Sir Arthur Young thus speaks of flies in his "Travels through the South
of Europe:" "Flies form the most disagreeable circumstance in the
southern climates. They are the first torments in Spain, Italy, and the
olive districts of France. It is not that they bite, sting, or hurt;
but they buzz, tease, and worry: your mouth, eyes, ears, and nose, are
full of them; they swarm on every eatable. Fruit, sugar, milk, every
thing, is attacked by them in such myriads, that if they were not
driven away, by a person who has nothing else to do, to eat a meal is
impossible. If I farmed in these countries, I think I should manure
four or five acres of land a year with dead flies."