50S OTHER HLOOD-SUCKIXG FLIES 



nio-st important of this p;roup of biting flies, preventive measures 

 are fairly easy. The drying out, burning, or burying of waste 

 vegetable matter, such as piles of weeds, wet hay, lawn clippings, 

 waste vegetable matter in garbage heaps, etc., eliminate the main 

 breeding places. Poorly constructed hay stacks, around which 

 there is a good deal of loose liay which becomes soggy and de- 

 cay's, are ])reeding centers for the flies. Stacks, when needed, 

 should be constructed with evenly rounded top and v(Mtical sides; 

 but a better way, when possible, is to bale hay or straw and store 

 it in dry places. :\Ianure especially when mixed with straw is 

 utilized by stable-flies in lieu of better breeding i)laces, but the 

 principal manure-breeder is the housefly, Musca domcdica. Ac- 

 cording to recent work by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 manure can ])c treated in such a way as to destroy the young 

 stages of stable-flies and houseflies without injuring its fertilizing 

 value. A mixture of ten oz. of borax and 12 oz. of crude calcium 

 borate (colemanitc) is applied to ten cubic feet (eight bushels) 

 of manure, the manure being then sprinkled with two or three 

 gallons of water. A still better substance to apply is hellebore 

 powder, one-half lb. in ten gallons of water to eight bushels of 

 manure. An excessive quantity of the powder has no injurious 

 action on the fertilizing power of the manure, as has an excess of 

 borax. 



