Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1916 — POWDERED HELLEBORE TO PREVENT FLIES BREEDING [ARTICLE]

POWDERED HELLEBORE TO PREVENT FLIES BREEDING

New and Safe 'Method of Destroying the Larvae of the Pest Discovered. A safe and, effective weapon against, the typhoid or horse fly has been found in powdered hellebore by scientists of the department of agriculture.’ Flies lay their eggs chiefly-in stable manure. Powdered hellebo’e mixed with water and sprinkled over the manure, will destroy the larvae which are hatched from the eggs. Since powdered hellebore is readily obtainable, this puts in tbV bands of everyone a remedy for one of the posts that has been found dangerous as well as troublesome. Powdered hellebore, however, will not kill adult flies which must be swatted or trapped 1 ■ ■ 1

It has long been known that flies breed in manure but , previous meth>ods of destroying the larvae there by the use of strong chemicals have been open to the objection that the treatment under some conditions lessenea the fertilizing value of the manure or actually Injured vegetation. This is not true of powdered hellebore. Government experiments have shown that the hellebore is entirely decomposed in the course of the fermentation of the manure and that even In excessive quantities it does no harm except to the larvae it is intended to destroy. Chickens picking in*manure treated with it suffer no ill effects. One-half pound of powdered hellebore mixed with 10 gallons of water is sufficient to kill the larvae in 8 bushels, or 10 cubic feet, of manure. The mixture should be sprinkled carefully over the pile, especial attention being paid to the outer eflges. In most places hellebore is obtainable iri 100-pound lots at a cost of 11 cents a pound. This makes the cost of the treatment a little less than seventenths of a cent per bushel of manure. A liberal estimate of the output of manure is two bushels a day per horse. The money involved is, therefore, trifling in comparison with the benefits to the individual and the community from the practical elimination of the disease-spreading fly. Although fresh manure is the favorite breeding spot, flies lay their eggs in other places as well, such as outhouses, refuse piles, etc. In these places, from which no manure is taker to spread on the fields, considefi pblo saving may be effected through the substitution of borax for powdered hellebore. Applied at the rate of 0.62 pounds per 8 bushels of manure, borax is as effective as powdered hellebore in killing the larvae but costs less than half a cent for each bushel of manure treated. In larger quantities, however, or when the manure may be spread at a greater rate than 15 tons to the acre, some damage to crops may result. Large quantities of manure are often used by market gardeners and others, a id. there is always danger of carelessness in applying the borax. The use of the more expensive hut safer hellebore is therefore recommended for the treatment of manure. Borax is recommended for all other refuse in which flies may lay eggs. Scientists who have been working for years to eliminate the fly are. con vinced that the use of one or the other of these simple measures is a public duty wherever manure and refuse exist. Sanitarians, however, strongly advise the removal of refuse heaps or other unnecessary rubbish or breeding places for flies. In breeding places which cannot be thus disposed of —such as manure or stables —the daily use of powdered hellebore will keep the flies from breeding In these favorite breeding grounds. The best results are obtainable in a community where everyone cleans up his premises, traps or kills the flies, and systematically treats the manure and other breeding places ydth powdered hellebore. The fly is not only a nuisance to human beings and live stock;*it spreads disease and filth and is a menace to public health which cannot be tolerated in the face of a demonstrated remedy. Details of the experiments with other information on the subject are contained in a professional paper, Bulletin 245 of the United States Department of Agriculture.