Milford chronicle., 1933-10-20
WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT
MOSQUITO WORK
(Communicated)

(Communicated)
Editor of the Milford Chronicle
Milford, Delaware.
Dear Sir:-Last weeks issue ol
your paper featured the article
about the mosquito control and the
heading thereon "One Mosquito
Control Group Locates Here" is
most appropriate as that is just
about as many mosquitoes as will
be controlled by the expenditure Of
this $300,000.00 aside from the per-
manent damage which may result
from the project.
Reading this article one would
believe that we were to be the recip-
tents of great blessings but it does
not give enough details of the meth
ods by which this is to be accom-
plished.
Listed below are number OF
questions, the answers of which
when published would prove inter-
esting to the owners of property ad-
jaeent to the river, bay and ocean
shores from Wilmington to the
Maryland line:
Are she marsh lands along the
river, bay and ocean to be drained
to the point where water does not
stand on them and become stagnant,
if so can this work be performed
without the permission of the own
ers of the property?
Would the draining of these areas
eradicate the mosquitoes or would
it be necessary to treat or cover the
water which might stand from nor
NAL rainfall with oils or chemicals? ?
In what tidewater section of New
Jersey has this mosquito control
been successfully carried out, has it
been a permanent control and is it
effective at this time?
Is w. S. Cochran, the director ap-
pointed by Governor Buck, citizen
of the State of Delaware or is Hen
lopen Acres, the plot of land which
he is developing for sale merely his
summer home and his legal resi-
dence Millburn, N. j.?
Has this project been investigated
and does it have the approval of the
State Game and Fish Commission?
If it were physically possible to
drain. the marsh lands so there
would be no stagnant water, this
would destroy the trapping indus
try which is quite an important
source of income to the residents of
this area. This would also result in
destroying tens of thousands of
acres on which thousands of wild
ducks nest and raise annually and
on which thousands of migratory
ducks visit each year on their south
ward journey. Duck shooting is one
of the few sports left in Delaware.
This would wipe it out.
Since it is impossible to drain AL
the water off, it would be necessary
to treat that which remained with
oils or chemicals to destroy the lar
va which of course would eventually
reach the streams which flow into
the river or bay. This would de-
stroy great numbers of fish and pos
sibly ruin the oyster beds. This ma
terial used in sufficient quantity to
destroy the larva would also prevent
the grazing of hundreds of cattle on
these marsh lands and likewise pre-
vent the harvesting of marsh hay.
The grazing is most important
factor and the marsh hay during the
several recent dry summers was a
life saver to farmers and dairymen
when their high land hay crops were
ruined by drought, thousands of tons
being cut here in Sussex county.
More interest is being aroused
each year by sportsmen in the State
for the preservation and propaga-
tion of game which of course calls
for the expenditure of some money
and this project would undo and
work directly against all of the
work and plans of the Game Com
mission and the Game Association
by literally destroying thousands of |
birds.
There is a tendency in these times |
to grasp new things without giving |
them due consideration and the tenn |
porary benefits which may be en-
joyed by the communities in which |
these camps are to be built and |
during the winter may
turn out to be the most expensive |
and disastrous experiments they |
have ever known.
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