i8 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



sary spirit of co-operation and enthusiasm, it will soon filter 

 down through all our field executives and all our employees. 



President BrinkErho^f — The next report in our sympo- 

 sium is from Union County, by Mr. Richards. 



Progress in Mosquito Work in Union County 



BY I.OUIS J. RICHARDS, KlvIZABETH, N. J. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen — Union County last year was 

 handicapped in three ways. In the first place, our superin- 

 tendent, Mr. Russell Gies, enlisted in the Sanitary Service of 

 the Federal Government. In the second place, our appropria- 

 tion was decreased by the board of freeholders. The third 

 handicap was the inevitable result of the second. We were 

 obliged to curtail expenditures. Conditions became so acute 

 that after October we had to reduce our force to an assistant 

 inspector and a stenographer. For the last month and a half 

 of 191 7 we had merely a stenographer. 



We still have a slight handicap this year, because we have not 

 as yet been able to get a superintendent. 



Union County, so far as the salt marsh is concerned, is divided 

 into three parts, all of which have been ditched, while two of 

 the meadows have been diked to a considerable extent. In one 

 of our meadows we have a sewage problem. To overcome that 

 we last year purchased a dredge to increase the size of the outlet 

 of this meadow. We started operations in the first part of July, 

 and towards the end of August we had to discontinue for lack 

 of funds. We intend to continue that work in 19 18. 



In regard to the fresh- water problem, there are two interest- 

 ing things I would like to miention. There is in the middle of 

 Union Township a swamp of about three hundred acres. We 

 got engineering estimates that it would cost about $16,000 to 

 drain it. In December, 19 16, and January, 1917, we appeared 

 before our board of freeholders and asked for that additional 

 amount. They appointed a committee and the matter was 

 looked into, but we could not get the funds. We hope in the 

 future to be able to eliminate this swamp. 



