466 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



so that it had no adequate fall and formed a series of small stag- 

 nant pools where mosquito larvae were found in abundance. In 

 pursuance of the Duffield Act, the owners of the land were noti- 

 fied to abolish the nuisance. The village engineer ran levels and 

 a grade was established which would insure a regular flow, and 

 the owners were notified to open the portion of the stream within 

 their land down to the grade. The board ofl^ered to do this work 

 under its own supervision for those of the owners who desired 

 it, and as several of them are non-residents, the offer was gen- 

 erally accepted and the work is now going forward. The expense 

 will be about $600. and it will transform a damp and swampy 

 woodland into attractive building lots. It will redeem about 

 twenty acres of mosquito breeding area. 



"A statement of the methods and cost of the work may be of 

 value. A regular gang of workmen was organized under an 

 intelligent foreman and placed in the service of the local com- 

 nfittees, who soon became skillful at the work. Where a hillock 

 was found conveniently located, it was cut down and the earth 

 used to fill in neighboring holes. The ditches are at distances 

 varying with the character of the ground. They have a large 

 V cross-section and do not easily fill up. When they cannot be 

 connected with a running stream, they are led to a common 

 center at the lowest point, where the water gathers, and can 

 readily be oiled. One tract of four acres was drained for $40; 

 another containing three and one-half acres cost $85. The aver- 

 age is about $25 per acre. The methods of oiling have also been 

 much improved and cheapened. A sprayer working by pneu- 

 matic pressure, such as is used for trees of a size to be readily 

 carried by one man, has been found to be very effective and 

 economical in operation. The elimination of 17,000 cesspools by 

 the introduction of sewerage and the removal of swamps by 

 drainage will greatly reduce the necessity for oil. It will prob- 

 ably, however, be several years before all breeding places are 

 entirely abolished in low lands for which there is no outlet, so 

 that oiling will still be required, though to a much smaller extent 

 than heretofore. (Signed) S. E. Allen." 



This report is instructive and, to one acquainted with the facts, 

 as eloquent for what it does not say as for the progress recorded. 

 There is no word of the opposition, active and passive, that was 

 encountered; no word of the infinite patience required to secure 

 subscriptions ; no word of the ridicule and abuse when swarms 

 of mosquitoes appeared from no one knew where, before the 

 influence of the salt marsh was understood and appreciated. 



