4 LEAFLET 18 2, 17. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



and adjacent soil heavily with used crankcase oil or, better, with crude 

 petroleum. The ground where the manure is stored may be covered 

 with concrete and troughs or ditches provided along the sides of the 

 pile. These ditches, into which many of the maggots will drop, may 

 be supplied with waste crankcase oil or crude petroleum to kill the 

 maggots. 



Chemical treatment of manure. — Fly breeding in manure can be 

 largely prevented by applying to it a water suspension of powdered 

 hellebore or a solution of powdered borax, which will kill the eggs and 

 maggots. 



Hellebore is a plant material used against various insects. It is not 

 injurious to the manure, and, although it is slightly poisonous, its 

 presence on the manure does not constitute a danger to livestock or 

 poultry. For each 8 bushels of manure, one-half pound of fresh helle- 

 bore is stirred into 10 gallons of water; after standing 24 hours, it is 

 sprinkled over the pile with a watering pot. 



Borax is used at the rate of 11 ounces to each 8 bushels of manure. 

 That amount of borax is dissolved in from 2 to 10 gallons of water 

 and sprinkled on the manure. When manure thus treated is applied 

 to land at the rate of 15 tons per acre, as a rule no injury to crops will 

 result. Heavier applications are likely to injure some crops on certain 

 soil types. Care must therefore be exercised not to apply more than 

 the amount indicated. In fact, if manure is being accumulated 

 rapidly, it can be piled compactly and only the surface layer of the 

 pile treated, as the fly breeding is confined to that part. This makes 

 it possible to reduce considerably the proportion of borax to the entire 

 pile. 



Calcium cyanamid and superphosphate, 1 when added to manure at 

 the rate of one-half pound of each to the bushel of manure, have 

 been found to give almost complete control of fly breeding. These 

 materials are scattered dry over the pile, then water is applied. The 

 use of this mixture adds two important fertilizing elements to the 

 manure, namely, nitrogen and phosphorus. 



Construction and Care of Stables 



Stable floors of concrete are desirable from the standpoint of fly 

 control; these as well as all other types of floors, however, must be 

 thoroughly cleaned at frequent intervals. Dirt floors should be 

 packed hard and the loosened manure-soaked surface removed occa- 

 sionally. Plank floors should be as tight as possible, and a small 

 amount of borax should be scattered along the cracks every 2 weeks. 

 Flies often breed in accumulations of material in the corners of feed 

 boxes and mangers. Such places should be kept clean. 



Sewage and Garbage Disposal 



_ On account of the danger of typhoid fever and other intestinal 

 diseases, the proper disposal of human excreta is of great importance. 

 In larger towns and cities an adequate sanitary sewage system is 

 generally provided, and all the houses should be connected with it. 

 In smaller towns and rural communities sanitary privies, from which 

 flies are excluded, are a necessity. Methods of constructing such 

 privies and modern farm sewage-disposal systems are described in 



i Formerly termed "acid phosphate." 



