Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-05-06
BELIEVE D|KES
!. WILL FREE CITY
OF MOSQUITOES
Inspection of Work Prompts
Commissioners to Wax En-
thusiastic Over Result.
PEST PROBLEM SOLVED;
OTHER METHODS FAILED
Drainage of Meadows Very
Well Done-Ground Prac-
tically Dry.

Members of the Essex County Mos
quito Commission and sanitation ex-
perts experimenting the Essex and
Union campaign against mosquitoes
yesterday afternoon made three
hour inspection of the latest bulwark
against the pests, the nearly three
miles of dykes built or building in
the Newark Bay district of Essex and
Union counties.
The commissioners expressed the
opinion on their return that the
dykes are the solution they've been
seeking, and declared that the sue
cess Of this years work warrants
serious consideration of a further ap-
preparation of $1,000 to completely
dyke all the Essex county meadows
and end the breeding of salt marsh
mosquitoes in the county. They be-
lieved this will free Essex county
from mosquitoes, especially as ad-
iacent counties are awaking to the
Importance of the anti-mosquito
fight.
Dry Meadows Encountered.
During the entire period of yester-
days investigation not a mosquito
was seen, in any guise whatever,
egg, "wriggler'' or on the wing,
despite the fact that the May brood
was due a week ago and has ap-
peared in other counties and in small
numbers in Essex. Meadows impas-
sable last year for water and mud
were trodden without shoes being
wet. Rubber boots thoughtfully sup
piled at commission headquarters In
the Kinney building were only bur-
den. Excepting that the surface
gave" like rubber, the inspection
party walked not on meadowland,
but on farmland The dykes were
given the credit for this.
The party consisted of DIR. Ralph
H. Hunt, president; Spencer Miller
vice president, and John W. Dobbins,
chief inspector, all of the Essex
county commission; James e. Brooks,
of Glen Ridge, consulting engineer
for the Essex and Union commissions,
and Chief Inspector Russell w. Gies,
of the Union county commission.
Keeping the meadowland free from
water is the principle in dealing with
salt marsh mosquitoes, and the de-
gree of success of the dykes and
draining and tide-gate systems evi-
denced by the condition of the
meadows resulted in the expression
of satisfaction with the progress of
the work and optimism about the
outlook for mosquitoless Newark
by the members of the party on their
return.
MosquitOIess Newark. Maybe.
what mosquitoes Newark and Es-
sex county have this year won't come
from inside Essex" said DIR. Hunt.
What we have seen today demon
strates the worth of the dykes"
Whatever amount of mosquitoes
we may have will be only a frac4
tional part of what we would have
had if it hadn't been for this work."
said Mr.. Miller.
The Essex and Union county mos
quito determination work is regarded
as one of the most important fea-
lures Of the Jerseywide anti-mos-
quito fight, which in turn has been
characterized by DR.. L. o. Howard
chief entomologist of the Department
of Agriculture, and regarded as the
greatest authority in the United
States on mosquito determination, as
"the most ambitious undertaking of
its sort in the world, which the
Panama Canal sanitation work can't
compare with" according to a state
ment made by Mr.. Miller during the
tour.
The satisfaction of the commits
sioners was the greater because of the
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