The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1912-05-30
TIE PESkY MOSQUITOES.
What They Do, Row They Do II, and
How to Prevent Them.

Mosquito prospects are fine this
season-for the mosquito. All they
need is little more time. They
will do the rest. Wet weather,
with abundance of water standing
about in ponds, swamps, puddles,
rain barrels, old tin cans, bottles,
dishes, roof spouting, ETC., furnishes
ideal mosquito conditions. Add to
this from one to two weeks of warm
weather and the result will be mar
velous. Thousands of mosquitoes
will appear as if by magic.
WHAT MOSQUITOES DO.
Of course a few will bite you while
others will hum and buzz around
your ears in a tortuous way when
you wish to sleep, rest or read. But
this is the least Of the trouble.
What they may do is to inject the
tiniest amount of ma!arial germs
into your blood. That will give you
malarial chills and fever for months
or years, make you generally ineffi-
cient. impoverish your blood, and
make you easy prey of scores of
other diseases that you would not
otherwise contract.
Approximately $50 North Caro-
linians died of malaria last year, and
several times as many died of other
diseases because their bodies were
in such an "all-run-down" condition,
due to malaria and the mosquito
bite, that they contracted every
other disease to which they were at
all liable.
HOW TO PREVENT MOSQUITOES.
Fortunately the mosquito is not a
great traveller. He usually resides
within from one hundred to five
hundred feet Of his birthplace.
Winds may occasionally drive him
farther away, but like the fly, he is
very domestic. Therein lies our
cue. Destroy his breeding places
around our homes and we have
turned the trick. If the average
householder in the city would have
removed all his old tin cans, bottles,
+uhs has~o'- Erokets. and other
vessels containing water, if he would
examine his roof spouting and cellar
to see that there is no stale water,
and if he would either fill or drain
all low and wet holes, his mosquito
pests would be decreased over half.
If he can succeed in getting his
neighbors on both sides to do the
same thing, he will have less than a
fourth of an average mosquito crop.
If he can get all the people in his
block to abolish all their mosquito
breeding places and keep them abol-
ished for the summer, he will not
have one mosquito where he had ten
last year, and when the entire town
learns to follow suit, mosquitoes will
be found only in museums.
But perhaps you have no nearby
neighbor, or he does not know about
mosquitoes, or does not care to
know. You can still win out. Sim
ply abolish all of your mosquito
breeding places-both inside and
outside the house-screen the doors
and windows with fine screen, not
less than eighteen meshes to the
inch, and kill the mosquitoes that
get into the house. Mosquitoes and
flies are easily stupefed by burning
pyrethrum or insect powder. !"
When stupefied they may be easily
swept up and destroyed. In bed
rooms further precautions may be
taken by having the beds screened
with fine mosquito netting. The
State Board of Health, at Raleigh.
publishes a free pamphlet on the
mosquito and malaria, which tells
all about the pest and the disease he
produces. Write for it.