FLIES AND REFUSE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3838, 30 August 1928, Page 4

FLIES AND REFUSE.

The early fly’s the one to swat, It comes before the weather is hot; And sits about and files its legs, And lays.about a million eggs. And everjr egg will bring a fly, To drive us crazy by and by.' Oh! every fly that' our swatters, ' . Brings half: a million sons and daughters, And countless first and second cousins; And aunts and uncles,’,scores' of dozens. •, ‘ And fifty-seven billion nieces, ■ So knock the blamed thing all to . pieces. . The co-operation of , local authorities is earnestly, desired in an effort to combat, the fly a pest (says a,' contributor to”'the Marlborough Press). Various' outbreaks of disease have beeti’ traced'to infection through flies, they'being capable of carrying'gei‘ms of various diseases on their legs and in their intestines, and of disseminating such germs over articles of food and diinik. Their habits are filthy; they breed is filth and carry it about with them on their legs and bodies, and deposit it on food. Moreover, they have a habit of vomiting (or regurgitating) food, arid by this means, also, noxious matter may be disseminated. This is sufficient to indicate the necessity of concentrated effort to minimise this evil, and as the season when flies are most dangerous and troublesome is now commencing, immediate action is required. They are extremely prolific. An adult female lays as a rule 120 to 150 eggs at one sitting. These, under favourable circumstances, hatch out into maggots in from one to four days. These maggots become fully grown in about one week, when their skin becomes changes from white to brown, and the maggot becomes a motionless pupa. Inside the hard pupa case a metamorphosis takes place, and the crawling grub becomes in few days a fully-formed fly, which emerges from the case, becomes sexually mature is a week or ten days, and capable of depositing Qggs about four clays after maturity. Under favourable conditions as to moisture and temperature, eggs may become mature flies in about ten days, and the second generation may lay their eggs in ten days later. Ono writer has estimated that one fly can produce approximately 6,000,000,000,000 descendants in a single season, provided that all the progeny survive, which is fortunately unlikely. Breeding Places. —The fly will breed in almost any fermenting organic matter or rubbish, provided it is fairly moist. Horse droppings and stable sweepings are its favourable site, next to which comes human excreta, which it uses not only for hatching the egg, but also as a source of food supply. Houses refuse, garbage, rotting rags and paper, decaying vegetables and fruit, and other organic matter also serve its purpose. Food. —As far as food is concerned, it must be borne in mind that the fly feeds on anything handy — milk, meat, sugar, or other stores, as -well as the contents of the privy pan and spitoon —an obvious danger ! Preventive Measures.- — Efforts must first be directed towards an elimination of breeding places. An endeavour must be made to cut off the food supply, and kill off as many individual flies as possible. The principal breeding places of this insect have already been indicated, and as horse manure and stable refuse are the favourable sites for breeding, attention should be carefully directed thereto. Bylaws should be made (or, if already made, enforced), requiring stables to be constructed with impermeable floors, drained and easily eleanable. Also, horse droppings should be frequently swept up and deposited in a manure bin protected from flies by a suitable lid. Such manure should be removed at least once a week —if possible, twice a week in summer —and from large stables daily. Storage of manui’e in railway depots or other parts of the borough should be prohibited. Yards should lie kept clean in a similar manner.

In addition to the above, it is advisable that collections of manure should be treated with some preparation to kill such flies and maggots as may be present. Pro : fessor Kirk, in his pamphlets on Fly Control in Military 'Camps, recommends'watering or spraying the surface of manure heaps with a weak sweetened solution of arsenical compound. Arsenical sheep dip, one part in 100 or 150 parts of water. This should be sweetened with treacle. He further states: “As not all the larvae in the stack are poisoned, however, a supplemnetary spraying with light oil is needed.” Kerosene or crude petroleum are most useful. In unsewered places, privies should be rendered fly-proof. The addition of a little kerosene to the pan is very effective in keeping flies a way. from these structures. Household refuse and all garbage, of whatever nature, should be kept in impermeable receptacles with closely fitting lids, kept closed. Refuse should be incinerated when possible, by the local authorities, but where this is not possible, householders should be urged to destroy all organic matter in the kitchen range. The general public are advised to keep all food screened from flies and endeavour to kill as many of them as possible by constant use of fly traps, papers or powders, within,and without the house. ■ —Contributed. ..