42 PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 



recommends a modification in the shape of 30 to 40 grains of iodin 

 to the ounce of saponated petroleum, stating, "A few drops rubbed 

 in a mosquito bite or wasp sting allay the pain instantaneously." 



Rev. R. W. Anderson, rector of St. Thomas and St. Dennis, wrote 

 us from Wando, S. C, some years ago, that he has often found that 

 by holding his hand to a hot lamp chimney the irritation of mosquito 

 punctures would be instantly reUeved. 



DRAINAGE MEASURES. 



The drainage of swamp areas for agricultural or other industrial 

 reasons needs no argument nor treatment here. The value of re- 

 claimed swamp land for various purposes is treated somewhat in 

 extenso in a later section, "Value of reclaimed land." The drain- 

 age of swamp areas, primarily in order to improve sanitary condi- 

 tions and to reduce the annoying scourge of mosquitoes, which in 

 itself frequently prevents the proper development of neighboring 

 regions, is in operation and needs no argument; but it is, neverthe- 

 less, of recent undertaking. Thus, in drainage a number of things 

 are accomplished, and where drainage is accompanied by filling, still 

 other results are to be reached. Drainage on a small scale for the 

 purpose of doing away with mosquitoes has been practiced for a long 

 time. In "Mosquitoes," page 198, the writer shows how, by an ex- 

 penditure of $40 for drainage in the summer of 1900 in a Maryland 

 village, malaria practically ceased to exist, although the previous 

 summer there had been one or more cases in every family in. the 

 district. 



One of the editors of the Scientific American, Mr. Frederick K. 

 Beech, is quoted (loc. cit., pp. 208-209) as follows: 



In the town of Stratford, Conn., where I have resided for the past forty-five years, 

 we have been greatly plagued by swarms of mosquitoes, so great, in fact, that the 

 ''Stratford mosquito" became a well-known characteristic of Stratford. We have 

 in the southern part of our town, bordering on the sound, several acres of marsh land 

 or meadow, which would become periodically overflowed with water in the summer 

 and a tremendous breeding ground for mosquitoes, and this plague to the town con- 

 tinued until about 1890-91, when a party from Bridgeport, Conn., purchased a large 

 section of the meadows and began to protect them by a dike, both on the north and 

 south ends, which shut out the water. In addition to this, numerous drain ditches 

 were made which helped to carry the water away. The result of this work made 

 the land perfectly dry and spongy, so that after a rain no pools collected on the sur- 

 face of the meadow and the creation of the mosquitoes was prevented. The trans- 

 formation was so remarkable that people outside the town would hardly believe 

 that it had been effected, and a year or two later the town voted a special appro- 

 priation of $2,000 to the party who undertook to build the dike and render the 

 meadows mosquito-proof. It had also the effect of placing on the market a large 

 tract of land elevated from the sound, for residences, and as many as twenty-five 

 summer residences have been built upon this land bordering on the sound, and the 

 number is increasing each year. They are free from mosquitoes, so that the opera- 

 tion shows the economy and the benefit that will result by using some means for 

 eliminating the mosquito-breeding pools. 



