Smyrna times., 1901-06-19
EXPERIMENTING PESKY MOSQUITOES.
Use of Kerosene Oil Treatment Has Worked
Successfully as Mosquito ExterminatOr
10 Winchester, Virginia.

From the mayor of Winchester, Va,
comes the cheerful information that
the kerosene oil treatment" is a sue
cess as an exterminator of mosquitoes.
The mosquito war was inaugurated in
the spring of 1900 and in the summer
the town was almost freed from the
pests. Up to this time the insect has
hardly been seen. The following in
teresting extract from the Baltimore
San may apply to Smyrna as we'll as
Winchester:
The female member of the mosquito fam
lily, as is not uncommonly the case, is the
head of the house. She does the buZZing
and biting, and she also lays the eggs to the
number of from 200 to 400 in each mass
AS she does all this in the night and does
not seem either to omit her ordinary round
of visits, she must be very industrious lit
tie beast.
The eggs are deposited in boat-shaped
masses on the face of any fairly still pool of
water. The eggs may hatch in 16 hours and
the larvae (the first stage of mosquito life)
live beneath the surface of the water, pop
ping up from time to time to breathe.
This state may be completed in seven days
that an entire generation in summer time
may be completed in 10 days. l say may"
because if the weather is cool the time be-
tween commencing the mosquito and fully
| equlpplng her for business may be indeh-
/ nltely enlarged.
When cold weather comes the adult mos
quito, still ON the wing, hibernates in eel
lars, Outhouses or in ''any old place." and
| is ready when spring comes to renew bus
mess at the same old stand. No degree of
cold will kill 1t.
Partial and temporary relief may be OBJ
tanned, of course, byscreens. nets. by burn
| ing pyrethrum and by catching the mos
quito in blacking box tops smeared inside
with coal oil. But these methods are very
/ partial and only temporary. The
| best of all the wholesale remedies is the sp-
plicatiOn of kerosene to the breeding pools
Experiment shows that about an ounce Ga
teacupful) of kerosene to each Is square
feet of water surface on small pools will
effectually destroy all the larvae and pupa
in the pool and that the adult female who
| comes to the pool to deposit her eggs will
either turn up the thing which passes for
her nose and go away, or if she lights she
will die and her eggs will perish with her
Nor need this inexpensive application OF
kerosene be renewed more than once 9
month. 1t need not be sprinkled, but il
simply poured into the pool the oil will
reach all parts of the water if the parts OF
the water itself all connect.
Pits or vaults under or behind water
closets are favOrite places for the mosquito
to breed. This has been especially observed
in Winchester. Rain barrels too are prim
places for them. So too are the pools left
in the town run which are not included il
the regular current of the run. The rail-
barrels should be covered and the waite
drawn from near the bottom by spigots
In that case a little oil put on top will help
and the oil will stay on top and never mi
7 with the water.
The first experiments with the oil wer
carefully watched. In one instance, imme
! diately after its application, one gentleman
! stood by rain barrel, watch in hand.
! five minutes IS mosquitoes (females) ar
] rived, bent on laying their eggs OF thi
} number 70 died as soon as they came with
the influence of the oil.