1902.] INSECTS — RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 1 99 



ease. These mosquitoes breed in stagnant water, either fresh 

 or brackish, and to some extent in the damp marshes. They 

 do not fly great distances, though sometimes arc driven by 

 winds, but usually breed in the immediate vicinity of their 

 attacks. Draining stagnant pools and marshes is therefore 

 recommended, and when that cannot be done the insects may 

 be prevented from breeding by keeping the surface of the 

 water covered with a thin film of petroleum. Experience in 

 other places shows that localities may become comparatively 

 if not entirely free from mosquitoes in this way by a little 

 efifort. A tub of water about the homestead may breed 

 enough mosquitoes to supply a whole neighborhood, and, 

 while this kind of mosquito will not give us malaria, it is safe 

 to say that we do not really enjoy the presence of even the 

 harmless Cidcx piingens. Communities may, by concerted 

 action and small expense, greatly improve their surroundings 

 by preventing the breeding of mosquitoes, and in malarial 

 districts it would seem a legitimate work for the boards of 

 health. 



It must be apparent to everyone that this subject of 

 insects is an important one, and, to the farmer at least, its 

 importance will increase as time goes on. Our ocean steam- 

 ships that sail around the globe unite with our transconti- 

 nental railway trains in carrying produce to the very " ends 

 of the earth." They have been, and are, carrying species of 

 insects from one country to another. In a new environment, 

 if food is abundant, the insect generally exceeds its former 

 rate of multiplication because its natural enemies have been 

 left behind. It can start in business free from all incum- 

 brances like a merchant who has gone through bankruptcy 

 and is cleared from his debts. Frequently it is a much greater 

 pest than in its native habitat. Then as forests are destroyed 

 and waste lands reclaimed, and their natural food supply cut 

 ofif, insects are forced to attack the cultivated plants. We 

 and not the insects are responsible for the changed conditions. 

 In fact, to a large extent the record of our own development 

 and civilization is the record of the increase of insect pests. 

 He who dances must pay the fiddler. 



Connecticut at the last session of its legislature made pro- 

 vision for the study and dissemination of knowledge concern- 

 ing insects in this State, by appropriating to its experiment 



