ap,
may be made of four barrel hoops, four laths, a few strips of boxing,
and 8 1/2 lineal feet of screening, 24 inches wide. (For greater details
see Farmers' Bulletin 734.)

The effectiveness of the traps will depend on the selection of baits. A
good bait for catching house flies is 1 part of blackstrap molasses to 3
parts of water, after the mixture has been allowed to ferment for a day
or two. Overripe or fermenting bananas crushed and placed in the bait
pans give good results, especially with milk added to them. A mixture of
equal parts brown sugar and curd of sour milk, thoroughly moistened,
gives good results after it has been allowed to stand for three or four
days.

PREVENTING THE BREEDING OF FLIES.

As previously stated, fly papers, poisons, and traps are at best only
temporary expedients. The most logical method of abating the fly
nuisance is the elimination or treatment of all breeding places. It
would appear from what is known of the life history and habits of the
common house fly that it is perfectly feasible for cities and towns to
reduce the numbers of this annoying and dangerous insect so greatly as
to render it of comparatively slight account. On farms also, in dairies,
and under rural conditions generally, much can and should be done to
control the fly, which here, as elsewhere, constitutes a very serious
menace to health.

CONSTRUCTION AND CARE OF STABLES.

In formulating rules for the construction and care of stables and the
disposal of manure the following points must be taken into
consideration. In the first place, the ground of soil-floor stables may
offer a suitable place for the development of fly larvae. The larvae will
migrate from the manure to the soil and continue their growth in the
moist ground. This takes place to some extent even when the manure is
removed from the stables every day. Even wooden floors are not entirely
satisfactory unless they are perfectly water-tight, since larvae will
crawl through the cracks and continue their development in the moist
ground below. Water-tight floors of concrete or masonry, therefore, are
desirable. Flies have been found to breed in surprising numbers in small
accumulations of material in the corners of feed troughs and mangers,
and it is important that such places be kept clean.

FLY-TIGHT MANURE PITS.

The Bureau of Entomology for a number of years has advised that manure
from horse stables be kept in fly-tight pits or bins.