PROTECTING COWS FROM FLIES. Te 
PROTECTING COWS FROM FLIES. 
BYeCw ie bHWACHIAND 7A, BY CUARIC. 

Midsummer is known as “‘ fly time’’ in the dairyman’s cal- 
endar. ‘The marked falling off in the milk flow of the dairy 
cows at this season of the year is looked upon as unavoidable, 
and is attributed by many to the worry of the stock by flies. 
The failure to provide an abundance of succulent forage to 
supplement the parched pastures seems a trifling contributory 
cause of the lessened milk secretion, compared with the activity 
of the pesky, ubiquitous fly, especially at milking time. 
The flies that are most numerous about cattle in this locality 
are of two varieties, and are known by their common names of 
the Stable Fly and the Horn Fly. 
The Stable Fly resembles the house fly very much in appear- 
ance, but differs in having the mouth parts fitted for piercing 
the skin and sucking the blood of animals. The eggs of the 
stable fly are usually laid in horse manure, the female laying 
from 125 to 150 in a season. ‘The period of development from 
egg to adult fly is about fifteen days. 
The Horn Fly is a new pest, and was first noticed in this 
country about 1886. The first appearance of this fly was the 
cause of considerable alarm among the cattle men, and the ex- 
periment stations of the various states were appealed to for 
information in regard to the origin and life history of this in- 
sect and for suggestions as to agencies for repelling it. From 
various sources the following information is gleaned in regard 
to the habits and characteristics of the horn fly. 
The horn fly is a small, gray fly, very much like the house 
fly, but smaller, measuring about three-sixteenths of an inch 
in length. ‘They have the strange habit of settling in great 
numbers about the base of the horn, which they sometimes 
completely cover, a habit which gives them their common 
name. ‘They confine their attention to cattle. They burrow 
in the hair about the shoulder, the roots of the tail, and other 
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