IMPORTANT FLIES 



115 



antiquated methods of storing, piling, and rotting. All stable waste 

 should be hauled and spread on the land daily. It will generally become 

 too dry for flies to breed in. 



The most expensive and disastrous fallacy in this whole problem 

 is the " fly-tight " pit or receptacle for stable waste. This has been and 

 still is recommended under the plausible excuse, " Make them fly-tight, 

 so the flies cannot get in to lay their eggs." Eggs by the million are 

 laid in the material before it 

 is put into the pit ; the tight 

 construction makes it an artifi- 

 cially perfected fly incubator, 

 and when it is opened, as it 

 must be daily, the flies swarm 

 out. By this method we actu- 

 ally go to great labor and ex- 

 pense to breed more flies. 



In cities, instead of fly-tight 

 stable pits, we should have, 

 by city ordinance, readily ac- 

 cessible elevated hoppers or 

 concrete-floored bins, and the 

 city should arrange to empty 

 these clean to the concrete at 

 least once a week from May 

 to October. It would be much 

 better, for purity of air and 

 economy of fertilizer, to have 

 this done daily. By proper or- 

 ganization of routes the city 



FIG. 58. First model of outdoor fly ex- 

 terminator 



This has been set fifty-eight minutes and 

 has caught 2000 flies. It caught 2 quarts 

 (about 16,000) the first day, and might as 

 easily have caught 20 quarts if they had 

 been there to catch a vacuum cleaner of 

 the air for flies. Designed by the author 



should be able to gather and dis- 

 pose of the material at greatly 

 reduced expense over scattering 

 and irregular private cleaning. It ought to be managed so as to pay 

 stable keepers fertilizer value of material, less cost of handling, and 

 still deliver it regularly to gardeners and farmers, as planned for, and 

 for much less than it costs to collect the material privately. If this is 

 not feasible, then the proper officers can license farmers and truck 

 gardeners to collect from specified stables, under contract to remove 

 the material in the cleanly manner specified and at weekly intervals. 

 Besides stables, the city should maintain strict supervision over all 



