114 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



closed for at least 10 hours, and longer if possible. Doors and win- 

 dows should then be thrown open and the building aired thoroughly. 

 Sulphur gas corrodes metal, and, where moisture is present, injures 

 fabrics, often fading and rotting them. Blankets and clothing 

 should therefore be removed from bunk houses before fumigation 

 takes place and beaten out and sunned for several hours. If the 

 fumigation is done on a day when the atmosphere is dry, however, 

 and safeguarding from fire can be accomplished without the use of 

 water in the pans, then blankets and clothing may be exposed to the 

 fumes to advantage and without fear of injury. Sulphur fumes are 

 just as destructive to insects and vermin in a dry as in a moist 

 atmosphere. Metal cooking and eating utensils, and all food sup- 

 plies, should be removed before fumigation. Any polished metal 

 that can not be taken out may be protected by smearing vaseline 



over it. 



Kitchen and Mess Quarters. 



In camps of the better sort the kitchen and mess quarters are well 

 constructed and the kitchen, at least, floored. Doors and windows 

 are screened properly, flytraps are in use both inside and outside the 

 quarters, and the condition of tables, benches, and cooking and 

 eatmg equipment compares favorably with conditions found in the 

 average household. But at some camps, mess rooms and kitchens 

 are in a frightfully insanitary condition. The structures themselves 

 are sometimes miserable, ramshackle huts, as shown in Plate VI, 

 figure 1, and both space and facilities are so limited that any attempt 

 at order or cleanliness is out of the question. Frequently unfloored, 

 the gromid within the kitchens in particular becomes muddy from, 

 slops spilled accidentally, and fragments of food litter the tables and 

 the groimd. Flies swarm over the food and around the sour, open 

 garbage pail, which usually occupies a position just outside the door. 

 Frequently a mess room is not provided in this type of camp, and 

 after receiving their pans of food at the kitchen window the prisoners 

 seat themselves about the camp grounds on stumps or any other 

 objects which can be made to serve the purpose. In bad weather 

 they eat while sitting on their bunks. 



At several camps visited dining tables and benches were placed 

 under canvas awnings or shelters of frame construction, and some- 

 times a wooden flooring was provided. Such an arrangement may 

 be made to have a very neat and attractive appearance, as shown in 

 Plate VII, figure 1, and is far preferable to a dirty, overcrowded 

 space in a frame structure or tent. However, dining shelters of this 

 type can not be used except where the climate is warm and dry. 



There are many camps where an attempt has been made to screen 

 the dining room and kitchen, but where the flies seem quite as 

 numerous as in structures not screened at all. The lack of success 



