I40 



The summer oiling offers few special difficulties. Occasion- 

 ally extensive breeding occurs along the grass-covered edges of 

 brooks. It is not sufficient to pour the oil into the stream and 

 depend upon the current to carry it to the wrigglers. To destroy 

 the breeding completely the oil should be forced through the 

 overhanging grass with a sprayer. Unfortunately, fuel oil will 

 burn and blacken the vegetation with which it comes into con- 

 tact. Gasoline, on the other hand, kills the breeding but does 

 not burn. It also evaporates quickly and completely. Its use is 

 therefore recommended when breeding occurs in ornamental 

 ponds, in pasture lots where oil would sicken milch cows, and in 

 reservoirs and other places where oil would pollute the water. 



While it is often advisable before oiling to give the breeding 

 place time to dry up, such a plan is not entirely safe. As a gen- 

 eral policy it is best to delay oiling only until enough work for 

 one day has accumulated. In this way there is little danger of 

 being caught unprepared by a sudden rush of work, and like- 

 wise there is no costly running about on small jobs. Of course, 

 where pupee have been reported, the breeding must be destroyed 

 immediately. 



An unconscious attitude of neglect can be found among many 

 men engaged in mosquito work. If the breeding is slight, if it 

 is somewhat inaccessible, if there are no dwellings in the im- 

 mediate vicinity, if there is something else to do, if it looks like 

 rain, if it looks like a drought, if any one of a dozen conditions 

 exist, at once there is an excuse for not oiling. This attitude is 

 entirely too prevalent, it is decidedly not mosquito extermination, 

 and it leads to constantly increasing neglect. There is no prac- 

 tical line that can be drawn between safe and unsafe breeding. 

 Breeding should be destroyed whenever and wherever found, 

 unless it is a physical and financial impossibility to do so. 



Wherever it is practical, breeding places should be perma- 

 nently abated rather than oiled. The value of such permanent 

 abatement needs no discussion. Filling in breeding places is, of 

 course, the best method to follow. Where the cost is prohibitive, 

 however, draining must be restorted to. The great danger in 

 draining operations lies in placing culverts and other outlets too 



