374 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Creek outlet, and that works only during he period between 

 the last of the ebb and the first of the flood. 



The northeast corner of the oblong- between the Central Rail- 

 road, Lehigh Valley Railroad and the pumping station is an 

 almost solid cat-tail area with all the open water so completely 

 covered with duckweed that wriggler life is an impossibility. 

 Along the line of. the Central Railroad is a deep ditch into which 

 the area between the box sewer and the railroad was drained by 

 means of ditches. This converted what was previously a very 

 bad breeding place at all times, into- one that is noniially safe. 

 It is only when, after a very high tide, the back water keeps the 

 meadow full for a week or more that an}^ breeding can occur 

 here. Such conditions happen only in early spring and late fall 

 when the breeding, is normally slight. 



The space between the sewer ditches, Pierson's Creek, the rail- 

 road and the box sewer is fairly well drained except for about 

 500 feet from the box sewer which is here broken and from 

 which there is a continuous flow over the marsh. 



As for the rest of the area a considerable portion is covered 

 with cat-tails ; there are some deep ponds in the northwestern sec- 

 tion very fully covered with duckweed, but there are also plenty 

 of surface pools in which mosquito larvae breed freely. Many 

 ditches have been cut here but the fall is so slight and the period 

 during which an outflow is possible is so short that the ditches 

 themselves tend to become breeding places even when the surface 

 pools drain into them. No fish run up the sewer ditch and there 

 are none anywhere on the meadow; conditions are absolutely too 

 foul for them. 



The remedy is obvious enough and consists of three tide gates 

 and a new or at least a repaired box sewer. So long as sewage 

 is continually discharged over this meadow some breeding places 

 are bound to exist. The tide gates at Dead Creek and Pierson's 

 Creek will keep the Peddie street sewer water from the meadow 

 and will keep up a constant outflow even if only for a few hours 

 each day. With only the normal surface water to- dispose of, 

 the ditches would work well enough and if the sewer influx can 

 be stopped they could be stocked with fish. The third gate should 

 be at the Central Railroad ditch crossing to prevent the tides 

 from getting into the meadow at that point. The ditch is long 

 enough and wide enough to hold all the drainage between tides 

 and the outflow would then be continuous. 



It will be seen that this Newark marsh problem was an unusu- 

 ally complex one, and one that would not be likely to recur in the 

 same way at any other point along the coast. Nevertheless on 



