Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-05-19
Put MOSQUITO
PEST up TO
HEALTH BOARD
Prof. ]. B. Smith Has Had
inspection Made OF Msa-
doWs HereabOut.
FINDS THOSE AT MAURER
IN BAD SHAPE

1uS hN EN14NG REWO IeCelNeU
this morning letter enclosing a
communication from Prof. j. B.
Smith, which throws considerable
light on the mosquito pest that has
been troubling this city for the past
few weeks and which we referred to
editorially short time ago. Prof
Smith writes very business-hke
communication on the subject and
puts the matter squarely up to the
local Board of Health. He says he
has had an inspection made of this
district and finds the trenches in the
neighboring meadows In good condi-
tion with the exception OF the Boyn-
ton Beach tract and the Maurer
meadows. The latter he finds par
7ticularly bad and says there is where
the mosquitoes that are troubling
Perth Amboy at present are coming
from. He recommends prompt ac-
tion on the part of the health author
tiles to prevent the Matching out Of
the batch now on the meadows, and
which will be ready for wings with
in short time.
AS this Is a matter that concerns
the welfare and comfort OF every Cit
izen, the proper authorities should
lose no time in remedying the evils
which exist.
The communication received. to-
gether with the copy of Prof, Smiths
letter to the Board OF Health on the
subject, is here as follows:
EDITOR EVENING NEWS:
| am in receipt of the enclosure
from Professor John b Smith, ento-
mologist, with whom | had an inter-
view on Tuesday last in regard to the
recent appearance of mosquitoes in
this. city, as reported in your paper.
A copy has been sent to the Board of
Health, but Professor Smith thinks
that sit might not be inadvisabie' to
have it published in the EVENING
NEWS as an explanation, of condi-
tions.
]. c. KEARNY.
May 10, 1910.
Prof. Smiths Letter,
Dear Sir:--A copy of the PERTH
AMBOY EVENING NEWS of May IL
was sent me few days ago and this
reported flight of mosquitoes in
Perth Amboy ! sent one of my in
spectors over the area in order to de-
termine where they came from.
The inspection WAS begun at the
Cheesequake Meadow, which, in
times past. was one OF the chief
sources of supply for South and
Perth Amboy. Conditions there
we're found very good There had
been some bitches blocked by the
gunners to furnish feeding ground
for. birds and few mosquitoes had
bred there, but not enough to get
away from the meadow. The Sc
warren meadow was found to be in
good shape and practically no mos
quitoes breeding there.
Trouble was found on the Boynton
Beach meadow. This was originally
drained in the course of our work
and subsequently when Woodbridge
creek was deepened by dredging
work the material taken from the
creek was dumped on the meadows,
the outlets of all our bitches were
filled up and the conditions made
worse than they were before we
started to drain. The attention Of
the local Board of Health was called
to this matter, but no action was ta-
ken by them. One brood of mosQui-
toes got out on this meadow. An
other brood is in the pools. These
will be out in the course of week
or ten days, but the brood is small
one, and probably that will be the
end of the breeding on this area.
am informed that filing is going on
here, which will in the course of the
present season probably do away
with this breeding place.
The worst place, however, and the
one from which Perth Amboy prob
ably gets its chief supply of mos
quitoes, is on the Maurer meadow
belonging to Perth Amboy. This
area was drained by the Maurer
Company, under orders from your
board and the work was done by pri-
vate contract. The bitches were not
as deep as those ordinarily put in by
us and they have Swallowed some
what, and many of them are badly
blocked. Drainage, therefore, is
very irregular and the meadow is in
very bad condition. A very heavy
brood got out and this is the one
that has spread over your town
earlier in the season. At the pres
ent time a large percentage of the
pools on this meadow are again
packed with wrigglers, and within a
week there will be another flight
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