NEW JEESEY SALT-MAESHES 337 



the marshes, the present value of the marshes, their actual value, effect of drain- 

 age on crops, the needs of salt grass and black grass, and a general consideration 

 as to how the marshes may be reclaimed and who is to pay the expense. 



" It appears that the present value of the marshes is very small. As a matter 

 of fact, they are either not taxed at all or at such a low rate as to add little to the 

 income of the taxing body. Some of the owners have never paid any taxes, and 

 in some of the to\vnships there is no record of ownerships in the assessor's hands 

 and therefore no notices can be served. It is pointed out, as an evidence of the 

 recognized worthlessness of such land, that none who work on them consider in 

 the least the results of interference with natural drainage; railroads build em- 

 bankments across them, and pay no attention to the water courses except large 

 creeks. The result is that the marsh often becomes water-logged, and a good 

 salt-hay meadow is turned into a quagmire, and not even the owner protests. 

 Eailroads cut sods from the meadows without inquiry as to the ownership of the 

 land, and holes of all sizes are scattered over the meadow, most of them uncon- 

 nected with tide water, leaving stagnant pools in which mosquitoes breed. 



" He points out that all salt marsh, of what he names the third type, which is 

 that area above mean high tide and more or less completely covered with vegeta- 

 tion, may be made to produce an income of from $10 to $40 per acre annually, 

 and that there are many hundreds of acres that do produce such incomes. 



" In considering the effect of drainage upon crops he gives a number of in- 

 teresting instances, three of which are quoted : 



" ' The Newark meadow has an area of about 3500 acres, and hay has been cut 

 on parts of it for many years. Before the 90's it was generally cut by men who 

 wished to use it as food for stock or as bedding, and some ditches were cut by 

 those who noticed that well-drained land produced much better crops than such 

 as were either too dry or water-logged. After the 90's a number of banana 

 houses opened in Newark and created a demand for salt hay to use in layering 

 the ripening fruit. This demand led to the cutting of more territory around the 

 edges of the marsh, and $5 a ton was paid for the crop. With the introduction 

 and increase of the glass industry the demand for hay, to be used as packing, in- 

 creased steadily, and yet greater areas were cut ; and in order to get at these 

 areas the cutting was done in the winter, after the meadow was frozen solid, for 

 at no other time could the product be carted off. And this was the condition 

 of affairs in 1904, when the mosquito drainage was done by the city, but under 

 the supervision of the writer. It might be said here that this drainage work was 

 not looked upon with any favor by owners and haymakers, the latter especially 

 protesting vigorously. One man threatened to smash the ditching machine, and 

 yet another promised to shoot the first man that set a spade into his property. 

 The work went on, nevertheless, and altogether nearly 400,000 feet of ditches 

 went into this 3500 acres. 



" ' The results are as follows : On the Hamburg section, where in 1903, on an 

 area nearly one mile square, about 100 tons of hay were taken off during the 

 winter, 250 tons were carted off in 1904, only one year later. The meadow has 

 hardened up right along, and in 1907 nearly the entire area was cut by machine, 

 and a crop of 800 tons, valued at $7.50 per ton, is harvested. Yet a worse place 

 was the area, about one by three-fourths of a mile, known as the Ebeling tract, 

 little more than a sunken meadow before 1904, from which no more than 30 tons 

 of usable grass were obtained. After the ditching the meadow began to rise 

 and improve, and at present writing is at least seven inches above its 1903 level, 

 and correspondingly improved in texture. The crop has increased from 30 

 tons to 600 tons, not quite so good as the other, but worth an average of $7 per 

 ton. Other areas which had theretofore produced nothing are now being cut. 



