234 Fiftieth EEroRT ox the State Museum 



Preventives and Remedies. 



It is easier and much more desirable to prevent the infestation of 

 cheese or cured meats than to remedy it after the trouble has begun. 

 The primary cause of " skippery " cheese is said to be the want of proper 

 care, and the same is equally true of " skippery " meat. 



The flies can be excluded from rooms by the use of fine scr-eens — 

 a 24-to-the-inch wire mesh is said to be sufficiently fine. In house- 

 holds, cheese and cured meats can usually be stored in fly-proof re- 

 ceptacles, or else kept in absolute darkness, in which it is said the flies 

 can not complete their life-cjcle. Darkness would therefore be of service 

 in large store-rooms for these articles. 



Scrupulous cleanliness in and about all places where these products are 

 handled or stored, will do much to lessen the attraction for the flies. In 

 cheese factories, it has been recommended to wash the ranges and tables 

 upon which the cheese is placed with hot whey, thus removing grease 

 and giving a clean surface, not attractive to the insect. In hot weather^ 

 the bandages and sides of the cheese should be rubbed over at the daily 

 turning, for the purpose* of destroying or brushing off eggs which may 

 have been deposited on the surface. The cheese may also be washed 

 with hot whey or with lye, — the latter is a repellant as the fly avoids 

 alkalies. 



Smoked meats should be carefully guarded from infestation during the 

 process of curing, and in hams and other meats that are encased, the 

 covering should be so thick and so closely applied, as to eftectually 

 exclude the fly or its larvae. 



Infested rooms and factoiies should be thoroughly cleaned, fumigated 

 with burning sulphur, and, where possible, washed with kerosene emulsion. 



Skippery cheese and meat is not necessarily a total loss, although their 

 presence seriously impairs the , market value of the product and may 

 render it unsalable. In many cases large portions will be found free from 

 the skippers and in good condition, as their work does not induce putres- 

 ence with its attendant odor; if the affected parts are removed, the 

 remainder may safely be used for food. In cheese the surface colonies of 

 skippers can readily be cut out, and the young more deeply located, can 

 be drawn to the surface, by pasting thick oiled paper over the place so- 

 as to exclude the air, and, by removing it from time to time for the de- 

 struction of the skippers collected beneath, and replacing it, the cheese 

 may be freed from the infestation. 



