14 LOSS THROUGH INSECTS THAT CARRY DISEASE. 
his Labor. To the farmers it may mean the Lose of their crops by 
want of cultivation. It will always mean the noneultivation or 
imperfect cultivation of thousands of acres of valuable land. It 
mean- a Listless activity in the world's work that count- mightily 
against the wealth-producing power of the people. Finally it means 
from two to five million or more days of sickness with all its attendant 
distress, pain of body, and mental depression to some unfortunate 
individual- of those live States." 
Referring to the Delta region in Mississippi, which lies along the 
Mississippi River in the western part of tin* State of Mississippi, 
extending from the mouth of the Yazoo River north nearly to the 
Tennessee line, Herrick says that it is the second best farming land 
in the world, having- only one rival, and that i- the valley of the Nile. 
" Still." says Herrick. " this land to-day. or at least much of it. can 
be bought at ten to twenty dollars an acre. Thousands of acres in 
this region are still covered with the primeval forest, and the bears 
and deer still roaming there offer splendid opportunities for the 
chase, as evidenced by the late visit of our Chief Executive to those 
regions for the purpose of hunting. Why is not this land thickly 
settled? And why is it not worth from two to five hundred dollars 
an acre? If it produces from one to two or more bale- of cotton to 
an acre, and it does, it ought to be worth the above named figures. 
A bale of cotton to the acre can be produced for thirteen dollar-, 
leaving a net profit of twenty to forty dollars for each bale, or forty 
to eighty or more dollars for each acre of land cultivated. Moreover, 
this land has been doing that for year-, and will do it for year- to 
come, without the addition of one dollar's worth of fertilizer. Land 
that will produce a net profit of forty to eighty dollars an acre is a 
splendid investment at one, two, or even three hundred dollar- an 
acre. Yet this land does not sell in the market for anything like so 
much, because the demand is not sufficient, for white people positively 
object to living in the Delta on account of malarial chills and fevers. 
A man said to me not long ago that he would go to the Delta that day 
if he were sure that his own life or the lives of the members of his 
family would not be shortened thereby. There are thousands exactly 
like him. and the only reason that these thousands do not go there to 
buy lands and make homes is on account of chills and fevers. But 
there is a time coming, and that not far distant, when malaria in the 
Delta will not menace the would-be inhabitants. When that time 
come- it will be the richest and most populous region in the United 
States." 
Malaria is a preventable disease. It is pos-il>le for the human 
species to live and to thrive and to produce in malarious region-, but 
at a very considerable inconvenience and expense. The Italian inves- 
tigators, and especially Celli and his staff', have shown that by 
