8 LOSS THEOUGH INSECTS THAT CAERY DISEASE. 



MOSaUITOES. 



Entirely aside from the loss occasioned b}' mosquitoes as carriers 

 of specific diseases, their abundance brings about a great monetary 

 loss in other ways. 



Possibly the greatest of these losses is in the reduced value of real 

 estate in mosquito-infested regions, since these insects render abso- 

 lutely uninhabitable large areas of land available for suburban homes, 

 for summer resorts, for manufacturing purposes, and for agricultural 

 pursuits. The money loss becomes most apparent in the vicinity of 

 large centers of population. The mosquito-breeding areas in the 

 vicinity of New York Citj^, for example, have prevented the growth 

 x)f paying industries of various kinds and have hindered the proper 

 development of large regions to an amount which it is difficult to 

 estimate in dollars and cents and which is almost inconceivable. The 

 same may be said for other large cities near the seacoast, and even 

 of those inland in low-lying regions. The development of the whole 

 State of New Jersey has been held back by the mosquito plague. 



Agricultural regions have suffered from this cause. In portions of 

 the Northwestern States it has been necessary to cover the work horses 

 in the field with sheets during the day. In the Gulf region of Texas 

 at times the market value of live stock is greatly reduced by the 

 abundance of these insects. In portions of southern New Jersey there 

 are lands eminently adapted to the dairying industry, and the markets 

 of New York, Philadelphia, and the large New Jersey cities are at 

 hand. In these localities herds of cattle have been repeatedly estab- 

 lished, but the attacks by swarms of mosquitoes have reduced the yield 

 of milk to such an extent as to make the animals unprofitable, and 

 dairying has been abandoned for less remunerative occupations. The 

 condition of the thoroughbred race horses at the great racing center, 

 Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, was so impaired by the attacks of 

 mosquitoes as to induce those interested to spend many thousands of 

 dollars a few years ago in an effort to abate the pest. 



All over the United States, for these insects, and for the house fly 

 as well, it has become necessary at great expense to screen habitations. 

 The cost of screening alone must surely exceed ten millions of dol- 

 lars per annum. 



MALARIA. 



The west coast of Africa, portions of India, and many other tropi- 

 cal regions have always, at least down to the present period, been 

 practically uninhabitable by civilized man, owing to the presence 

 of pernicious malaria. The industrial and agricultural development 

 of Italy has been hindered to an incalculable degree by the prevalence 

 of malaria in the southern half of the Italian peninsula, as well as in 



