During the summer months, when fly breeding is going on most actively,
the farmer is also busy and often can not spare the time to remove
manure regularly. The general practice, therefore, has been to keep the
manure in heaps located, as a rule, very near the stables. How can fly
breeding be prevented in such accumulations? As a result of recent
investigations, it is now possible to point out two methods which are
practical and effective.
The first is the treatment of the manure pile with chemical substances
which will kill the eggs and maggots of the house fly. The Bureau of
Entomology, in cooperation with the Bureau of Chemistry and the Bureau
of Plant Industry, has conducted a series of experiments in which a
large number of chemicals were applied to infested manure and
observations made, not only on their efficiency in killing the maggots
but also as to their effect on the chemical composition and bacterial
flora of the manure. The object was to find some cheap chemical which
would be effective in destroying the fly larvæ and at the same time
would not reduce the fertilizing value of the manure.