Dec. 2, 1901.] THE TROPICA.L 
AGRiCULTTJRiSi:. 
381 
return, will now take tlie general charge of 
the j^rounds of the ligneous collectioDS. — Kew 
Bulletin," July-Septenibsr. 
MOSQUITO BRIGADES FOR INDIA. 
{To the Editor of the " Pioneer.") 
Sir, — The great interest taken in the subject of 
malaria and .mosquitoes by medical men and other 
persons in India suggests the hope that the tini6 
has now arrived wtien some general measures can 
be commenced to limit the propagation of mosquitoes 
in Indian cintonments, towns and plantations. The 
operations now being conducted in West Africa by 
the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, cordially 
assisted by the Governments of the various colonies 
on the coast, and by the Americans in Havana, 
demonstrate not only the advantage of such 
measures but the best means of executing them. In 
order materially to diminish the number of mosqui- 
toes in any town or cantonment it is necessary 
only to orgtinisa a Mosquito Brigade in the following 
manner:— The local Health Officers, or District 
Medical Officer, or other person interested in the 
subject, should at once engage the services of an 
intelligent head man and a sufficient staff of work- 
men, who will constitute the brigade. These should 
first be instructed how to find the larvae of mosqui- 
toes in vessels of water in the vicinity of houses, 
in pools of stagnant water on the ground, in garden 
cisterns, drains, and so on. Native age^its, carefully 
selected, will be found quite capable of learning the 
work. The brigade should now be at once employed 
in getting rid of all the collections of stagnant water 
in which mosquitoes breed within the area of opera- 
tions. Empty tin"! and bottles, broken flower-pots 
and unconsidered vessels of the kind, in most of 
which mosquitoes multiply during the rains, should 
be carefully collected from the compounds and 
back yards of houses and dumped in au assigned 
spot. Tubs or vessels of water which cannot be 
dispensed with by occupants of houses should be 
periodically emptied or treated with kerosine oil. 
Once a week will suffice. Cisterns and wells which 
are in use and are found to contain larv» should 
be treated with oil ; others should, if possible, be 
closed or filled up. Shallow rainwater pools and 
slushy areas in which larv;e occur can generally be 
e?.8ily obliterated by means of a " scratch drain " and 
a few basket-loads of gravel ; deeper pools, but rubbish 
collected from houses and covered with earth. If 
pools 02cur in the course of drains or gutters, the 
attention of the local municipality should be called to 
the fact. The oil can and especially the broom are 
most useful until more permanent work can be done. 
Small driving streams, which are often prolific sources 
of mosquitoes at the end of the rains, can be periodically 
cleared by a gang of coolies with brooms, especially 
after the last showers of the season ; but for more 
permanent effects, hollows in rocks should be filled 
with concrete and rubble. The guiding principle is 
contained in three words : no stagnant water. 
Experience in Africa shows that these operations 
are not nearly so formidable as may at first sight 
appear. It is astonishing how much can bo done 
even by a few men, when they are steadily eraployed. 
Thus it has been found in Sierra Lsone that six 
men can clear fifty houses ana remove ten cart-loads 
of broken bottles and empty tins daily. As to ways 
and means, beyond the salaries of the men the cost 
is little, a few spades, brooms, pickaxes, and kegs of 
crude petroleum sufHciog— at least under ordinary 
circumstances. The local Municipality and Public 
Works Department will generally give much assist- 
ance in the way of carts, implements and even 
labour. In my opinion, however, it is best not to 
wait for or depend solely upon Government aid, 
but at once to raise a local public subscription for the 
costs of the local brigade. In Africa the response 
haa been so immediate and so geaerous that there 
is ng ^9vi))t » healtih of^cer will be able to caiso 
similar funds almost everywhere where Europeans 
leside. EvenRoOa month will suffice to maintain a 
gang of five or six men. who will do much for any 
ordinary Indian cantonment. It is emphatically my 
opinion that the campaign against mosquitoes in 
towns can best be commenced by private enterprise 
At Lagos, for instance, the merchants subscribed 
^150 a year at ray first request; for Cape Ooast 
Gastle, a single gentleman has given £100 a year • 
while the Sierra Leone £2,000 was put down imme' 
diately by another philanthropist. 
A warning must be recorded against commencing 
operations over too large an area. It is best to beeiS 
m the immediate vicinity of the houses of Buropeana 
and other snbseribers. Experience shows that m the 
large majority of cases, where mosquitoes abound 
in a house, they are being bred close at hand Bat 
m this m.atter, as well as in the questions of the 
number of men to be employed, the superintendent 
of the operations must be guided by local conditions 
and, needless to say, nearly all medical men are now 
well enough acquainted with the subject to form their 
own plans. A Deginning once made, the work will 
shape itself as it proceeds; and it will generally 
be found that as soon as neighbouring breeding 
places are carefully removed, the winged insects will 
vanish as if by magic. In order to prevent thef* 
or imposition it is advisable to give a distinctivs 
badge to every man employed. No special legisla- 
tion 13 required ; and experience proves that the 
occupants of even the poorest houses wiiringlv 
second the efforts made to rid them of these trouble- 
some and dangerous peats. In mihtary cantonments 
the officer commanding can generally be induced to 
give the assistance of fatigue parties of men. Planters 
who suffer so frequently from malaria both in purse 
and person should at once request their medical 
otncers to commence the operations required. Seeins 
that mosquitoes are responsible far malaria, 
vellow-fever, and elephantiasis, and are a great 
source of annoyance to all, there can be little 
doubt that before many years have pa sed 
pretty general efforts will be made to get rid of 
tnem in the principal centres of civilisation in 
the tropics. It seems to me that the sooner these 
efforts are commenced the better 
^- *° 'bat if any 
medical man who is desirous of employing a mosquito 
brigade in th^ town where he is stationid, ZtTho 
finds after proper efforts that he cannot raise The 
necessary money, will represent the facts of the case 
to me. I shall probably be able to supply him with 
certam funds out of those placed at my disposaTfor 
thispurpose by the Liverpool School of Tropical 
Medicine and by several private persons. '"t"''*^ 
Ronald Ross, 5r.R.c.s., d.p.h, ° 
TT • „ .^-R-s-. Major, i.m.s'.' Retired 
Oc'o'ber 2'3.'°°"'^'' ^^'^ Sept,-&. 
PLANTING IN JAVA. 
WEEDY TEA NOT SUBJECT TO 
BLIGHTS ? 
{From a Practical PlaMer.) 
I have often intended sending yon^^vf 
Javii planting notes, as it has^ sometimes 
struck me as so peculiar that Ceylon and 
Indian men seem to icnow so little of this 
island or what she ,s doing, and the notices 
that have appeared m the T, A. in reference 
to cinchona &c. have not struck me as very 
inspired or generally near the mark iv/ 
-It IS apparently not yet generally realized 
in your part of the world.-exists in Java, 
except in an amateur way. I only hope it 
won t go on uicreasing as it has done last 
five years and that Ueyloa plantets wou'6 
