10 PKEVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 



certain remedial and preventive operations. One of the most inter- 

 esting of this series was performed on the estate of Mr. W. D. Guthrie. 

 By means of a dike and a sluice gate a large marsh area was drained, 

 and the breeding of the salt-marsh mosquitoes was stopped. A 

 stretch of 75 acres of land was reclaimed and the soil was disintegrated 

 and properly treated, with the result that cabbages, turnips, and 

 celery were grown at the close of the summer of 1902. 



The year of 1902 was also marked by the first effort to secure anti- 

 mosquito legislation from one of the United States. The state ento- 

 mologist of New Jersey, Dr. John B. Smith, backed by an intelligent 

 public sentiment, tried to secure the passage of a bill by the state 

 legislature during the winter of 1901-2, appropriating $10,000 for 

 the purpose of investigating the possibilities of the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of the salt-marsh mosquito and other kinds of mosquitoes. The 

 bill passed one branch of the legislature, but failed in the other 

 branch. The governor of the State, however, was able in other ways 

 to provide Doctor Smith with a limited sum to carry on researches. 

 In this work he discovered a number of most interesting and vitally 

 important facts concerning breeding habits of the salt-marsh mos- 

 quitoes, indicating that the breeding places of these species are more 

 or less circumscribed, and that the matter of control is by no means 

 as expensive as it appears at first sight, and it was these discoveries 

 that eventually led to the passage of the law which will be mentioned 

 later. 



Admirable community work was taken up during 1901-2 by cer- 

 tain New Jersey towns, notably South Orange, Elizabeth, Montclair, 

 Monmouth Beach, and Summit. Independent work was begun in 

 Greater New York under Doctor Lederle, and the mapping of mos- 

 quito breeding places within city limits was begun. Independently, 

 the health officers of Brooklyn, Jamaica, and Bronx Borough began 

 efficient work, while the summer resorts of Arverne and Woodmere 

 reduced the mosquito supply by intelligent operations. At Willets 

 Point intelligent and efficient work was carried out on a small scale. 

 In Massachusetts interesting and important work was done at Brook- 

 line and at Worcester. In Brookline the board of health first consid- 

 ered the work in August, 1901, and in September all the breeding 

 places of the malaria mosquito and of the other mosquitoes were 

 treated. In 1902 all pools, ponds, ditches, and other breeding places, 

 including catch-basins, were located on the town map. The approxi- 

 mate areas were determined and the number of catch-basins ascer- 

 tained. Breeding places of Culex and Anopheles, respectively, were 

 determined, and also the places where both the species were breed- 

 ing — this being done in order to ascertain the proper intervals for 

 treatment; that is, whether every two weeks or every three weeks. 

 Public dumps and other places where accidental receptacles of water 



