The Plague of Flies. 35 



neighborhood amply supplied with flies daily in the 

 season. 



In a quarter of a pound of droppings taken from the 

 , center of the pile were found 160 larvae and 146 pupae of 

 the common house-fly. Call it 300 young flies altogether, 

 and if the rate holds good there should be 1200 flies to 

 the pound of stable refuse. It is possible by throwing the 

 manure, in which they breed, into a pit and covering it 

 with quicklime to kill the eggs and larvae, but where one 

 man is thus careful, nine hundred and ninety-nine will not 

 take the trouble. So great has been the progress of the 

 trolley-car, the bicycle, and the automobile that everyone 

 has confidence in the ability of invention to give us horse- 

 less travel, but we shall look long and look in vain for the 

 day of cow-less milk. Till then we shall have to endure, 

 with Pharaoh of the Exodus, the plague of flies. 



