226 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



because the equilibrium has been destroyed. The world of 

 nature is so designed that one destructive thing is kept in check 

 by the operation of another thing, and our children ought to 

 know the necessity of keeping this balance maintained. 



I was thinking of another very important fact that was 

 suggested this morning, and that was the question of malaria 

 and the relation of insects to the health and comfort of animals 

 and of man. Every child ought to learn in school, in this day 

 and age of the world, that the mosquito is responsible for 

 malaria. He ought to learn how he can best protect himself 

 from it, how he can keep away from the ill health that is caused 

 by it. The schools are doing this in various places. There 

 have been crusades organized at many schools at different 

 places where they go out and examine the mosquito, and trace 

 its life history from the larva to the mature development of the 

 insect ; teach the children all about it. Our Department of 

 Entomology in this state will not have very much work to do 

 when the public school teachers generally call attention to the 

 fact of what can be done in this line. Furthermore, that is 

 something that every child ought to know. When they do 

 know it, it will help us immensely to get rid of this nuisance. 

 You will not have to pay for it as you do now. 



The problem of the preservation of the public health is an 

 exceedingly important one, and for that reason some of the 

 essential points of public hygiene ought to be taught to the 

 pupils in our schools. A few days ago one of my friends was 

 buried as the result of an attack of typhoid fever which he 

 contracted from eating raw oysters. Not very many people 

 would care to forego the pleasure of eating raw oysters. A 

 great many of us would not forego them, unless, of course, we 

 knew they were tainted, or knew that they carried typhoid fever. 

 The important fact, of course, is to teach a child that such 

 things may carry disease. Then, if the child knows it and 

 then turns around and deliberately eats raw oysters and gets 

 typhoid fever, a child or any one else that will do that is to be 

 pitied. 



There is another important phase of this subject, which, in 

 this age, we cannot well afford to ignore. It is a matter which 

 I cannot now, for lack of time, take up in detail, but it is the 

 matter of the taxes that are laid upon the people of this country 

 bv noxious insects. A child in the public school ought to learn 



