200 MOSQUITOES 



any case, and entirel}^ without reference to tlie question 

 of mosquito-suppl}^, to see why swamp-land should be 

 allowed to exist. There are many large tracts of swamp- 

 land which could be drained with a comparatively slight 

 expenditure of money, and which, when once reclaimed, 

 would be of ver}" great value for agricultural purposes. 

 There is a great deal of this land in the immediate vicin- 

 ity of many large communities which suffer from the at- 

 tacks of mosquitoes and which are more or less malarious. 

 In such instances, community drainage-work should be 

 undertaken for the health and comfort of the community. 

 Misguided owners of swamp -land, if they cannot be made 

 to see that such measures would bring dollars and cents 

 into their pockets, should be coerced. 



In many cases such drainage or swamp-reclamation is 

 an expensive and a more or less complicated matter. The 

 swamps, for example, on the borders of the Great Lakes, 

 and of the smaller lakes which abound in central New 

 York, in Wisconsin, and at other points, cannot be thor- 

 oughly^ reclaimed without the expenditure of large 

 amounts of money. The same may be said for such great 

 brackish marshes as the Hackensack meadows in the 

 vicinity of New York Cit}^ and the great stretches of 

 high marsh- land, occasionally overflowed only b}^ the 

 highest tides, which exist at man^^ points along the At- 

 lantic coast. In such cases even large communities will 

 not be apt to undertake the responsibilitj^ of drainage 

 and diking measures on account of the expense. This 

 means that such measures should be adopted by States. 

 A good practical state drainage law is in these daj^s a 



