Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1915-07-16
ELIMINATE THE FLY

,,eaus OF pupllSi''
n.ea sa q urged by the departm ent of
plO, ,sulture. In new Farmers Bull
's.,n No. $40, it is stated that the
..agar from the house fly must be
anobt more forcibly home to the
D Ds before health officers can do
ss,actiye work. BY the expenditure
efficient pains, any one indiyid'
y ", may prevent flies breeding on
his premises, but this will not rid
- 81 the danger from flies if his
.olgbbors are careless.
rhare is, however, no excuse at
nroaent time for permitting flies
:. hreed in anything like the num-
horo in which they have done in the
.ost The vast majority of flies de-
rolon from eggs which are laid id
soroa manure and there are two sim
ala ways of destroying the larvae, as
tho Young insects or maggots, which
hatch from the eggs, are called.
crrinkling the manure heap with a
.olution prepared by adding half
nound of powdered hellebore to 10
Gallons of water will destroy, accord
inc to recent experiments, from SO
IN 80 per cent of the larvae in the
manure. II this is not done, the
usa of a simple maggot trap will
nrove equally effective. BY expert
mants carried on by the Bureau of
Entomology of the U. S. Department
NJ Agriculture at the Maryland Agri
eultural College, it was found that
the trap used there destroyed fully
% per cent of all the maggots or
larvae breeding in given lot of
manure.
Such a trap is simplicity itself,
eOasisting merely of slated plat
form standing about one foot high
Vuon concrete floor, which is sur
minded by rim or wall of con-
usa four inches high. The floor
daVes little toward one corner in
ader to allow liquid from the ma
aure to be drained off into a small
eistern. Ordinarily, however, this
drain is plugged with a stopper and
the concrete floor filled with water
to depth of one inch in the shall
lowest part. Each morning the ma
nure 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
pupal or resting stage, preliminary
to emerging as adult flies, invariably
endeayor to migrate, crawling about
In search of a suitable dry spot in
which to enter into pupation. In the
maggot trap, therefore, as soon as
the larvae attempt to leave the ma
nure on which they have been feed
ing, they fall through the openings
ID the Slated platform into the
water below and are drowned. Each
week the drain should be opened and
the dead maggots washed from the
lioor OF the trap into the cistern
nearby. A platform 10x2O feet in
size will hold the manure from four
horses during a period of four
months, or from rs horses for about
~ days. The Stats should be one
iacn Strips with one-half to one inch
spaces between them.
experience with maggot traps has
Oiouent out the fact that these are
most effective when the manure is
Aept compactly heaped and well
N0is'eneo This is due to the lar
'aes desire to find a comparatively
Wy place in which to pupate and,
consequently, they crawl away from
"o' manure. Wherever possible,
'uefelore, it is advantageous to pre-
HAulu u1duuTo, DOLu III
oiuer 10 moisten the pile and be-
sause OF its own fertilizing value. In
me second place, the platform should
s'"uu not less than one foot above
ao concrete floor in order that the
noor may be more EARLY cleaned. A
'uifu point is that old manure does
AO' attract flies for breeding. A lot
y manure need remain on the mag
eO' trap but 10 days in order to pre-
ns any breeding taking place in it.
me maggot trap thus presents the
s.eat advantages of being easily con-
slucted and cheap. That it is eff
:, ,sO'ive' the experiments at the
iand Agricultural College have
s"eiuslVely shown. There it was
.uno that it destroyed 80 per cent
the larvae breeding in the ma
e and that the number of flies
0unu the college kitchen was re-
M eu Dy between 81 and 76 per cent
=, the reduction in the number of
es was not equal to the percentage
"a larvae DESTROYED wos dua m +ha