The Jersey City news., 1901-08-28
MOSQUITO CURE
Professor Smith Says the
Pest Can Be Over
come in Time.
IT MILL TAKE HARD WORK
Five Years May Be Necessary
to Exterminate Ninety
Per Cent.
II MILL TAKE HARD WORK

entomotcg1St, VINO is Stationeo a. NEW
Brunswick. gives strong presentation
of the mosquito evil as it exists in New
Jersey. and a general idea of what may
be done by the general cooperation OF
State. municipality and individual lie
says
1T is not saying too much, ] think,
that were it not for the mosquito along
the shore. ocean front property would be
more than doubled in value; in some
cases it would increase many times It's
present value.
.erne number of people kept away each
year certainly equals, If it does not ex-
ceed, the number that actually SPENDS
the season, or part of it, at our shore re-
sorts. 1t goes without saying that most
of these places claim that they have none
or very few mosquitoes; but visitors tell
/ a different story. 1t may be left Tor tho
impartial judge to decide which Is rign..
Certain it is. that for some points the
importance of dealing with this problem
has become apparent. and many tnou-
sands of dollars have been spent to lna-
prove the conditions-in general with sue
cess The difficulty is, however, tnat the
mosquito problem is not local one! Let
one shore point be ever SO careful. ana DO
away with breeding places completely, the
first steady wind from an unframed
marsh will fill the town with thousands OF
blood thirsty creatures.
AT certain seasons Newark is filled
with mosquitoes, not 10 per cent. OF which
are bred within the county limits? AT
New Brunswick there was period OF
more than two weeks when every mos
quito captured by myself had bred not
less than ten or q dozen miles from
town. The problem is, therefore, not a
simple one, and it means most thorough
gathering Of facts and of material oefore
II is possible to formulate final conclu-
sions. or before it is possible to make
recommendations that will reach the root
of the matter.
.This systematic study has been begun
during the present season at the Expert
ment Station l have tried to interest the
local Boards Of Health throughout the
state and have communicated with each
organized board. / have had large num-
ber of replies and have gathered very
large amount of material; but the re-
sponses have not been universal by any
means. The last annual report OF the
state Board, enumerates thirty-six cities
with organized local Boards of Health.
OF that whole number, less than ten have
shown any disposition to cooperate. and
not one of the large cities is included in
that small proportion
.arhe towns, townships and boroughs
make no better showing. do not say
this to complain; in many cases. the i'm
portance of the matter is not appreciated.
say it simply to indicate what an
amount of work remains to be done, and
that one Individual, working with practi-
cally no assistance, cannot be expected
TO obtain definite results within the space
of one season. Could / have sufficient
force to make the collections needed,
without depending on volunteers. some
thing definite might be done within an
other equal period.
.'It is for public sentiment to deter
mine whether such an investigation shall
be made.
"What must be done, before systematic
| work looking toward control or partial
determination can be carried on, is to
ascertain definitely where the greatest
swarms come from, the exact conditions
under which they breed, and the character
| OF the work that will have to be done by
L
respectively. All must cooperate to get
| the most satisfactory results, and with
| this cooperation, see no reason why W
per cent of the mosquito pest should not
be done away with. 1t will not be In
any one year-it may not be done In five
| years-but 1t can be done and something
| should be done each year looking toward
| the final result. Under the circumstances,
| the material in hand Is not sufficient TO
make IT desirable for me to make definite
| recommendation or statements that may
turn out OF be unwarranted at the end
| Of the season. In other words. ] prefer
1 not to "go of half cooked"
s.There Is no uniformity as to where
the insects spend the winter. Probably
most Of the species winter in the adult
form. The female mosquito finds hid
| ing place in the barn, the cellar or even
| in pile OF rubbish, sometimes under bark
| or in an old tree; wherever. indeed,
there is shelter. There she remains quiet
! during the cold weather, and not always
1 entirely quiet either. There are some
| hotels that / could mention where mos
| ouitoes may be found throughout the
! winter.
/ .sMy experience includes very broken
! night rest in mid January. caused by one
| or more of these little pests that had
/ found comfortable quarters in the con-
tinually warm rooms and halls. As spring
| approaches they fly out doors and in con-
venient places the eggs are laid. Th<
| wrigg,ers that develop from these early
4 eggs grow slowly; while the summer gen.
Grafton may develop in week, thest
spring forms may REQUIRE nearly or quite
4 three times as long. So In the late fall
development is very much slower.
Another series of species-just how
4 many we cannot yet say-winter In ths
i larval or wrigkler stage. These may b
frozen solid and may be thawed out and
refrozen several times In the course Of
the winter without losing vitality.
4 @Giyen series OF warm days In May
4 these wintering wrigglers will complete
: their transformation, and we will havs
4 the first crop of spring mosquitoes
( Breeding as rapidly az they do. each in
dividual female producing large mum
ber of eggs, requiring little food, the i'm
mense swarms that come in the middle
ana late summer are easily accounted
for.
1T does not require much OF place
for many Of them to develop. littl'
railroad bridge in Burlington county y
protected against fire by three barrels
n ~ watar a. differanf nofnts on the struc