22 Proceedings of the First Convention 



of the fame of the locality for mosquitoes, caused me to have 

 some misgivings. The only note of encouragement came from 

 Dr. Walter B. James, who stated there surely were ways to 

 exterminate the pest, and I could probably have more fun 

 in accomplishing it than I could in fishing, shooting or similar 

 sport. That view of the situation, as novel as it was fasci- 

 nating, I have realized, I think, beyond his wildest and 

 wickedest prediction. 



It had been established for many years that mosquitoes 

 must have water to breed in and that they did not breed in 

 tidal waters ; but this conclusion was questioned by unscientific 

 observers who maintained that they mysteriously bred in grass, 

 trees and bushes, and what was worse, that their flight with 

 strong winds was scores of miles. These men were very in- 

 fluential in the community and felt called upon to combat the 

 theory now so well established. I sought information from 

 every publication I could lay my hands on ; most helpful 

 to me was Dr. L. O. Howard's personal advice and sug- 

 gestions and the Bulletins of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, issued under his direction. The obvious breeding 

 places were rapidly controlled and a marked diminution 

 of the pests was manifest, and the natives of the town, who 

 were highly amused at my operations as about the most ridicu- 

 lous thing that could happen, admitted that the mosquitoes 

 had disappeared, but stated that this was probably one of the 

 off-years that came once in a while, and that they would surely 

 reappear. (As a matter of fact, the mosquitoes had not all 

 disappeared.) Our work became continually more thorough 

 and we eliminated one breeding place after another until now, 

 at the end of four years, we may be said to be practically, if 

 not absolutely, free from mosquitoes, their appearance, on the 

 rare occasions they do come, indicating invariably that some 

 breeding place has been overlooked or some new one undis- 

 covered, which, when eliminated, removes the pest, and our 

 country neighbors who scoffed at our early efforts, have now 

 become converted and helpful. 



We found mosquitoes breeding in gutters of the house 

 that were out of alignment, in the cisterns that were out of 

 use or rarely used, in broken boxes, in tin cans, in springs on 

 the hillsides, in cattle hoof-prints on the borders of ponds, 

 in springy grounds, in salt water meadows, in water holes 



