DANGER OF THE INSANITARY I'RIVV 323 



store large quantities of manure in the stable yards. The difficulties 

 of the farmer s case have been somewhat unnecessarily magnified 

 o^v^ng largely to a failure to appreciate the facts incident to the 

 storage of manure. Experiments Avhich my colleague, Dr F. T. 

 Shutb, Dominion Chemist of the Canadian Department of Agri- 

 culture, has carried out have conclusively shown that from a 

 fertilising standpoint it is a greater advantage to haul the manure 

 directly on to the soil than to store it in the stable yard where a 

 considerable proportion of its value is lost by leaching and other 

 processes. In the control of the house-fly on the farm the most 

 effective measure which can be adopted is the immediate hauling 

 of the manure on to the land. If this is done flies will not breed 

 in the manure as scattered manure, owing to its desiccated state, 

 does not readily permit their breeding. The increase in the 

 fertilising value of the manure thus treated serves as an addi- 

 tional reason for the more general adoption of the practice. If it 

 cannot be scattered on the land at once it is an advantage to 

 compost it in heaps and cover the same with a layer of soil. Flies 

 are attracted to and deposit their eggs in fresh manure. Rotted 

 and cold manure does not attract and only in exceptional cases 

 have I ever found flies breeding in such manure either under 

 natural or experimental conditions ^ 



The insanitary privy is the greatest menace to the public 

 health. Not only does this mediaeval institution, when not 

 properly cared for, serve as a favourite breeding place for flies 

 but it is the commonest source of infection. Fortunately, it cannot 

 remain long ; medical officers of health are unanimous in its con- 

 demnation and the more general institution of water-carriage 

 systems is having a pronounced effect on its abolition. The 

 majority of people have no conception of the state of affairs in 

 regard to the occurrence and conditions of insanitary privies. 

 Excellent testimony on the subject in relation to infantile mortality 

 is given by Newsholme(l910), to whose valuable report the reader 

 desiring further information is referred. In his general summary 



1 Washburn (1912) suggests the spraying of piles of horse manure with a 

 sokition of 8 ounces of sodium arsenite in about 20 gallons of water to which 

 about half-a-pint of treacle has been added. A similar solution used to kill 

 grasshoppers was found very attractive to flies. 



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