
AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 

Borax-treated manure in large amounts may injure crops; and, 
for manure which is to be used on the land, powdered hellebore may 
be recommended. A water extract is prepared by adding % pound 
of powder to every 10 gallons of water, stirring and allowing to stand 
for 24 hours. The stock mixture thus prepared is sprinkled over the 
manure at the rate of 10 gallons to every 8 bushels (10 cubic feet) 
of manure. MHellebore, while more expensive than borax, in no 
way injures the manure. 
A third alternative has been suggested by the Department of 
Agriculture, which, while showing a still higher first cost, involves 
the use of substances which serve directly to increase the fertilization 
value. A mixture of % pound of calcium cyanamid plus % pound - 
of acid phosphate to each bushel of manure killed 98 per cent. of the 
larve when scattered evenly over the surface and wetted with water, at 
the same time adding to the manure the valuable elements nitrogen 
and phosphorus. 
“It is well to bear in mind that the house flies breed in many sub- 
stances other than horse manure, for example, in pig manure, chicken 
manure, ensilage, moist bran, rotting potatoes, and in decaying 
matter on the public dumps of towns and cities, and it is necessary to 
sive attention to all such accumulations where active fermentation is 
taking place.”’ 
A highly ingenious method of preventing breeding of flies in 
manure is the maggot trap devised by Dr. E. C. Levy, Health Officer 
of Richmond, Va. Its use is described by Mr. Hutchinson of the 
United States Bureau of Entomology as follows: 
“The maggots of the house fly, when they have finished breed- 
ing, show a distinct tendency to migrate and will crawl away from 
the manure, especially if it is moist, in search of a comparatively dry 
and safe place to pass the pupal or resting stage. Now, if the manure 
is placed on a slatted platform, and if the platform stands on the 
floor of a concrete basin containing ™% inch or more of water, the 
larve in migrating will drop into the water and be drowned. Each 
day the stable cleanings should be placed on the platform and com- 
pactly heaped and well moistened. For the purpose of keeping the 
manure wet, it is best to have a small cistern close to the platform and 
a pump so placed that the watering of the manure heap is easily ac- 
complished. If the liquid manure from the stables is conducted by 
drains to the cistern, the valuable plant food which it contains will 
thus be added to the manure on the maggot trap. Experiments have 
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