The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-08-14

TOWN
I'll pull yer see.''
And he shuffed off, evidently having
niue 1alth In MS proposed damage suit
y ~" Bulletin Tor July, Commissioner
patterson discusses the shortage in the
grain and forage
WE LII hEEP crops and what the
lHE DouS, farmer should do to
VI CURSE. supply the deficiency.
He adv S that every
prof1tless animal be got rid of. In course
Of his remarks, he says:
1T will be more humane to the worn
cut horses to give them big dose of NOR
phine rather than to sell them for a
song, or to give them away to die a
lingering, cruel death from want and
abuse
The useless or profitless COWS and cat
tie ought to be made fat and go to the
butcher in the fall it won't pay to have
to- grain them in the winter.
''All the surplus hogs ought to be
started to fatten on grass and pea
patches, pumpkins, odds and ends of
every sort, to save corn. and be killed
early.
1.-THE dogs-Oh well, we'll keep the dogs
and economic on something else"
Dr. Doty, the Staten Island health off,
Ger who recently went out with barrels
of oil and spraying
THE SHELTERS apparatus to con-
WIN THE quer the mosquito,
FIRST BATTLE. had no trouble in
meeting the enemy,
but the result of the engagement seems
to have been little unsatisfactory In
his official report of the battle, the Doc
tor gives only these meagre details:
eve were fortunate enough to encoun-
ter all the conditions we sought at the
outset of our work. We ran into a breed
ingplace of the mosquitoes and home
of malaria at the same time. We feel
absolutely certain of the association of
the insects and the disease
Nothing is said Of the forces engaged
on either side, nor of the number Of
dead and wounded strange oversight
that becomes quite significant when cou-
pied with the further announcement that
future campaigns against the mosquito
must be conducted in the laboratory. The
Doctor adds, by way of explanation:
I'VE, of course, had no idea of Kidding
Staten Island of mosquitoes in the course
of our contracted experiments. When the
association of mosquitoes and malaria has
been further scientifically demonstrated,
it will be for the city to handle, just as
they handle dphtharia. We have shown
that oil will kill the larvae, and the in
sects, but that is not the true remedy.
Drainage and filling in are the only proper
remedies. When they have been properly
applied. the mosquito will disappear"
1t is to be hoped that with these as
surances Staten Islanders can now submit
with resignation to the depredations of
that pest which Dr. Doty thinks modern
science will, in years to come, so easily
destroy.
Upon the heels of this defeat Of DR..
Doty and his oil brigade comes the an
nouncement + no IN
CASTOR BEANS Prof. Frederick Starr,
WILL DO of the University of
THE WORK Chicago, that castor
bean plants are all
that is necessary to drive the insects
away Prof Starr, while travelling in
tropical countries. was forced for time
to study the best method of driving of
the clouds of mosquitoes.
lone night" said the Professor, Il was
annoyed more than usual. Finally In
desperation, l tore some branches from a
plant with which to brush them away,
soon found that | did not have to brush.
The mosquitoes had disappeared, and did
not come back that night. The plant from
which | had torn the branches was that
of the castor bean. The next evening
| again tried it. with the same success.
Prof. C. NJ. Childs, of the Department
of Entomology of the University of Chi
cago, confirms the statements of Prof.
Starr He says there is something in the
castor-b bean plant for which the mosquito
has an antipathy, but he does not know
what it is.
And Chicago is preparing to plant cas-
tor beans in its public parks.