oil Mosquito Extcnnination. 



19 



THE WORLD WIDE CRUSADE. 



Dr. I.. O. Howard. 

 U. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AaRICULTURE, 



DIVISION OK ENTOMOLOGY, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 L. O. Howard, Entomologist. 



December 14, 1903. 

 My Dear j\Ir. Weeks: 



I am extremely disappointed that at the last moment I 

 am compelled to remain in Washington, and shall not be able to 

 attend your "First general convention to consider the questions 

 involved in mosquito extermination." Nothing less than sudden 

 death, or, what has actually occurred, a summons to appear be- 

 fore a Congressional Committee, could have prevented my 

 attendance. Your movement is so important from many 

 points of view that it is a duty as well as a matter of great 

 interest for those who appreciate this importance to attend. 



I enclose a letter from Mr. Whitney, the Chief of the 

 lUireau of Soils, in which he gives his ideas as to the value 

 of reclaimed swaiiq)-land for agricultural uses, which is of 

 course a most important matter for the consideration of indi- 

 viduals or communities who are entering upon the problem of 

 mosquito extermination. 



You were quite right to have worded the title of what you 



Extract 



From an address before the New 

 Jersey Sanitary Association on 

 "Some Practical Suggestions in 

 Mosquito Extermination in New 

 Jersey," by Henry Clay Weeks:— 



HrsrORICAL REFERENCE: 



It is now nearly a century since it 

 was suggested in a London publica- 

 tion that oil might be used to dimin- 

 ish mosquitiies. Probably that was 

 not the earliest suggestion of the 

 idea. It was followed during a half 

 century by many confirmations, but 

 nothing resulted of it all, until a 

 schoolboy in Central New York, in- 

 terested in Natural History, experi- 

 mented in destroying "wrigglers" 

 by using a little oil on the water, 

 but it was not until that sanje ex- 

 perimenter, about ten years ago, 

 published the results of his later 

 work of destruction on a larger 

 scale, that attention was generally 

 attracted to the idea coming as it 

 then did from one who represented 

 the knowledge of the government 

 on the subject. — Dr. L. O. Howard 

 Washington. 



■ Aliis.|Uilin-s. 



Dr. L. O. Howard. 



