40 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



in this way: to the east, leaving Newark, by marsh. The marsh 

 really touches five counties : Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union and 

 Middlesex; and from the peculiar location of our county, in the 

 center of this district and from the habits of the mosquito, which 

 are to wend their way westward as soon as they have bred on the 

 meadows, Essex County suffers from an infestation of the whole 

 Newark Bay marsh, whether it be in our own county or in the 

 adjoining counties ; and that to me has always been the big pest in 

 Essex County, the cantator mosquito. That is our greatest prob- 

 lem.^ 



The pipiens mosquito, of course, breeds inland, in fresh water, 

 but we have our fair share of that. Fortunately we have control of 

 this pest, so no longer is the pipiens mosquito a very great pest in 

 our county. 



On the west boundary the county faces the Passaic River, Now 

 the Passaic River, as you all know, is surrounded by tremendous 

 areas of fresh water marsh, and the contour of the county is such 

 and the drainage of the watershed is such that at certain seasons 

 of the year, in floodtime, the Passaic River is not allowed to empty 

 itself properly and those marshes become flooded tremendously. It 

 was through the efforts of our own commission and Dr. Headlee 

 that we demonstrated the range of flight of the sylvestris mosquito. 

 I think the worst year we ever had was in 191 7. I traced the flight 

 of sylvestris mosquitoes in direct lines by taking mosquitoes on the 

 wing to a distance of thirteen miles. 



One of the important works we have done up in Essex County this 

 year was to try to eliminate its opportunity of breeding. We had a 

 scheme whereby we wished to increase the drainage of the Passaic 

 River by deepening the channel and so allowing these waters 

 to drain off in such a short space of time as would not permit the 

 breeding of mosquitoes. The proposition was gone into quite thor- 

 oughly and certain members of our commission were most enthus- 

 iastic in this matter. The thing took form and it was a matter of 

 one, two or three hundred thousand dollars required for the propo- 

 sition, and we went so far in the matter as to put the thing on 

 the budget for approval by the State Experiment Station, an item of 

 $50,000 for the current year to expend in this work. We found, 

 however, the Passaic River was the dividing line between Essex 

 and Morris Counties in this upper part and between Essex and Pas- 

 saic Counties in this lower part, so that one county could not 

 spend money advantageously without the expenditure of money by 



