The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-05-29
AT S~TOKKVILLE CENTER.
account OF a Plant Set Up There for
Protection from Mosquitoes.

Protection from Mosquitoes.
The only plant of the kind l ever
knew Of" said Col. Calliper, was one
that was set up some years ago IN StorK-
vile Center, VT. There was a swamp
about two or three miles north of the
town that bred mosquitoes at least as
large as any that ever were, and in
summer, when the wind was right, they
would come down on us in swarmS,
and they certainly did give us a good
deal of trouble. When the wind was
blowing the other way and blowing
strong, they never used to bother us
at all, and this suggested the idea of
putting up a plant to keep the wind
blowing in that direction ali the time,
and such a plant was finally set up.
There was some opposition to it at
first, a good deal, in fact, but when
1T was finally in operation it worked so
perfectly hat the sentiment in favor
of it became practically unanimous.
Between the town and the swamp,
and pretty we'll up toward the swamp,
we set up a long line of poles right
across the country, extending on either
side out beyond the line of the town,
and on these poles there was carried,
at a height of about IL feet from the
ground. a perforated pipe, with the
Perforations toward the swamp, and
that's all there was to it, but the pow
er, and one steam engine at the center
of the line supplied that, furnishing
compressed air, which was forced into
the distributing pipe at various places
along the line, and out through all the
perforations in front. 1t was like a
long sprinkler, except that it didn't
sprinkle; it supplied air, and all these
jets of air, expanding, united at a
little distance in front of the perfora-
tons, and. still expanding, but yet con-
tanning ample strength, they made a
continuous and sufficiently vigorous
blast reaching from the ground TO a
height higher than mosquitoes fly; a
wall of wind against which mosquitoes
could make no Roadway. One man
could operate this whole plant easily.
o course, We made some mistakes
at first, including one that might nave
been expected in the interest of econ
omy. In those days we never used 10
light our street lamps on moonlight
nights; that is, on nights that were
moonlight according to the calendar.
They might be the cloudiest, black.
est nights that ever were, but if it
was moonlight officially We didn't
light up. We made 4 similar mistake
at first in operating the wind plant.
When the wind was in the right quarter
to blow the mosquitoes away, and there
was plenty of it, we used to save fuel
and let the wind plant lie idle; but after
the wind had changed once or twice in
the night we gave up the economy idea
and ran the plant regularly every night
without regard to the weather from the
beginning to the end of the season. !
think Jul season there was a little
shorter than it is about here. We used
TO start the wind plant June 1 and shut
down September 30.
But the greatest difficulty we ever
had over the plant was whena town just
south of us sued US on account of it,
claiming large damages from the opera
tion of it, and getting out a temporary
injunction restraining us from the use
of it. During that period of suspension
we suffered from the mosquitoes as
we had done before the Inauguration of
the plant; these sufferings being mag
nified in u minds, no doubt, by the
freedom from them which we had for
some time enjoyed.
"This town that sued us claimed that
they had got all our mosquitoes. They
said that of the original current of mos
quitoes from the swamp, the part that.
under ordinary circumstances, would
have come to Storkville Center ard
stayed there, had not been permanent
" held back by our wind plant, but
only DETECTED around its wings, and
that the mosquitoes thus DETECTED had
gone on to them, and that so they got
their own and ours, too; andthey asked
for a permanent injunction and dam
ages.
.Storkville Center won, but for all
that the wind plant finally fell into dis
use. 1 don't know just how this came
about. 1 suppose they didn't keep it
in order. and it didn't work so per-
fectly, and then there were new people
coming up all the time, and more or less
opposition from them, and the others
didn't take so much interest in it as
they did at first, and finally they
stopped using it altogether, and the
whole plant went to decay. l was out
that way toward the swamp the last
time l was in Storkville Center and
there wasn't so much as a single post
of it left."-N. Y. Sun.
4 Good Eminent.
wise old physician recommends the