92 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



or poody-circulating ditches, nor the much advertised checker- 

 board systemi with its waste of footage eating up in increased 

 cost of installation, of casual miaintenance and of patrol, much, 

 if not all, of what it is claimed to save. The Nassau County plan 

 is based on a common-sense application of the basic principles of 

 salt-marsh drainage to the conditions disclosed by a study of each 

 area. Whenever necessary, but only to the extent necessar}^ 

 cross ditches are installed to facilitate circulation and to provide 

 adequate drainage. 



Beginning at the New York City line and extending east, 

 Nassau County has installed to date some three and one-half 

 million feet of ditching. With the five million feet installed by 

 the City of New York in Jamaica Bay, this makes a continuous 

 strip of drained marsh from Coney Island to the village of Free- 

 port. During the coming season a maximum of one million 

 additional feet will be cut. At the conclusion of the 191 8 work, 

 Nassau County will therefore have drained over 70 per cent of 

 its south-shore marsh, sufficient to give a considerable measure 

 of relief to the western and central portions of the county. As 

 the few hundred acres of salt marsh scattered along the north 

 shore have been drained, we feel that the control of the salt- 

 marsh mosquito is almost within reach. 



Our upland problem is an extensive one. It covers some 

 three hundred square miles of territory containing over ninety 

 distinct municipalities and a great number of natural breeding 

 places, some of them offering considerable difficulties from an 

 engineering standpoint. No attempt is being made at the pres- 

 ent timie to control all types of mosquitoes. The malarial prob- 

 lem of the north shore is receiving primary attention. In four 

 communities from which reports were received the number of 

 cases of malaria up to 191 5 reached an annual total of 475. In 

 1916 these same communities reported 56 cases, and in 191 7, 

 47 cases. While a certain percentage of this astonishing reduc- 

 tion can undoubtedly be attributed to more careful diagnoses 

 and the making of blood tests, it nevertheless shows the efficacy 

 of the measures adopted to combat the disease. Plans have been 

 laid to extend the work over the entire county and to include 



