The Farmington times., 1917-03-23
MANURE PILE HARBoRs FLIES

The preferred food of house-hy lar
vac Is horse manure, in which they
breed in untold numbers. More than
one thousand house flies will issue
from one pound of manure. Flies are
sure to swarm from unprotected piles.
Early spring is the time to begin
operations against the fly and one Of
the first steps is to properly dispose
of the manure piles that have accu-
mulated during winter. In small
towns and rural districts it is quite
easy to dispose of such piles. In
large cities the problem is more diff
ficult.
Since horse manure is valuable
fertilizer it may be disposed of to ad-
vantage on the garden, lawn or field.
Application should be made without
delay. In this way the breeding place
of flies can be eliminated and crops
can be benefited. A. H. Hollinger Of
the University of Missouri College of
Agriculture recommends that fly
tight bin or pit be used for the tenn
porary disposal of manure. Manure
should not accumulate even in such
containers. 1t should be removed and
scattered on the field at least every
two days, so that the larvae, if pres
ent, will not have time to mature.
In case manure piles do accumulate
through neglect, there are still two
methods to follow which will prove eff
fective. The first is the treatment of
manure piles with certain chemicals,
either dry or in water. The second
way is by the use of maggot traps,
the efficiency of which is based upon
the strong tendency of the larvae to
migrate after maturity and before
pupation.
Powdered Hellebore is a very eff
fective larvicide, and is especially rec
commended to be used at the rate of
about one pound to twenty gallons
of water This amount should be ap-
piled to about fifteen bushels of ma
nure, the approximate amount OBJ
tanned from one horse per week. No
injurious action on the fertilizing val
ue of the manure follows such appli-
cation, for the hellebore, being an or
ganic product, will slowly decompose.
Consequently it will not produce a
cumulative injurious effect upon plant
growth such as certain inorganic pro-
duets might. The cost of such treat
ment will average about ten cents a
week for each horse.
BoraX applied to manure at the rate
of one and one-quarter pounds for
each fifteen bushels of horse manure
will also prove effective, and costs
about seven cents per week per horse.
This manure when applied to the land
at the rate of about Is tons per acre
will not injure plant development.
However, borax being an Inorganic
decomposition of this chem
lcal does not result, and the cumula-
tive effect Of this substance upon the
plant growth may become injurious
if amounts of borax in excess of that
recommended above are used. Helle-
bore should be used instead of borax
for treating all manure intended for
fertilizing purposes.
Instead of treating manure chemi-
cally, it is possible by means of
simple arrangement called a "mag-
got trap" to destroy at least SO per
cent of all maggots in any manure
pile. These traps may. be made of al
most any size and to suit almost any
conditions. They will meet the prob
ems of both rural and urban sur
roundings. In general, maggot traps
are so built that the larvae will mi
crate and drop through openings in
the bottom of the manure pile into
water meath. This is very practi-
,al method and will be discussed more
thoroughly at later date.