212 N. J. Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 348 



The Salt-Marsh Mosquito Preeminent 



Obviously it seems that anti-mosquito work should be pushed 

 where it is most greatly needed, and that means that the main work 

 will be done within the coastal zone. Here, as was previously 

 pointed out, the principal problem is the control of the salt-marsh 

 mosquitoes. For a number of years, therefore, the principal anti- 

 mosquito efforts have been devoted to this phase of the mosquito 

 problem. 



The methods of handling this problem on the salt marshes of New 

 Jersey, amounting to more than 296,000 acres, are well developed 

 and have been set forth in various publications of the station. The 

 work of treating the salt marshes for mosquito control has now cov- 

 ered more or less completely the territory from the northern end of 

 the state as far south as lower Barnegat Bay. In addition to this 

 the whole ocean front of Atlantic County has been treated and the 

 area lying about Cape May City and northward thereof for a dist- 

 ance of several miles has been drained. All told, there yet remains 

 of the salt marshes to be treated something over 150,000 acres. The 

 vast bulk of this acreage is located in the southern counties of Ocean, 

 Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem ; but some remains 

 still to be done in certain northern counties, notably Middlesex, Hud- 

 son, and Bergen. 



Experience has shown that the cost of this operation is about 

 $5.00 an acre representing a total expenditure, if pursued on a large 

 scale, of about $750,000. 



Legal Organizations for Suppressing Mosquitoes 



There exist in the state today three organizations created by force 

 of law for doing this work. The first is the state and local boards of 

 health which in connection with general health work are empowered 

 to compel the abatement of any water in which mosquito breeding 

 occurs. The second is the New Jersey State Experiment Station 

 and the third is the county mosquito extermination commission. The 

 State Experiment Station has for its phase of the work the task of 

 treating the salt marshes for the control of the salt-marsh mos- 

 quitoes as rapidly as the funds appropriated to it by the state will per- 

 mit, and it has the further duty of furnishing information and 

 plans for the work to the county mosquito extermination commis- 

 sions. The field of the county commission is the suppression of the 

 mosquitoes which breed within the boundaries of the county which 

 it serves. So far as legal enactment goes the county commission 



