DRAINAGE MEASUEES. 47 



In addition to this permanent work, there was some oiling done on the marsh where 

 the ditching and filling work were not rapid enough to keep ahead of a developing 

 brood. The total amount of oil applied, however, did not exceed 400 gallons, and 

 most of this was applied to the large tidal creeks in the reclaimed land opposite San 

 Mateo. The remainder was applied to pools where wrigglers appeared after a high 

 tide, and., the brood being checked, we had until the next high tide in which to make 

 the pools permanently safe. 



During 1908, 200 acres of salt-meadow land on the shore of Little 

 Neck Bay, between Bay City and Douglaston, Long Island, were 

 drained by simple ditching measures. This work was done at the 

 instigation of the Bay Side Park Association and the Douglaston 

 Civic Association, both associations forming a joint committee to 

 exterminate mosquitoes. They went to the board of health of Flush- 

 ing and enlisted its aid under a new law which permits the board of 

 health to enforce the drainage of mosquito-breeding places. The 

 board of health issued its orders to the owners of the meadow lands, 

 commanding them to drain their properties within ten days. The 

 movement was most successful, and by October 24, 1908, 75 miles of 

 ditches had been dug on the Flushing meadows, and the work was 

 still going on. 



As early as 1900 excellent antimosquito work was done on Staten 

 Island, New York, by the Richmond County Club, under the leader- 

 ship of Mr. W. C. Kerr, in the course of which considerable drainage 

 of fresh-water swamps above the seacoast places was carried on with 

 great success and at a minimum of expense. This work, accom- 

 panied with the use of kerosene on the larger ditches, resulted in 

 complete relief from the attacks of the fresh-water mosquitoes, which 

 during the early summer had previously been always numerous and 

 ferocious. But, down the bluffs, below the cliffs, there was a large 

 area of salt marsh, and in the higher portions of this marsh land the 

 salt-marsh mosquitoes bred abundantly and flew up the bluff in 

 swarms to take the place of the fresh-water mosquitoes. An at- 

 tempt was made, by members of the club, to buy this land and drain 

 it, but they were unsuccessful. A few years later the meadow was 

 taken up by Doctor Doty, the health officer of New York, who even- 

 tually began drainage measures, which have been carried out with 

 persistence and effect. Some of the most effective of any drainage 

 work has been done in the course of these operations. 



THE NEW JERSEY WORK. 



The most interesting and probably the most important work of 

 this character that has been done anywhere in the world was perhaps 

 that undertaken by the State of New Jersey. The writer, in an 

 address on ''The Recent Progress and Present Conditions of Economic 



