The Child's Day by Woods Hutchinson
page 79 of 136 (58%)
page 79 of 136 (58%)
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[Illustration: A MAGGOT HATCHING FROM THE EGG
(Greatly magnified.)] It takes the maggot about five days to grow to its full size, and then it turns into a _chrysalis_. That is, it is shut up in a kind of case that it has spun for itself, like the cocoon of the silkworm or the caterpillar. In about five days more it breaks out of this cocoon and appears as a fly with wings. So, you see, the eggs must stay in that manure heap about two weeks if they are to hatch. If, within that time, the manure is carted away and thrown out somewhere where it will dry, the little unhatched flies will be killed, or prevented from hatching. All we have to do, then, to be entirely rid of flies about our houses is to see that the heaps of manure and all piles of cans and garbage are taken away at least once a week. [Illustration: FLY MAGGOTS ON OLD NEWSPAPER Note the size of the maggot compared with the newspaper type.] If manure heaps or piles of dirt cannot, for any reason, be carried away as often as this, then they can be sprinkled with something that is poisonous to flies, such as arsenic or kerosene. This will kill the maggots. If we keep every kind of waste and scraps from the house, and all the manure from the barn and the pig-pen and the hen-house carefully cleaned up, or sprinkled with some poison, we shall get rid of flies entirely and never need to use screens at the doors and windows. Until we do this, it is best to put screens at the doors and |
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