REMEDIES AGAINST 31 OS QUI TOES 201 



practical necessity, and the adoption of such laws by many 

 States should be actively urged and will be furthered in 

 the immediate future. 



In the annual report of the State Geologist of New 

 Jersey for the year 1899 (Trenton, N. J., 1900), it is shown 

 that the general drainage laws of the State provide for 

 the improvement and reclamation of the wet lands of the 

 State, both tidal or salt meadows and wet fresh-water 

 lands. " On the application of at least five owners of 

 separate lots of land, included in anj^ tract of land in the 

 State Avhich is subject to overflow from freshets, or Avhich 

 is usually in a low, marshy, boggy, or Avet condition, 

 the Board of Managers of the Geological Survey is au- 

 thorized to make surveys of such tract or tracts and to 

 adopt a system of drainage for the same." The plans and 

 surveys are submitted to the Supreme Court, and com- 

 missioners to do the work are appointed by the court. 

 Under the head of " The Reclamation of the Hackensack 

 and Newark Meadows," in the same report, the improve- 

 ment of four thousand acres Avithin the corporate limits 

 of Newark is proposed, that within the corporate limits of 

 Jersey City and Elizabeth having been handled by those 

 cities. The extension of the city of Newark over the 

 marshy tract to the deep water of Staten Island Sound 

 would be made possible by reclamation-work. The de- 

 preciation of value and real estate near the meadows, and 

 the increase which would follow the reclamation, are 

 strong arguments, aside from the sanitary benefits to be 

 gained. In the case of the Newark meadows, a report by 

 C. C. Vermeule showed that the city, on advertising for 



