No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 499 



It is a well estaljlisbed fact that a great deal of ill health and 

 many diseases have been caused by the unsanitary manner in which 

 many of our cities and towns have be^n conducted. The source of the 

 water supply has not been protected. Creameries and milk depots 

 have not been kept clean. Sewers have been left open and refuse 

 matter and all sorts of filth have been left uncovered and exposed 

 in the streets, alleys and back yards. This state of affairs has 

 not only existed in the past, but may be found to exist to-day, if one 

 should take the trouble to investigate. 



It is right and proper that we should have pure and unadulterated 

 food, that we should be so protected from fraud as to be able to 

 obtain food which is wholesome and free from injurious or poisonous 

 substances; but it is much more right and proper that the source 

 of food contamination be eliminated, and that markets, cafes and 

 restaurants where food is sold and prepared for consumption, be 

 so clean and sanitary that- no fear of sickness or spread of disease 

 need be entertained. If we are to have these clean and sanitary 

 places, it is necessary that the energy of every citizen be devoted 

 to a campaign for cleanliness, and that we see to it that not only 

 our streets and neighbor's premises are free from filth, but that our 

 own back yards are in the proper condition to prevent the spread of 

 disease. 



We know from sad experience how often a whole community has 

 suffered from the outbreak of an epidemic of some dread disease, and 

 how often the cause of the trouble has been traced to a polluted 

 stream, an uncovered sewer or the presence of filth of all sorts, in 

 which is bred the agencies known to be capable of spreading dis- 

 ease. It has been proven that one of the greatest agencies engaged 

 in the spread of disease is the house fly. It does not seem possible 

 that so small a form of life could cause so much trouble, but all 

 the facts in the case point to the fly as one of our greatest enemies. 

 Anything which is conducive to the existence of the fl f or the con- 

 ditions which promote their breeding is, therefore, re sponsible for 

 the spread of disease. The favorite breeding place of the fly is in 

 horse manure and other excrementitious matter, and many other 

 forms of decayed animal and vegetable refuse. It would not be stating 

 the case too strongly to say that any city, town or person permitting 

 the breeding places of flies to exist, is directly responsible for the 

 spread of sickness and ill health. "Eliminate the cause and you elimi- 

 nate the effect," and to eliminate the breeding places of flies is what 

 must be done if we expect to succeed in any campaign against the fly. 

 It has been demonstrated by scientists who have made exhaustive 

 experiments, that the house fly can and does spread typhoid fever, 

 dysentery, tuberculosis, Asiatic cholera and is capable also of trans- 

 mitting leprosy, erysipelas and smallpox. 



There are a great many species of the fly, but the one which we 

 are concerned most about is the common house fly. This insect in 

 its development from the egg to the adult, passes through several 

 complete changes, "each unlike the other: The egg, the larva or mag- 

 got, the pupa or resting stage and the imago or full grown insect." Dr. 

 L. O. Howard, of the Bureau of Entomology of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, reports that the fly commonly lays its eggs upon 

 horse manure, about 120 eggs being deposited in one mass, usually in 

 several layings. At the end of twenty-four hours the larva or maggots 

 33 



