The log cabin Democrat., 1909-10-04
Pest Is Driven from Five Pop
 uIous New Jersey Counties.
At Outset Head of Experiment Station Received Little but Ridicule-Re- suits Have Won Many En-
 thusiastic Supporters.

tHuSidStiC oupPo' Sci D.
 Trenton, N. J.-Prof. John B. Smith, head of the New Jersey state ento- mological experiment station, has just finished a tour of inspection over five counties in the state where lowlands, salt marshes and meadows have been ditched to rid them of the mosquito pest. Prof. Smith inter- viewed many residents of these coun- ties, and the unanimous testimony was that the salt water mosquito, where the ditching has been done, has been practically eliminated.
 The counties which have thus been rid of the pest are the most populous of the state-Essex. Union, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean. The work of | drainage was begun six years ago | amid a chorus of derision from incred- ulous scoffers, who said Jersey would never be aught but the mosquito state"
 | Miles upon miles of ditching, how ever, which Prof. Smiths late trip showed to be still free of obstruction and doing tn. work it was intended to do, have changed these doubters into enthusiastic supporters. Prof. Smith at first had to carry on the work practically alone, but now he has the active cooperation of local 1 associations of taxpayers in almost | every town, village and hamlet bene- l fted
 All the ditches were expected to do was to drain off the surface water. This they did, and where formerly anyone walking across the marshe would step into water from two to three inches deep, there is now dry surface. Moreover, fine crops Of , marsh hay are now gathered and cured weeks earlier than formerly.
 Prof. Smith has learned much about the life history of the salt marsh mos quito of which students of the pest are ignorant. It was supposed that the | mosquito was bred in water; that the eggs were laid there, and that the larva developed there. Through ex- perimental work it has developed that the eggs are always laid in soft mud and that if this dries up the eggs are not matched until this surface is flooded by water again.
 It was formerly an erroneous be- , lief that the mosquito remained with in a short distance of the place where it was matched On the contrary, 1t | is often carried from twenty to forty miles from the breeding place by fa- voring wind.
 The following places were visited l by Prof. Smith, and citizens in each | place testified that the mosquito, for merly a swarming pest was now prac- | tically extinct: The Newark meadows, | Cheesquake, Marquis creek and Whale creek, Cliffwood, Matawan creek, Newport creek, Atlantic High lands. Rumson, Shrewsbury, Red i Bank, Monmouth beach Pleasure Bay Port au Peck. the Manasquan marshes Seagirt, Brielle and Point Pleasant at the head of Barnegat bay.
 Col. Edwin w. Hine. who has had experience with the mosquitoes at the state encampmert at Seagirt for years, said that while the Fifth New 1 Jersey regiment was in camp this l summer there were hardly enough | mosquitoes to tell about, while former ly the soldiers had suffered greatly The Rumson and Monmouth Beach associations were so enthusiastic over he good work that they raised fund 9f S2,700 to aid Prof. Smiths cam
 paign.
 A striking contrast was observed at
 }arnegat Pier. The marshes near nat point have not been drained, and
 pools of water can be seen scattered all over them. The long grass swarms
 with mosquitoes To prove that the
 nools were breeding places, Prof.
 ;mith filled a glass with water from ne of the pools, and then small net
 vas dragged through the pool. and
 he contents emptied into the glass,
 The result was mosquito larva in
 arge numbers. The Barnegat bay
 ection had been mapped out for
 rainage this fall, but the legislature
 made no appropriation and the work
 will not be done this year,
 | Altogether in the six years since | he campaign began 10000 acres of
 ersey meadow and salt water land 1 ave been drained. at an expense of ve dollars rar acre. Herman H.