Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1902-10-23
MOSQUITO DIFFERENTIATION.
vana Proceeded I'm the Work
of Killing the Pests.

With the idea of destroying all the
mosquitoes possible, we formed brig
ade, naming it the Stegomyia brigade,
which worked within the houses, says
an article read before the sanitary con-
ference in Charleston, S. c., and pub
lished in the New York Medical Rec
ord. The Stegomyia mosquito breeds
principally in the yards of the more
thickly settled portions Of the city, in
all fresh-water collections, such as
rain-water barrels. The water sup
ply of Havana is very hard, and near
ly every house in the city has a barrel
of rain water for domestic purposes.
Early in the season the mayor is
sued an ordinance requiring every col
lection of water in the city to be kept
mosquito-proof. After one Of two in
spections this was enforced by fines.
The oilers poured crude kerosene oil
into all the drains, privies, cesspools,
etc, that cannot be otherwise protect
ed. If the families are poor the de-
partment covers their water barrel
and puts a Spigot in the bottom. Hav-
ana has no general sewerage system,
but each house has a cesspool. Some
times a cesspool will have an outlet
into some neighboring drain, or it may
not have any outlet at all. All these
cesspools and drains leading thereto
are favorite breeding places for the
common Culex pungens, and to very
slight extent for the Stegomyia. The
only way of managing these is by oil
ing. Practical experience has taught
us that when mosquitoes are trouble
some in a house, they are almost in
variably bred in that house, or in the
contiguous houses, and of the Steg-
omyia that can be stated as fact al
most without exception. 1t is a very
domestic mosquito, seldom leaving the
immediate neighborhood OF the place
of its birth. The work within the
thickly inhabited part of the city has
had most striking result in the gem
eral decrease of the mosquito. The
chief Of the division estimates that we
have not more than one-tenth the num-
Der of mosquitoes in the city at pres
ent that we had at this time last year,
and so far as I can observe, can con-
cur in this estimate.
When the work was first commenced,
the ground was carefully gone over
by the inspector and a report made
that mosquito larvae were found on
10000 different premises. At the last
inspection, going over the same
ground. less than 200 premises con-
tanned larvae. In this work during
the past year we have employed con-
stantly from 30 to 80 men.
Havana has its population crowded
into a very small area, the garden and
farm districts coming right up to the
city proper This was due to the
fact that the Spanish military 9uthor-
tiles drew line beyond which they
would not allow buildings, so that the
gardens commence at these build
ings These gardens are constantly
irrigated, irrigation bitches traversing
the country in every direction, and
they are great places for breeding
mosquitoes, particularly the Ano-
pheles.
For work in this district we organ
lied an Anopheles brigade; at one
time during the summer, we had as
high as $50 men at work; at another
time during the past winter we re-
duced it to 40 men. The brigade was
entirely separate from the Stegomyia
brigade, was under charge of chief,
and was divided into as many sec
lions as were necessary for the work
at hand.
They claimed all the irrigation
bitches and the small streams, of grass, |
water-lilies and distractions, and |
ditched the land, and stopped irri-
CATION on any extensive scale. The ir-
rigation in the gardens was not found
so Objectionable, as the water did not
stay on the ground, but was merely |
collected in holes and put on the |
ground by hand. But in the grass lands
which made up the greater area around |
Ine CllNs we NtlN ODAiENA " sup II
rigation altogether. These irrigated
grass lands were found to be great |
places for the breeding of Anopheles,
such lands aswere used for
grazing purposes; the cattle making
hole wherever they stepped in the
muddy ground, which retained the wa
ter and made an ideal receptacle for
breeding Anopheles. In certain cases
when we could get at the water col
lections in other ways we used oil.
But we have about given up oil in the
outlying districts. 1t is very much
better to drain. Oil on large area
of water will blow to one side and is
very difficult to distribute.
Make n Human Bridge.