Show PREVENT FLIES BREEDING A safe and effective weapon against the typhoid or house fly has been found in powdered hellebore by scientists of the department part ment of agriculture flies lay their eggs chiefly in stable manure powdered hellebore mixed with water and sprinkled over the manure will destroy the larvae which are hatched froni from the eggs since powdered h hellebore tell ebore is readily obtainable this puts in the hands of everyone a remedy for one of the pests that has been found dangerous as well as troublesome powdered hellebore however will not kill adult flies which must be swatted or trapped it has long been known that lies flies breed in manure but previous methods of destroying the larvae arvae there by th use or strong chemicals have been open to the objection that the treatment under some conditions lessened the fertilizing value of the manure or actually injured vege aaion tation this is not true of powdered hellebore government experiments have show that the hellebore ebore is entirely decomposed in the course of the fermentation of the manure manure and that even in in excessive quantities it does no harm except to the larvae it is intended to destroy chickens picking in manure treated with it suffer no ill effects 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 I 1 being paid to the outer bedr edes in most places hellebore is obtainable in pound lots at a cost of 11 cents a pound abound this makes the cost of the treatment a little less than seven tenths I 1 of a cent per bushel of camire manure A liberal estimate of the output of manure is two bushels a day per horse the money involved is therefore trifling in cm parison with the benefits to the individual and the community I 1 from the practical elimina tion of the g fly I 1 although fresh manure is the dav favorite spit spi aptt t flies lay their eggs in other places as well sue such i I 1 outhouses out houses refuse piles etc in these places from which no manure is taken to spread on the fields considerable saving nay be effected through the substitution of borax for powdered hellebore applied at the rate of pounds per 8 bushels of ma nure borax is as effective as pow dered 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 itself is spread at a greater rate than 15 tons to the acre some damage to crops may result large quantities of manure are often used by market gardeners g and others and there is always danger of carelessness in applying plying the borax the use of the ithe more expensive but safer hellebore is therefore recommended for the treatment of manure borax is recommended for all other refuse in which flies may lay eggs scientists who have been work ing for years to eliminate the fly are convinced that the use of one or the other of these simple measures is a public duty wherever manure and refuse exist sanitarians Sanit arians however strongly advise the removal of refuse heaps or other unnecessary rubbish or breeding places for flies in breeding places which can not be thus disposed of such as manure or stables the daily use of powdered hellebore bell ebore will keep the flies from breeding in these favorite breeding grounds the I 1 best resu Ks pre are obtainable in a community where everyone cleana clean sup up his premises traps or kills the flies and systematically treats the manure and other breeding pla ces with powdered hellebore the fly is not only a nuisance to human beings and live stock it spreads disease and filth and is is a menace to public health which can pot not be tolerated in the face of a demonstrated remedy details of the experiments with other information on the subject are contained in a professional fess fiss ional paper bulletin of the united states department of agriculture |