280 INSECTS AFFECTING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
_ description applies evidently to a somewhat more complicated arrange- 
ment for this purpose: 
A machine for catching flies from the backs of cattle, and so affording the animals 
relief and comfort, has been invented by a farmer in Madison County, Ky. The 
flycatcher is a kind of covered pen or passageway, through which the animal must 
walk to secure relief. A few feet from the entrance there is a cupola, or dome, in 
the roof of the passageway, made of glass and arranged as a flytrap. Beyond this 
the passageway 1s in darkness. The animal walks through the machine, and just as 
it passes the dome and enters the darkened part a set of brushes sweeps off the flies, 
which naturally rise into the lighted dome, and the steer passes out at the other side 
free from flies. The flies are retained in the dome trap. The inventor has experi- 
mented with his machine, and finds that animals soon learn the value of the machine 
and know enough to walk through it when the flies begin to bite. The device is said 
to be patented, but a plan involving the same principles has been in use among 
farmers for the destruction of horn-flies for a year or two past.—Denver Field and 
Farm, April 25, 1896. 
According to The Homestead, “the device above referred to was 
invented by a Canadian farmer named Guthrie in 1894 and was 
described very fully in the July number of the Canadian Live Stock 
and Farm Journal. <A description of it also appeared in these columns 
in the same month, the horn-fly being a very serious pest that season.” 
RENOVATION OF HENHOUSES. 
The treatment of henhouses that have become infested with lice, 
mites, and ticks is often a vexatious matter, and the writer thinks that 
if the structure is not too valuable the best plan would be to burn the 
whole outfit, submit the fowls to a thorough quarantine, with applica- 
tions of pyrethrum powder or other effective insecticide to free their 
bodies, and build a new henhouse on fresh ground as far as may be 
from the site of the old one. Where such a method is impracticable, 
and of course it may usually be so, a thorough fumigation with sulphur, 
if the walls are tight enough to retain the fumes, or the application ot 
a spray of kerosene or gasoline to the interior, the drenching of all 
roosts with kerosene or hot water, followed by whitewashing, and the 
use of tar on the ends of the poles and wherever they come in contact 
with supports are pretty sure to bring success. The addition of 4 
ounces of crude carbolic acid to the gallon of whitewash increases its 
efficiency for this purpose. Repeated applications may be necessary, 
but due attention to reaching all points to which the pests resort will 
keep the nuisance in check at least. 
In this connection, it may be well to include a paragraph from Poultry 
World detailing a method which appears to be valuable, although the 
writer has not personally experimented with it. 
Dr. Spaulding says: 
I promised you a specific against all manner of mischievous insects that infest 
the poultry house and nests. Something surer and more convenient than fumiga- 
tion and whitewash, and so speedy and simple that when once employed the poultry- 
man fastens his hold upon it as an entirely satisfactory specific. I take for 600 
