. Bulletin. Agriculture -- New Hampshire. 134 EXPERIMENTS IN DESTROYING BLACK-FLIES ment the cattle in the pasture, and pester the farmer in the ; This fact that the black-flies of a locality usually develop in that vicinity, and are comparatively easy to find in their breed- ing-grounds offers the opportunity for so reducing their numbers, if we can kill them in their breeding-places, that they will no longer be troublesome. In the resort regions of northern New Hampshire the black- flies have long been recognized as among the most annoying pests for the summer visitors. I have had
. Bulletin. Agriculture -- New Hampshire. 134 EXPERIMENTS IN DESTROYING BLACK-FLIES ment the cattle in the pasture, and pester the farmer in the ; This fact that the black-flies of a locality usually develop in that vicinity, and are comparatively easy to find in their breed- ing-grounds offers the opportunity for so reducing their numbers, if we can kill them in their breeding-places, that they will no longer be troublesome. In the resort regions of northern New Hampshire the black- flies have long been recognized as among the most annoying pests for the summer visitors. I have had from time to time appeals from hotel managers for help in subduing the insects, but until recently have had to confess that I knew of no prac- tical solution of the problem. For several years I have had under observation a colony of black-fly larvae living on the flat rocks of the outlet to our college reservoir, shown in the pic-. Larva of Black-fly. Magnified. ture on the inside cover of this bulletin, and have often tried to discover effective means of killing them. When studying the recent literature concerning mosquito remedies, the property of Phinotas oil which leads it to sink to the bottom in water led me to think that possibly here we had an agent for destroying black-fly larvae. In order to test the theory I sent the assistant entomologist, Mr. A. F. Conradi, in June, 1903, to Dixville Notch, Newr Hamp- shire, where these pests have for many years been especially troublesome, with specific instructions to find the breeding- places of the flies, and to try the effect of the Phinotas oil with which he was provided. The Dixville Notch region was peculiarly favorable as to situation for an extended experiment in subduing black-flies, for it is a comparatively small area surrounded by mountains over which no flies from other localities would be likely to. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readab
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