Evening star., 1945-09-26
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trdce1Dell

Local residents have saved themselves
trouble by not taking up the fad which
recently swept the Middle West.
Some one out there circulated story
that pieces of cotton, affixed to window
and door screens, would keep flies away.
Immediately, with the speed of light,
homes everywhere in Indiana, Ohio and
Illinois bloomed with white on all
screening.
Now entomologists of Purdue Univer-
sity declare that the cotton tuft method
of repelling flies is all hokum.
Pieces of cotton just won't do it, and
there is no reason why it should.
The idea was based on somebody's
say-so, that the white cotton reminded
the flies of fungus disease they had
learned to avoid.
Others asserted that flies looked upon
the cotton as spider webbing!
Flies are not as easy as all that to get
rid of, they swarm every place where
they are left unmolested and sometimes
even DOT fails to get them.
This summer and fall have been
particularly good for flies in this locality.
A warm and humid September left
thousands of them, hanging to screens
and finding their way indoors.
In the old days, The Star led the
campaign against the fly menace. 1t
recognized that flies were more than a
nuisance.
The Star gave away thousands Of
thousands of fly swatters for many
years. Older residents will recall them.
At one time the paper paid SO much
per quart for dead flies.
1t may be that today some Of our
newcomers, and especially young people,
laugh at the efforts against the fly.
Such persons are, however. scientif-
ically away behind the times.
Experience in the South Pacific has
shown the real menace of all sorts of
insect life.
When DDT becomes available for
perfectly safe use by the public, we may
expect great reduction in all insects
which are inimical to man.
One good point of this wonder in
secticide, according to reports, is that it
can remain effective for many days after
it has been sprayed on screens and other
places.
This will mean that flies and other
insects will be killed simply by walking
over surfaces which have been treated.
Swatting still remains a mighty good
method. Special swatters may be Sc
cured, but many a housewife has dis
covered that a rolled newspaper does
very well.
The domestic fly is an intelligent
creature. Once it gets the idea that you
are after it, it will be extremely wary.
Instead of flying hither and yon, 1t
will seek seclusion, and remain as quiet
as mouse.
With rolled paper poised one waits
and waits, but Mr.. and Mrs. Fly do
not show
There is nothing to do then but sit
down and wait quietly for it to start
its aerial activities.
Some flies are brought in on vege-
tables. The lack of proper help has
prevented some stores from washing
them before selling, and also from keep
ing down the fly menace in their own
places.
1t is good thing to spray carefully
all vegetables the moment they are
brought into the house. rather than to
wait until just before they are to be used
Often flies which have collected on
the inside of a screen door can be
"shooed' out simply by opening the door
and giving good swish with towel
or the hand.
All flies are menaces as well as pests
and nothing should be left undone to
| get rid Of them. It Is far cry from
the scientific, which means exact, knowl-
edge Of today, and the ignorance OF the
great poet William Blake, who invited q
| fx to sip from his own cup.