24 PEEVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 



that his residence is surrounded by plantain and banana trees and 

 that he had been troubled in the past by a great number of mosquitoes 

 which gathered in these trees. Following the example of old settlers, 

 he planted castor seeds, which grew up in profusion, with the result 

 that no mosquitoes were to be found among the trees, although he 

 kept the ground well irrigated. Captain Plumacher came to Wash- 

 ington the following year and called on the writer April 18, 1901, 

 bringing with him the seed of the particular variety of the castor-oil 

 plant with which he had noted the result above stated. The seeds 

 were planted upon the department grounds and observations indi- 

 cated that mosquitoes were not at all deterred by the plants. In a 

 report sent in from Progreso, Yucatan, September 17, 1903, United 

 States Consul Thompson makes the following statement: 



The belief is current among the natives of Yucatan that a few castor-oil plants 

 growing in or near a dwelling will protect the inmates from mosquitoes and certain 

 other noxious insects peculiar to Yucatan. This belief has been to a certain extent 

 confirmed upon experiment by me personally. My dwelling at one time seemed to 

 be peculiarly acceptable to mosquitoes. I planted a row of castor-oil plants around 

 the courtyard and in a short time the mosquito was as rare as he was formerly a fre- 

 quent visitor. My plants were destroyed by the cyclone and now the mosquitoes 

 are as abundant as formerly. 



Some of the Venezuela seeds brought by Captain Plumacher were 

 sent to Mr. J. Turner Brakeley, of Bordentown, N. J. He planted 

 them in the early summer of 1901, and later in the summer observa- 

 tions were made with the result that mosquitoes were found both on 

 the Venezuela plants and on other castor-oil plants. Mr. Brakeley 

 wrote : 



The castor-oil plant is no good as a "skeetonal " protection in New Jersey. It may 

 be a protection against the Venezuela mosquito, but it is no good where the blood 

 pirates of New Jersey are concerned. 



Giles publishes a letter sent to the Pioneer, an Indian journal, in 

 1901, in which the correspondent stated that he had seen a recom- 

 mendation of the castor-oil plant as a deterrent for mosquitoes, and 

 in consequence had six plants placed in pots in his room. The result 

 was that the plants were thickly covered by the insects, which seemed 

 ''to be actually invigorated b}^ the apparently stimulating effect of 

 their new quarters." 



The Sergents in Algeria experimented both with the castor-oil 

 plant and with pawpaw ( Carica papaya), on account of the reputation 

 that these plants had as deterrents against mosquitoes. A pawpaw 

 about 90 centimeters (3 feet) high and in good condition was inclosed 

 in a mosquito bar of tulle, oblong in form, with its axis directed per- 

 pendicularl}^ to the window from which the light came. In the end 

 of the bar nearest the window they suspended a raisin grape, for food 

 of the mosquitoes, and a little vessel of water. Then at the opposite 

 end of the bar the}^ put in four females of Anopheles maculipennis and 



