the fields, considerable saving
may be effected through the SUBJ
stitution of borax for powdered
hellebore. Applied at the rate of
O.62 pounds per 8 bushels Of
manure, borax is as effective as
powdered hellebore in killing the
larvae, but costs less than half a |
cent for each bushel of manure
treated. In larger quantities,
however, Or when the manure it.
self is spread at greater rate
than 10 tons to the acre, some
damage to crops may result. !
Large quantities of manure are