Progress of Anti-Mosquito Work in Connecticut 



B. H. Walden 

 Assistant Entomologist, New Hawen, Conn. 



The amount of mosquito drainage work which has been done in 

 Connecticut covers approximately 6,500 acres of sak marsh. The 

 larger part of this work was done between 1912 and 1918 and with 

 the exception of about 50 acres, was paid for by money raised by 

 voluntary contributions. 



Following the natural curve of Long Island Sound and disre- 

 garding the irregularities of the coast of Connecticut, it is about 

 ICQ miles from New York State to Rhode Island. Starting at New 

 York State, the marshes along this line have been ditched for a 

 distance of 16 miles to the town of Westport, where there is a 

 5-mile stretch of marshes which has not been ditched. East of 

 Westport is Fairfield, where the marshes have all been ditched, a 

 distance of six miles. Beyond Fairfield are three towns extending 

 12 miles in which the marshes have not been systematically ditched. 

 This brings the line to the town of Orange, where the marshes have 

 been ditched in Orange, New Haven and the western part of East 

 Haven — about six miles. This is followed by about three miles in 

 the eastern portion of East Haven and the western part of Bran- 

 ford which has not been ditched. From the Branford River through 

 Guilford and Madison, a distance of 15 miles, the marshes have all 

 been drained. 



From the town of Clinton to the Rhode Island line, a distance of 

 34 miles, the only ditching that has been done is on an area of about 

 60 acres in Old Saybrook. This represents about 43 per cent of the 

 coast ditched, while the actual acreage drained is approximately 30 

 per cent of salt-marsh area of the state. 



LEGISLATION 



In 191 5 the Legislature passed a law providing for the elimination 

 of mosquitoes, placing the work under the director of the Connecti- 

 cut Agricultural Experiment Station. This law did not carry any 

 appropriation, but provided the authority for doing the work when 

 the necessary funds were raised. The law also placed the mainten- 

 ance of any work done under the law on the" town in which the 

 marshes were located. 



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