28 THE STABLE FLY. 
largely unfit for food for live stock, as the stacks In many cases were 
wet through and soon became heated and rotten. In such instances, 
where the flies are already breeding in these stacks, theirimmediate 
destruction by burning or scattering is necessary to relieve the con- 
ditions. When stacks are scattered the work should be done 
thoroughly, so as to expose the straw completely to the influence of 
the sun, wind, and light. By this procedure practically all of the 
larve and many of the pupe are destroyed. 
It is best to plow under the scattered straw soon after it has become 
well dried out. In many sections of the grain belt plowing is not 
generally practiced, the land being simply shallowly disked prior to 
seeding. The scattering of straw over the ground in such cases is less 
practicable than where the land is plowed. Of course, the practice 
of disking land is not a commendable one, and wherever plowing can 
be done it should be adopted. 
In sections of the country where headers instead of binders are 
used, and consequently a smaller amount of straw is accumulated, 
the straw is much more easily disposed of by the methods just out- 
lined. The general adoption of the field thrashers, which thrash the 
grain without cutting it, would completely solve the question of the 
straw stack. It is reported that this machine reduces the expense 
of harvesting from 14 cents to 2 cents per acre. The straw is left 
standing in the field and the chaff scattered over the ground, the 
entire refuse being turned under at plowing time. 
The use of poisons or other substances, with a view of destroying 
immature flies in the substances in which they are breeding, is 
neither practicable nor advisable. Enormous quantities of these 
materials would be required to permeate the straw or manure piles to 
kill the flies, and, even though the flies were destroyed, the straw 
would be rendered dangerous to live stock. 
Although straw is the principal breeding place for flies within the 
grain belt, there is no doubt that thousands of stable flies develop in 
manure piles. Moreover, such material is utilized extensively as a 
breeding place for the house fly and horn fly. Hence the proper care 
of all sorts of animal refuse is essential for successfully combating the 
pest. Manure should be hauled out and scattered at regular intervals, 
as is recommended for the control of the house fly, and any accumu- 
lations of straw or hay, especially adjacent to stables, should be dis- 
posed of, as these are often utilized for the breeding of the stable fly 
when larger accumulations of horse manure and straw are not available. 
The need of properly caring for stable refuse is still further empha- 
sized by the fact that there are far more manure piles than straw 
stacks. Furthermore, the stable manure is usually in close proximity 
to the habitations of man and thus furnishes flies which have freer 
access to man, with consequent greater potentiality as disseminators 
of human diseases. 
540 
a 
