68 



planted, some successful growers contending that the weevils are 

 more injurious to shallow-planted potatoes on clodd}^ land than to 

 deep-planted potatoes on sandy land. A note under date of August 

 1 gives one infested hill among twenty-five, the infested tubers being 

 an early variety and projecting from the seed bed. 



During the winter careful observations were made on the mos- 

 quitoes infesting College Station and vicinity, especially from a 

 sanitary standpoint. These investigations were stimulated two years 

 ago when yellow fever appearetl at San Antonio and seemed to be 

 spreading northward. The country al)Out College Station is low and 

 level, the soil of a loamy nature, underlaid at from 6 to 10 inches with 

 a tough hard clay. The streams are sx) rapid that they will hold 

 water but a short time after a rain. It is. therefore, the common prac- 

 tice to put dams across the gullies and collect tlie water during a rain- 

 fall. Such tanks will rarely chy out during the summer. It was found 

 that no mosquitoes l)red in such waters on account of the numlier of 

 minnows present in all cases. The main breeding place near the college 

 was at the mouth of the sewer where it empties into the brook. Here 

 mosquito larvtc were so numerous that they formed a solid scum on 

 the water. On account of the annoyance due to mosquitoes during the 

 early spring months, making life on the cam]>us almost unbearable, 

 relief was sought l)y treating the cisterns and the sewer. Some relief 

 followed, but it was discovered that the mosquito supply came from 

 another source. Each negro hut scattered over the country has a 

 rain l)arrel or a water tub at one or two corners, and here the mos- 

 quitoes bred undisturbed' through the greater part of the season, the 

 prevailing south wind carrying them for over a mile. 



The only moscpiitoes at College Station are species of Culex, no 

 Stegomyia having been found. A few sjiecimens of Anopheles, l^lown 

 in by a mild east wind from a pond in the valley of Carter Creek, 

 w^ere taken during July. This is the only breeding ground of Ano- 

 j)heles close to College Station, but the supply is blown northward by 

 the prevailing winds. Although mosquitoes breed there all Avinter 

 and maintain a high percentage of malaria cases in the neighborhood 

 diu'ing the sunmier, they do not aft'ect the college, since nearly all 

 winds from that directi(m are '' northers,'' which rarely carry mos- 

 (uutoes. The only other breeding place of Anopheles of any import- 

 ance is 17 miles southwest across the Brazos River. Although the mos- 

 ouitoes kee}) malaria alive in that locality they do not aifect the college. 

 The few cases of malaria that appeared at College Station originated 

 in other localities, and such cases were not a menace to the community, 

 as there was no agency for carrying the disease. 



