330 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMEEICA 



" Two industrial enterprises decided to locate on the marsli area on the west 

 of the island, and these are expected to employ, respectively, 4000 and 6000 

 men, most of whom will undoubtedly settle near-by. These enterprises will 

 result in actually reclaiming a large section of the marsh, which is something 

 that mosquito drainage does not and was not intended to accomplish." 



A much earlier ease of a similar nature to those described by Doctor Smith 

 has been elsewhere mentioned by one of us. Not far from a large town on the 

 north shore of Long Island Sound, prior to 1900, there was a stretch of land 

 lying in such a way that it afforded a large number of excellent cottage and 

 villa sites. But mosquitoes were so numerous there that even domestic animals 

 could not be kept in a healthy condition and, as a resident of a nearby village 

 expressed it, " the sole population consisted of a few smoke-dried fishermen and 

 their dogs." In this locality, by the enterprising work of one man, a company 

 was formed, the land was bought, the mosquito breeding-places were practically 

 abolished, summer residences were built, and the company realized many thou- 

 sands of dollars in the course of two years. 



LOSS TO AGRICULTURE. 



Agricultural regions have suffered from this cause. In portions of the North- 

 western States it has been necessary to cover the work-horses in the fields with 

 sheets during the day. In the Gulf region of Texas at times the market value 

 of live stock is greatly reduced by the abundance of these insects. In portions of 

 southern New Jersey there are lands eminently adapted to the dairying industry, 

 and the markets of New York, Philadelphia and the large New Jersey cities are 

 at hand. In these localities herds of cattle have been repeatedly established, but 

 the attacks by swarms of mosquitoes have reduced the yield of milk to such an 

 extent as to make the animals unprofitable, and dairying has been abandoned 

 for less remunerative occupations. 



The conditions of the thoroughbred race horses at the great racing center, 

 Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, was so impaired by the attacks of mosquitoes as 

 to induce those interested to spend many thousands of dollars, a few years ago, 

 in an effort to abate the pest. 



Smith, by way of example, calls attention to the indirect damage to the cran- 

 berry crop through mosquitoes. It seems that in New Jersey, about the time 

 when cranberries ripen, the country may become covered vrith swarms of mos- 

 quitoes from the salt marshes, and under such conditions it is impossible to get 

 pickers for the crop. He says that gangs of Italians have been brought down 

 from Philadelphia, and have begun to work in good spirit, but that by noon of 

 the same day they have been so badly bitten that they have had to give up the 

 work and return to the city. Such conditions do not occur every year, nor do 

 they last through the season, but they are of sufficiently frequent occurrence as 

 to make cranberry culture most uncertain since the farmer hesitates to start 

 the crop when he may be compelled to see the berries rot on the ground because 

 he can not get laborers who can stand the plague of the mosquitoes. 



