REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 141 



washing; but in this case emphatically prevention is better than 

 cure. 



There are a large number of proprietory materials sold under 

 all sorts of .names at good stiff prices, advertised to keep off 

 flies, mosquitoes and other pests, but none of those that I have 

 tried have ecjualled the oil of citronello. 



One of my correspondents advises me that he used this mate- 

 rial on his horse during a stay along a salt marsh with excellent 

 effect; but as a rule, a less expensive if more offensive mixture 

 will serve here, i. e.. fish oil with a little crude carbolic acid. 

 Some of the preparations sold to keep off flies act fairly well to 

 protect cattle from moscjuitoes and, incidentally, it should be 

 noted that the actual money loss to dairymen in the lessened flow 

 of milk resulting from fighting mosquitoes would go a long way 

 toward wiping out the dangerous breeding areas. 



CHAPTER IV. 

 THE MOSQUITO CAMPAIGN. 



a. PARTIES TO THE MOSQUITO CAMPAIGN. 



Assuming that everything that I claim to have demonstrated 

 be conceded, and that it be fully accepted that mosquito control 

 and practical extermination is possible, an important question is, 

 who is to do the work? Preliminary to that, assuming it to be 

 a State matter, it might be justly asked whether New Jersey 

 could, by itself, deal with the pest within its own limits, so as to 

 get the full benefit of all the work that it might do. The answer 

 to that question is, emphatically, yes ; except for a short stretch 

 along the Arthur Kill, where the Stat en Island shore is bordered 

 by a series of marshes that are as pestiferous from the mosquito 

 breeding standpoint, as anything that we have in New Jersey. 

 The Kill is so narrow that it is absolutely no bar to the transfer 

 of species from one side to the other. An east or south wind will 

 carry the Staten Island swarms into Elizabeth; a west or south- 

 west wind will overwhelm Staten Island from the New Jersey 

 supplv; hence nothing that Elizabeth can do will prevent an oc- 

 casional invasion from Staten Island. The matter is not equally 



