Jailing the Fly by Clifton F. Hodge

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 13, 1911

Jailing the Fly

By Clifton F. Hodge

WHY shut ourselves in prison, and give our enemy, the house-fly, the full freedom of undisputed possession of the great out-of-doors? Why be annoyed by screens which but half do the work they are intended for? Why have the fly about at all? As long as the fly was known merely as an annoying nuisance, there was little chance of enlisting concerted effort for its suppression. Now that it is convicted of being the bearer of all manner of germs of disease, its extermination has become the most urgent next step toward cleanly living.

The fly breeds chiefly in stable manure, but will breed also in almost any decaying filth, animal or vegetable, and only ten days are required for eggs to hatch and the mature insect to emerge. We can not too strongly advocate intelligent cleanliness; but even if all stable and barnyard accumulations were plowed into the field weekly, there would still remain, in the cities, the gutters, sewers, dumps, and all sorts of accidental accumulations anywhere; and in the country, the miles of roadsides and acres of pasture.

It is treason to give food and comfort to an enemy. If there is no more free feeding, there will be no more breeding. However, the “fly-tight” garbage can, now insisted upon by boards of health, is designed to drive the famishing creatures into our houses to feed. Invite them into the cans, but catch every one that enters. Everything most attractive to flies can be placed in this receptacle, and by attaching the trap, it becomes a veritable vacuum cleaner for flies.

You may “shoo” the same fly a hundred times. You do not have to catch it but once. Easier yet, give it the chance, and let the fly catch itself. Effective trapping at the most attractive feeding-place on the premises—it may be the garbage can of a home, or a room or shed in which waste matter is collected in larger establishments—would render window and door screens unnecessary as a protection against Musca domestica.

A fly seeks its food entirely by smell, and will crawl in to it through any dark crack. After feeding, it will fly up to, or crawl toward, the light.

The Window Trap

Before storms, evenings, or when savory cooking is going on, flies are attracted to the kitchen. If we have a screen covering the entire window on the outside, a simple device will catch the flies as fast as they come. Two narrow strips of thin wood or tin, fastened at their lower ends to the outer edges of the screens, and the upper ends nearly meeting at the center of the upper part of the screen, guide the flies to the small opening into the wire-cage fly-trap. These will not go back to the stable to lay their eggs.

Where stable cellars are necessary, the so-called “fly-tight” construction so often insisted upon by authorities is calculated to keep up the supply of flies forever. Millions of eggs may be laid in the material before it is put into the cellar; the warm material is the best possible incubator; as they hatch, the flies will swarm out whenever the place is opened, as it must be daily. Suppose we have at least one window on the sunny side, and have it screened with durable wire net. Then the flies, as they hatch, will swarm to this window to get out, and by the usual guide-strips we may lead them to an opening near the top, into a trap. Then, too, the odor from this window will attract the flies which are seeking a place to lay their eggs. If we shut them out, they will

find some other filth in which to lay their eggs. By means of guide-strips on the outside of the screen, invite them in—into another trap. Thus we catch them “coming and going.”

The Bottle Trap

A simple, effective means of poisoning flies is to fill a good-sized bottle with a two-per-cent solution of formalin, the common germicide. Place a saucer over it and invert the whole.

A nick is broken in the mouth of the bottle, or it may be set up on a bit of chip, so that the liquid will partially fill the saucer. A small slice of bread, covered with sugar, is placed in one side as an added attraction. Both bottle and saucer may be mounted in a wooden or wire bracket, so that it may be hung in any sunny corner about the stable or porch; or, with a little shelf tacked in place, the bottle may be simply leaned up in a corner. During hot, dry weather, with no other water near, this device will cover the back porch or stable floor black with flies. It is quite possible some such poisoning method, worked out-of-doors, would prove the cheapest and easiest way of dealing with the whole fly problem. The bottle keeps the strength of the solution, and doles it down as needed, so that, once set, it requires no attention for weeks.

The Garbage-Can Trap

The garbage-can trap is very simple. A hole is cut in the cover of the can just the right size for one of the familiar wire traps to fit over. A special rustless trap for this purpose is now being made. The fly is attracted from a great distance by the odor. It can not get into the can, but invariably walks into the trap. By count I once caught 2,500 flies in fifty-five minutes in such a trap at the rear of a grocery store.— Clifton F. Hodge, Ph. D., in Good Housekeeping for June.