Proceedings of Seventh Annual Meeting 107 



Storm sewers have been constructed whereby we have drained 

 inland swamps which heretofore have been inundated, permitting 

 them, after reclamation to be used as farm land. 



After considerable pressure was brought to bear we have been 

 able to get a number of fills in progress throughout the city which 

 upon completion will make a permanent improvement. As these fills 

 are completed the necessity for maintenance is reduced on the areas 

 involved. 



As I have stated many times before, there is nothing mysterious 

 or difficult to accomplish about mosquito-extermination work. All 

 that is necessary is common sense, experience, knowledge of condi- 

 tions, a thorough belief in its possibilities, hard work, and sufficient 

 funds to obtain results. The latter part seems as hard to obtain as 

 the other qualifications put together. This is very hard to explain 

 Avhen we consider the benefits derived, which is common information 

 in this year of our Lord 1920, and the knowledge disseminated to 

 the public at large in relation to the mosquito. Just a word in rela- 

 tion to those employed in this work. To my mind a successful 

 mosquito exterminator must be imbued with the spirit (although 

 I will acknowledge that spirits are at the present time hard to obtain) 

 and the knowledge essential to the work. He must be able to judge 

 of the possibilities and firmly believe in the efficacy of the methods 

 employed. 



Reclamation work must not be confounded with mosquito-ex- 

 termination work. Reclamation work, it is true, will eliminate mos- 

 quito breeding if thoroughly done, but as such work is in most cases 

 prohibitively expensive — and a semi-reclamation job is worse than 

 useless, — I am not in favor of wasting money on it. 



There is no doubt that the present system adopted by your state 

 and others is the cheapest method of getting rid of mosquitoes — by 

 the properly constructed ditching system. This refers to the salt- 

 marsh area. It follows the line of least resistance, requires no me- 

 chanical appliances other than the ditching machines now in use, and 

 needs no supplementary oiling when done. 



The oiling work in New York in 1919 strictly confined to inland 

 swamps, ponds and pools, required the distribution of 5,000 gallons 

 of oil. There are many small inland swamps and pools that were 

 either drained or filled. 



It is very difficult to compute the value of the work. It certainly 

 must be enormous in comparison with its cost. 



