600 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



ested and took up the matter vigorously, exerting all its power to 

 secure the necessary appropriation from common council — unfortu- 

 nately without success up to the date of writing. There are no 

 engineering difficulties whatever in the Jersey City territory, and it 

 is a great pity that this municipality could not be induced to lend the 

 force of its example to the surrounding, smaller places, which have 

 small marsh areas, requiring only a few hundreds of dollars to clear. 



The common belief that the low, swampy area along the Hackensack 

 is a great mosquito-breeding place is so firmly fixed and so frequently 

 stated that both Mr. Grossbeck and Mr. Brehme were sent in at various 

 times and at various points during the season; returning always with 

 the report that while mosquitoes were j)lentiful enough in the vegeta- 

 tion they were almost exclusively salt marsh forms and none was 

 bred locally. That the Hackensack meadows abound in mosquitoes is 

 therefore without doubt; but that they breed where they occur is not 

 true. It is the belief that the mosquito-breeding area is practically 

 co-extensive with the lowland swamp area, which makes most men of 

 affairs consider the problem so great and hopeless that they simply 

 decline to consider it at all. 



I have had little difficulty in convincing members of boards of 

 health, and especially the medical members, and a great deal has been 

 accomplished locally under the Duffield amendment; but when the 

 matter of securing appropriations liad been brought up, the holders of 

 the municipal purse strings refused to consider the matter seriously, 

 or claimed that the whole thing was a State affair. Many hours of 

 many days were spent by me in calling upon those in authority and 

 urging action. 



It has been mentioned that at times part of the New Jersey mos- 

 quito supply came from Staten Island, N. Y., and it was objected 

 that, even if the New Jersey communities did their share, they would 

 nevertheless be subject to attack from their political and geographical 

 neighbor. This matter was discussed by the Conference Committee on 

 Mosquitoes at Newark, and a committee was appointed to meet with 

 Dr. Darlington, of the New York Board of Health, in an effort to 

 secure the co-operation of that body to clear out at least the western 

 shore of Staten Island. Dr. Darlingi:on proved receptive and the mat- 

 ter was finally referred to Dr. Alvah H. Doty, State quarantine officer, 

 and one of the members of the city board. After some correspondence 

 with Dr. Doty and a trip along the shores in company with the 



