UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 

 L. O. HOWARD, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



July 20, 1915. 



FURTHER EXPERIMENTS IN THE DESTRUCTION 

 OF FLY LARV.E IN HORSE MANURE. 



By F. C. Cook, Physiological Chemist, Bureau of Chemistry, R. H. Hutchison, 

 Scientific Assistant, Bureau of Entomology, and F. M. Scales, Assistant Mycolo- 

 gist, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The results reported in this bulletin are a continuation of the inves- 

 tigation dealt with in Bulletin No. 118, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, inaugurated for the purpose of finding a substance that 

 would destroy the larvse of the house fly in their principal breeding 

 place, namely, horse manure, without injuring the bacteria or reducing 

 in any way the fertilizing value of the manure (Cook, Hutchison, and 

 Scales, 1914). The work was conducted in cooperation by the 

 Bureaus of Entomology, Chemistry, and Plant Industry at Arlington, 

 Va., and New Orleans, La. The bacteriological work at New Orleans 

 was done by Dr. William Seemann, dean of the Tulane School of 

 Tropical Medicine, and thanks are due him for his cooperation. The 

 entomological work at New Orleans was done by Mr. E. R. Barber, 

 scientific assistant, Bureau of Entomology. 



In Bulletin No. 118 it was suggested that manure be treated with 

 borax immediately on removal from the barn in order to destroy the 

 eggs and maggots of the house fly, and that borax be applied at the 

 rate of 0.62 pound per 8 bushels, or 10 cubic feet, of manure. As large 

 quantities of manure are used by truck growers, it was thought advis- 

 able to include in that bulletin a warning as to the possible injurious 

 action of large applications of borax-treated manure on plants. For 

 the same reason it seemed desirable to find some volatile or other 

 organic substance which would be effective as a larvicide, but without 

 possible toxic action on vegetation. Largely with this object in view, 

 the investigation was continued during 1914. The larvicidal value of 

 some inorganic substances was also tested. 



Borax may be used with advantage for the treatment of outhouses, 

 public dumps, and refuse piles of all kinds, cracks and crevices, floors 

 of stables, and any accumulation of organic material which offers a 



92378°— Bull. 246—15 1 



