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done under State supervision. It is hoped sooner or later to 

 secure State appropriations for mosquito work 



As to actual control work : Leaving out of consideration 

 early and perhaps abortive efforts, the first organized work on 

 any considerable scale was undertaken in 191 2. In that year 

 the cities of New Haven, South Norwalk and Stamford, and the 

 towns of West Haven, Fairfield and Darien, either officially 

 or through voluntary associations, drained some 2,700 acres of 

 salt marsh at a cost of some $26,000. Since 191 2, except for the 

 town of Greenwich, which did considerable work in 191 3 and 

 '14, most of our work has been supplemental and for mainte- 

 nance, the last having been well looked after. 



The past summer, owing to the impetus of the new law and 

 a bumper crop of mosquitoes, a large amount of pioneer work 

 has been done. Detailed surveys and estimates have been made 

 in the towns of Branford, Guilford, Westbrook, Old Saybrook, 

 Oild Lyme and Stonington. Most of these surveys were made 

 under State auspices, the rest by local organizations. We have 

 used a uniform system for making these surveys, and they are 

 intended to serve as a matter of permanent record and as a basis 

 for the letting of contracts for ditching. Already contracts have 

 been let for drainage work in Guilford and part of Branford, 

 and it is expected that before spring much more work will be 

 authorized. In addition, the town of Greenwich is expecting to 

 authorize more work, and will probably organize a mosquito 

 extermination service somewhat on the line of the New Jersey 

 county organizations. The State Experiment Station has been 

 carrying on intensive experiments to determine the rapidity of 

 change in character of vegetation on salt marshes following 

 mosquito drainage, and has secured some very interesting re- 

 sults. It is hoped to continue these experiments, on a larger scale. 



Just a few figures to summarize our work: The total salt- 

 marsh area of the State is approximately 22,000 acres. The 

 area already ditched is approximately 3,200 acres, or 14.5 per 

 cent, of the total. The area for which drainage contracts have 

 been let is 2,700 acres, or 12.7 per cent, of the total area. The 

 area for which complete surveys have been made and for which 



