BROMELIAD MALARIA — SMITH 393 



a month in Brusque with neither screens on my bedroom windows nor 

 net over my bed, and I found it very difficult to realize that only a 

 few years ago my hosts of the Seminario de Azambuja had been on 

 the point of moving out completely and abandoning their buildings. 



As newer techniques of control have appeared, there has been 

 considerable argument on the value and necessity of deforestation. 

 On one score, though, there can be no argument: deforestation was 

 the only means at the time and it was used very effectively. The 

 principle of deforestation was simple. It sufficed to destroy breeding 

 places for Anopheles as far as the nearest ridge crest, or rarely to 

 the second if that were considerably higher (Ferreira, Rachou, and 

 Lima, 1951). Again Azambuja is a good example, for there one 

 can walk up over the ridge behind the Seminario and down the other 

 side into forest and find a supply of mosquitoes sufficient to keep one 

 fully occupied. 1 



Deforestation caused considerable hardship for landowners because 

 the emergency did not allow time to lumber the forest properly, and 

 many of the trees were a complete loss. The techniques of using 

 DDT against the adult mosquito, aralen against the disease organism 

 in man, and herbicide sprays against the bromeliads all have the 

 advantage of leaving the forests intact, yet probably deforestation is 

 still the best technique for protecting the cities. Herbicide spray has 

 not developed sufficient range to cover any but the low forests along 

 the coast, and DDT and aralen require constant reapplication in cities, 

 while belts of deforestation can be maintained and even made a greater 

 source of profit to the owners than the original forest. The gentler 

 slopes can be turned into pasture or vegetable garden and the remain- 

 der planted to Mimosa and Eucalyptus with the help of the Servico 

 Florestal. Mimosa can be cut and sold for firewood in a few years 

 before the slow-growing bromeliads can become established. 

 Eucalyptus requires a longer time before it is ready to be cut, but 

 its bark peels away constantly giving epiphytes no chance to establish 

 themselves. The planted forest has the additional advantage of being 

 a pure stand so that it can be lumbered much more efficiently at ma- 

 turity than can the diverse original forest. The city of Brusque has 

 voluntarily become a test case for deforestation by using that method 

 alone and dispensing with the other means of protection. For over 5 

 years now deforestation has been sufficient. 



However, as has been noted before, there was no universal solution 

 to the problem in Santa Catarina. Deforestation worked in the 

 city areas, but it was clearly impractical, if not impossible, for 



1 Note to cultivators of ornamental bromeliads : Cities are so widely separated in Santa 

 Catarina that wholesale destruction of the plants in deforestation belts has made no 

 appreciable inroad on the total supply. 



