that there are numerous conditions in farming and rural districts which 

 favor the existence of mosquitoes. Near and about farmhouses there are 

 almost always collections of standing water, or water-filled receptacles 

 which form ideal breeding places. Even small depressions in grass land, 

 small puddles of water, due to cow tracks or to the hoof prints of horses, 

 may become contributing causes of the nuisance. The back yard of a 

 farmhouse offers likewise numerous opportunities for the pests to breed. 



Mosquito Control and Extermination. 



Farmers can aid in the extermination of the mosquito in two ways: 

 first, by individual efforts, and second, by combined or community efforts. 

 The individual efforts may be either preventive or else protective measures, 

 and it is to the former that we desire to draw particular attention, though 

 the latter will also be referred to briefly. 



The most important individual preventive measure is the abolishment 

 of all breeding places of mosquitoes. This, of course, requires, first of 

 all, a thorough search for these places, and when they are found, the 

 correct method of proceeding, the only one promising real results, is the 

 permanent destruction, and not merely the temporary treatment, of the 

 breeding places. This was pointed out by Dr. Alva H. Doty in his success- 

 ful mosquito campaign on Staten Island, N. Y., and likewise by Dr. John 

 B. Smith, state entomologist of New Jersey, in his efforts to rid parts of 

 that state of mosquitoes. Many breeding places are the direct result of 

 untidiness and carelessness, and are readily abolished. 



The simple and practical measures to be adopted consist in (1) drain- 

 age; (2) filling in; (3) treatment with kerosene oil or similar preparations. 

 Rank growths of weeds or high grass on the banks of sluggish streams, 

 and weed-protected shallow nooks of ponds, often conceal some breeding 

 puddles, and in themselves form favorite harboring places for the adult 

 mosquito. Hence, the farmer should keep his lawns well trimmed and do 

 away with all weeds, high grass and low bushes or shrubs about ditches, 

 brooks and ponds. Back yards and vacant lots should be cleaned up and 

 put in a tidy condition. Among numerous places which collect rain water 

 and where mosquitoes will breed by preference, should be mentioned ill- 

 drained roadside ditches and road gutters, catch basins, undrained bog 

 holes, all places where the natural drainage has been interfered with, 

 swamps or marshy places, depressions or pools in rocky ledges, newly made 

 and water-filled hollows and excavations generally; holes formed by the 

 pulling out of tree stumps, also holes in decaying trunks of trees, as well 

 as ill-graded irrigation ditches. 



All such danger spots should be abolished by draining them properly, 

 or where this is only partly practicable, by supplementing the drainage work 

 with judiciously applied and permanent filling-in. In doing this one should 

 be extremely watchful not to create new breeding places. 



Places about the farmhouse where mosquito larvae or wigglers may 

 usually be found are all kinds of water-containing receptacles, such as the 

 following; old tin cans on the garbage pile, old tubs, pails or buckets and 



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