2 
certain species of mosquitoes are the most common, if not the only, 
means of conveying malarial germs and of introducing those germs into 
the human system. More recently mosquitoes have been found to be 
the cause, and so far the only proved cause, of the infection of yellow 
fever. Marshes and stagnant pools of water are the principal breeding 
places of mosquitoes, and to remove the pests such places should be 
drained and the lands reclaimed for agricultural purposes. In Italy the 
mosquito pest has been the cause of the abandonment of vast areas of 
land. The salt marshes do not seem to offer the condition necessary 
for the breeding of the few species of malaria mosquitoes existing in this 
country, but they are breeding places for vast numbers of mosquitoes of 
other species which annoy the residents and stock along much of the 
coast line and in certain places impair the property valuation. 
These recent discoveries of the cause of the infection from malaria 
and yellow fever have resulted in a renewed interest in the means of 
exterminating mosquitoes and incidentally in the drying out of marshes 
and swamps. The writings of Dr. L. O. Howard, Entomologist of this 
Department, on mosquitoes have aroused the interest of the inhabitants 
of mosquito and malaria infested localities in the subject of swamp 
reclamation; and this Bureau is in frequent receipt of letters inquiring 
about the agricultural value of the marsh lands and methods for their 
reclamation. A great many people seem willing to undertake the 
drainage of these marshes and tidal meadows if it can be shown to them 
that there will result a pecuniary profit. Therefore, to determine the 
agricultural value of these soils a trip was made to Oyster Bay, Long 
Island, where reclamation work was in progress. Samples of the soil 
and subsoil of the eel-grass mud were collected and subjected to lab- 
oratory examination. No elaborate study of the subject is possible at 
this time, so a simple statement of the conditions existing there is all 
that can be made. 
The conditions are sufficiently typical of coast marshes all along the 
Atlantic coast to warrant the application to other localities of any les- 
sons learned. The opinions of several earlier writers on the subject 
have been quoted, and it is to be hoped the value of marsh lands has 
been brought out clearly enough to direct more serious attention to 
their reclamation. Shaler! says: 
The great advantage of the northern marsh areas is found in the fact that they 
are generally near the larger centers of population of the country, where they 
will have a high value as market-garden soils or fields for the raising of hay. 
When brought into their best state such areas will, measured by the price set 
upon other lands in the same neighborhood, have a value of not less than $200 
an acre. As the total reclaimable area between New York and Portland (Maine) 
‘Sea Coast Swamps of the Eastern United States, U. 8S. Geological Survey, 6th 
Ann, Rep., p. 380. 
