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Show Exterminate Stable flies arid oiv jour Live acock fxflisw $ This pest causes hundreds of thousands thou-sands of dollars damage dam-age in the United States every summer sum-mer and is a serious menace to health 7 BESIDES literally worrying ' cattle, mules and horses to death and killing them by extracting their blood, the pricm deadly fly also transmits dis-W-M ease rom one animal to n-tjy$?Sfi n-tjy$?Sfi other. A tropical sickness W-SifM known as surra Is un-IMinim un-IMinim doubtedly transmitted thus. Fortunately this does not occur In the United States at present, pres-ent, but unless great care is exercised exer-cised in Importing stock it may be Introduced In-troduced at any time and the deadly fly given n chance to spread It. A related disease of cattle, horses and sheep, known as souma, and a malady of hogs and cats are also carried, at least In part, by this same Insect. Investigators consider the fly to be in agent in transmitting glanders, while a disease known as Infectious anemia or swamp fever of horses is thought by some to be carried by this fly. A number of years ago It was found to act as a transmitter of a species of roundworm that Infects cattle. cat-tle. Animals weakened by loss of blood are more prone to contract other diseases. "Texas fever" In an acute form often attacks live stock that has become less energetic in fighting with stable files. The joints of both horses nnd cattle sometimes become so swol-'en swol-'en from standing in water where they sought protection from flies, that they can hardly walk. Even man may be inoculated with disease by this pest. Septicemia (blood-poisoning) is considered to be carried by it and demonstrations of famous physicians have pointed to the possibility of the transmission of infantile in-fantile paralysis in the same manner. Thus it will be seen that the transmission transmis-sion of a formidable array of diseases is chargeable to the stable fly. The stable fly is one of the most widely distributed of insects, being con.mon In both tropical and temper- The Stable Fly. The Housefly. ate regions where ' domestic animals are reared. In regions bordering on the tropics the flies are of importance throughout the entire year. In the extreme ex-treme southern part of our country there Is no month during the year in which flies are not annoying to horses and cattle. In the Northern states, the fly is particularly injurious and abundant in the late summer and fall. Investigations made during recent years showed clearly that the vast majority ma-jority of stable flies bred in straw stacks. It was also shown that while the fly breeds in pure horse manure, it favors a mixture of this substance with straw. The fly was found to be breeding in much greater abundance in oat straw than In wheat straw. Rice straw was also found to furnish suitable breeding breed-ing conditions and there is little doubt that barley and rye also serve as food for the immature stages of the insect. The development of this Insect is somewhat slower than that of the housefly and it is therefore quite necessary nec-essary that the eggs be deposited in rather large quantities of material for it to breed out successfully. As with most insects, the destruction destruc-tion of this one when it is actually doing the Injury is what is most desired de-sired by those concerned. With this species, as with many others, this is the most difficult tiae to accomplish the desired result. During a- recent outbreak in Texas many different substances were tried with a view of repelling the flies from live stock. Although some materials gave a measure of protection for a time, none had a lasting effect. In addition ad-dition to the temporary value of these substances, injury was sometimes produced pro-duced by their application. Many malodorous mixtures, particularly of an oily nature, have some value, but In preparing these care should be taken that they are not made too strong, particularly when animals are being worked in the hot sun. If they are made too strong they are likely to cause overheating of the animal and produce shedding of the hair. Head of the Stable Fly. A mixture of fish oil (one gallon), oil of pine tar (two ounces), oil of pennyroyal (two ounces), and kerosene kero-sene (one-half pint) was found to be very effective in keeping the flies off live stock when applied lightly, but thoroughly, to the portions of animals not covered with blankets or nets. Since strawstaeks have been found to be the principal breeding places of this insect in the grain belt, the proper care of the straw is by far the most important step in control. The straw should be stacked more carefully than is ordinarily done, by making the sides of the stack nearly vertical and rounding round-ing it up well on top in order the better bet-ter to shed the rain. All straw not required for winter feed should be disposed of Imraedint-ly Imraedint-ly by burning or by scattering It over the land soon after threshing and subsequently sub-sequently plowing It under, or by burning burn-ing the stacks. The plowing under of the straw Is the most advisable method of procedure, as by this practice prac-tice large amounts of humus are added to the soil. All stacks not consumed by stock during the winter should be promptly disposed of In the early spring. This may be accomplished in the same way as has been suggested for the fall. Heavy rainfall on freshly threshed straw, produces an unusual outbreak of flies by rendering the straw largely unfit for food for live stock and thus offering breeding places. In such Instances In-stances their Immediate destruction by burning or scattering is necessary to relieve the condition. The work should be done thoroughly, and when the stacks are scattered all the straw should be completely exposed to the influence in-fluence of the elements. It is best to plow under the scattered scat-tered straw soon after it has become well dried out. In sections of the country coun-try where headers instead of binders are used, the straw is much more easily eas-ily disposed of. The general adoption of the field threshers would completely solve the question of the strawstack. It is reported that this machine reduces re-duces the expense of harvesting from 14 to 2 cents per acre and the straw is left standing in the field. The chaff is scattered over the ground and the entire en-tire refuse turned under at plowing time. The use of poisons to destroy Immature Imma-ture files is neither practical nor advisable. ad-visable. Typhoid Fly Facts. 1. Where do young files live? In filth nnd manure. 2. Where do flies first dirty their mouths and feet? In every kind of filth imaginable. 3. Is anything too dirty or bad smelling smell-ing for files to eat? No. 4. Where does the fly go when it flies from the vault, the manure pile or the spittoon? (a) It may wipe its feet upon the clean lips of your sleeping baby; (b) It may carry germs into the open wound of your hand : (c) It may track over the butter, the meat, or take a bath in the milk. 5. Is the fly merely a nuisance? No. It is very dangerous. 6. Why Is the fly considered dangerous? dan-gerous? It is man's worst pest. It is more dangerous than the rattlesnake or tarantula. It carries deadly Infectious Infec-tious diseases. 7. What diseases does the fly carry? It carries typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and various intestinal diseases. 8. How does the fly carry disease germs? The germs stick to its legsv mouth parts, hair, wings and feelers. 9. What Is the correct name of this human pest? The typhoid fever fly. 10. Has it ever caused anyone's death? It killed more American soldiers sol-diers in the Spanish-American war than all the weapons of the Spaniards. It has killed thousands of soldiers during dur-ing the present European war. 11. Why Is typhoid fever so prevalent preva-lent during the summer and fall? He- i cause flies are most numerous during those seasons. 12. Whv is typhoid fever common in one community and not in nther-Largelv nther-Largelv because the common housefly is abundant in one locality and is controlled con-trolled in the other. 13. Where are flies most abundant; Where there is most filth. 14 How shall we kill the fly? W Destroy all filth about the house and yard; (b) Put lime into the vault and 'over the manure; (c) Trap all flies before be-fore thev enter your home by using wire flytraps; (d) Kill all flies, large or small, with a "swatter; (e) use sticky flypaper or fly poisons around the house or store; (f) Pour a borax solution over manure, filth or other places where the fly may rear its young. The Fly a Peril in Cities. In the fight against the deadly housefly house-fly the public should understand the odds against which it contends to rid cities of this pest ana uie . -necessary to obtain even a modicum oi safety where the insects exist. Each female lays 120 eggs, which hatch in eight days. Ten days later the new generation is in flight, carrying carry-ing on the work of death. It is estl- . mated that the progeny of a single pair in one season is one sextillion. or. in figures, 1,000,000,000.000.000.000,000. Manure, garbage, and other filth are the breeding spots of flies. The department de-partment of agriculture in its expe't-ments expe't-ments has found larvae and pu-paria pu-paria enough in a pound of horse manure ma-nure to make 1,200 houseflies. A single sin-gle ill-kept stable will supply house-flies house-flies for a large territory. There is hope of greatly lessening the pests in cities if the authorities will enforce good ordinances on the subject sub-ject of removing manure and garbage promptly. The increase in automo-1 biles and auto trucks has already aided in exterminating flies. Horse owners can help the crusade by mixing chloride of lime with the manure in the ratio of a quarter of a pound of the former to eight quarts of the lat- Bluebottle Fly. Greenbottle Fly. ter. A still cheaper and more effective effec-tive destroyer of the larvae is kerosene, kero-sene, a pint of which sprayed upon every eight quarts of manure will kill the maggots. So far as the dwelling house Is concerned con-cerned there are a number of effective ways of destroying flies. Carbolic acid is one. Twenty drops of this on a heated shovel or anything of the kind will kill the insects by Its vapor. But as this is a dangerous thing to have in the house where young children chil-dren Sre, it would be better to get something harmless and yet effective. Buy one dram of bichromate of potash at a drug store. Dissolve it in two ounces of water, add a little sugar, and place the mixture in shallow dishes about the house. Another good remedy is formalin or formaldehyde. A spoonful of this in a quarter of a pint of water will kill all the flies. As this is a poison, it must be placed where children cannot reach it. When a room is found full of files they mny be Immediately destroyed by the use of pyrethrum powder. Close the doors and windows and pull down all the shades except one, which leave up about a foot. Take into the room a tablespoonful of the powder on a hot shovel. The fumes will drive the flies in their death struggle toward the foot of light at the window. There they will fall dead and may easily be swept out. There are various kinds of sticky flypaper, fly-paper, traps, etc. The papers should be burned when they have done their work. Screen every window and door of your house and keep the screens on till you start up your furnace. Have separate screen covers for food which must be exposed in pantry and kitchen. Let cleanliness, and cleanliness, and yet more cleanliness be your motto all summer long. Important Don'ts. Don't dine at a votel. bearding house or restaurant where flies are tolerated. Don't allow flies in your house. Don't permit them near your food, especially milk. Don't buy food where flies are permitted. per-mitted. Don't allow them In the sickroom. Don't let them crawl over the baby or the nipple of its nursing bottle. |