This question is an all-important one,
not only to the summer resident, but also to cities and towns
contiguous to salt-water marshes, or to swampy lands, well suited for
mosquito breeding. The answer is this: Mosquito control is possible;
actual extermination impossible with an insect that develops so
rapidly. The "Jersey mosquito," the unscientific name popularly given
to an insect of huge size and ravenous appetite, has become famous. As
a matter of fact, the species of mosquitoes found in New Jersey are no
more rare or varied than those found on Staten Island or on Long
Island. But until very recently the region lying between Jersey City
and Newark has been particularly favorable to the development of
mosquito larvae. It has been announced in the press that mosquitoes
have been driven out of the Newark meadows. This is an exaggeration,
of course, but the work accomplished there is remarkable, and other
infected regions may take heart from the marked success which has
attended the efforts of Dr. John B. Smith, Entomologist of the New
Jersey State Agricultural Experiment Station.

_Remarkable Work Accomplished_

The salt marsh lying within the limits of the city of Newark covers an
area of about 3,500 acres. It extends from a point on the Passaic
River to the mouth of Bound Creek, where it empties into Newark Bay.
Its length is about eight miles and it has an extreme width of three
miles. The Newark marsh problem was a very complex one. The meadows
are cut into many sections by the several traversing railroads and by
creeks; this materially influences the drainage. The Peddie Street
sewer crosses the marsh in a straight line of about three miles from
the city to the bay. This sewer is twenty feet wide, and its banks are
from three to four feet above the marsh land.

An experiment with machine ditching was made in 1903. The worst parts
of the marsh were selected, and about 40,000 feet of ditches were cut.
These ditches were six inches wide, two feet deep, and the drainage
was perfect from the outset. The section of meadow thus drained became
so dry in consequence that the grass growing there can now be cut by a
machine in summer, whereas formerly the hay could be mown only in
winter. The work was so successful that the Newark Common Council
appropriated $5,000 to complete the mosquito drainage of the marsh.
Of the results obtained up to this spring, Dr. Smith says:

"This Newark marsh problem was an unusual one,