330 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 
“Two industrial enterprises decided to locate on the marsh area on the west 
of the island, and these are expected to employ, respectively, 4000 and 6000 
men, most of whom will undoubtedly settle near-by. These enterprises will 
result in actually reclaiming a large section of the marsh, which is something 
that mosquito drainage does not and was not intended to accomplish.” 
A much earlier case of a similar nature to those described by Doctor Smith 
has been elsewhere mentioned by one of us. Not far from a large town on the 
north shore of Long Island Sound, prior to 1900, there was a stretch of land 
lying in such a way that it afforded a large number of excellent cottage and 
villa sites. But mosquitoes were so numerous there that even domestic animals 
could not be kept in a healthy condition and, as a resident of a nearby village 
expressed it, “ the sole population consisted of a few smoke-dried fishermen and 
their dogs.” In this locality, by the enterprising work of one man, a company 
was formed, the land was bought, the mosquito breeding-places were practically 
abolished, summer residences were built, and the company realized many thou- 
sands of dollars in the course of two years. 
LOSS TO AGRICULTURE. 
Agricultural regions have suffered from this cause. In portions of the North- 
western States it has been necessary to cover the work-horses in the fields 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 established, 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 conditions 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. 
Smith, by way of example, calls attention to the indirect damage to the cran- 
berry crop through mosquitoes. It seems that in New Jersey, about the time 
when cranberries ripen, the country may become covered with swarms of mos- 
quitoes from the salt marshes, and under such conditions it is impossible to get 
pickers for the crop. He says that gangs of Italians have been brought down 
from Philadelphia, and have begun to work in good spirit, but that by noon of 
the same day they have been so badly bitten that they have had to give up the 
work and return to the city. Such conditions do not occur every year, nor do 
they last through the season, but they are of sufficiently frequent occurrence as 
to make cranberry culture most uncertain since the farmer hesitates to start 
the crop when he may be compelled to see the berries rot on the ground because 
he can not get laborers who can stand the plague of the mosquitoes. 
