Milford chronicle., 1936-05-22

With over two and a half years Ol
mosquito control work completed
southern Delaware views with nc
particular concern the recent dole
ful prediction of DR.. Alfred Weed
prominent entOmOlOgist. speaking
before the American Institute of San
itation, that the coming summer may
give the eastern United States the
most severe invasion of mosquitoes
in thirty years, it was stated recent
~ by the executive head of the mos
quito control organization, w. 5.
COrkran.
DR.. Weed based his prediction on
the statement that large amounts OF
surface water have made breeding
conditions unusually favorable. Ii
Is exactly this condition that the Del
aware Mosquito Control Commission
utilizing the labor of four CCC
Camps, has been rapidly reducing to
minimum since the beginning OF
the program, October 2, 1888.
The majOrity of Delaware mOsqui-
toes come from the broad salt mar
shes edging the Delaware Bay and
the Atlantic Ocean, and the major
attention of the CCC labOrers has
been devoted to scientifically INSTALL
ing bitches in these lOwlands. that
tides may ebb and flow therein, and
mosquito breeding surface water be
prevented from accumulating on the
marshes. To date. SIs million feet,
or over 900 miles of bitches of var
iOus widths have been installed to
practically eliminate breeding from
As, 800 acres of marshland. The in
stallatiOn of this amount of bitches
in such a short time. employing sole
ly CCC labor, and utilizing no ma
chinery. was looked upon at the re-
cent Mosquito determination Con-
ference at Atlantic City as an out
standing record.
In each of the two past summers
since starting extensive control work
in Delaware, mosquitoes have been
appreciably reduced; despite I'M
usually rainy weather during the
spring and summer of 1885, the daily
mosquito census" by electric traps
showed practical elimination of the
pests. The traps. located at strate-
gic positions throughout the state,
nightly attracted and drew TO their
death in cyanide chambers an aver
age cross section of the mosquito
population of the area. Each nights
catch was classified and counted by
the entOmOlogist of the University
OF Delaware Agriculture Department,
thereby asceTtaining, by Identifying
the species, where the major breed
ing occurred for the breeding habits
OF each specie are known.
May home owners reported that
since the control program had be-
come effective they found themselves
able to get new enjoyment out OF
their lawns. flower gardens. and
summer houses. and were able to
spend time Out-Of-dOOrs without be-
ing mOlested by a single mosquito;
one house owner even stated that
she had not bothered to replace
porch which had been damaged by
the previous winter storms, and had
suffered no discOmfOrts Os a result.
MOsQuitOless military maneuvers
were experienced last summer for
the first time by Delaware National
at their encampment at
Bethany Beach. which is surrounded
by broad salt marshes. According
to Colonel George J. Schultz, Camp
they saw only one or
two OF the pests during their two
weeks stay.
II has been the policy of the mo-
squitO control workers TO install
bitches in lOwly acres so that the /
tides may ehb and flow therein, thus /
ly preventing stagnant wafer. draw
ing OFF surface-accumulated water. |
and allowing the fish to swim into |
the bitches and devour the larvae. /
Only in the rarest instances have |
hey resOrted to spraying.
While the major purpose of the |
control campaign has been !
10 increase the comfort of the citi- |
.ens and summer visitors of Della
ware, there have been numerous |
1ther beneficial. and not wholly an
.icipated results. Dairymen in the (
BrOadkill River section. near Lewes. |
attributed a considerable Increase in
milk production directly to the fact
hat their cows were able to Craze
in the meadows nnmO-
ested by mosquitoes. whereas before
he control program the animals
lsed to make the nights and days
lideOus with their panied lowing and
heir frenzied rubbing against the
larn and pasture gates to try to rid
themselves of the pests.
Tomato growers credited a 209o
Increase in tomato yield to the fact
hat pickers were no longer driven