REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 433 



of the territory, of staking out ditches where necessary and where the 

 ditches were to be dug immediately, or in the near future, and of general 

 superintendence of the work of digging the ditches. 



General Survey. 



The general survey was carried on from a point two rniles north of the 

 Little Egg Harbor Inlet (near the twenty-third Life-Saving Station) to 

 the northern limits of Spray Beach. The territory near the twenty-third 

 Life-Saving Station has many breeding places, consisting of pools in the 

 sandy parts and of marshy ground, which is suitable for ditch work. Moving 

 northward, the territory is generally good, being sandy, or covered by high 

 tide, bringing fiddler crabs, or small fish, into the places where water col- 

 lects until the Holgate property is reached. There is a need of ditching 

 on this property. On the west (Bay Side) there is a marsh area. Then 

 comes the Sherburne property. On this there is much breeding area. The 

 need is ditching. Some has been done and will be referred to. Still north 

 is Beach Haven. In Beach Haven many breeding spots were found. The 

 problem is to be solved by ditching on the bay side and filling in depressed 

 spots in the town and by filling up the holes among the sand hills on the 

 ocean side. North Beach Haven comes next. Here there is a marsh on 

 the bay shore which should be ditched. North of this is Spray Beach. 

 The problem is simple at this place. A little filling in a very few small 

 places will make this part good. Immediately north of this is the Newbold 

 estate, on which there is some breeding area which should be ditched. 

 Along the railroad, from Beach Haven northward, pools in which there is 

 mosquito breeding are of frequent occurrence. These pools are on rail- 

 road property, if the railroad owns thirty feet on each side of the track. 



Staking and Ditching. 



Nothing has been done south of the Sherburne property for the extermi- 

 nation of the mosquito. On the Sherburne property, west of Bay Avenue 

 and between Norwood and Berkeley Avenues, there has been 1400 feet of good 

 serviceable ditching done. There are 366 feet of ditching in this same area 

 which is not good. The trouble is that the ditches are not cleanly dug and 

 that they are not deep enough. They are but five or six inches deep, and 

 they should be at least ten or twelve inches deep. South of Norwood Avenue 

 there are 2068 feet of ditching staked out but not dug. The territory through 

 which these ditches are laid out is very bad. During our entire stay there 

 was never a time when the ground was wholly free from water. On both 

 sides of the road there are chronic pools. The stakes for ditching have been 

 laid in a manner which will relieve most of these pools along the road. Some 

 of the pools must be filled in. A sluice box is necessary under the road near 

 Norwood Avenue and can be located easily by the position of the stakes 

 on the sides of the road. There is other territory which should be ditched 

 but which is not staked because it was our purpose to stake only as much 

 territory as would probably be ditched in the near future. The breeding area 

 not staked, however, would take about a thousand feet. 



North of the Sherburne property is Beach Haven. South of the Bay Road 

 and west of Bay Avenue, marked (A), in the Borrough of Beach Haven, 

 11,835 feet of good ditching has been done. In that part of the territory 

 nearest the road marked (A) there remains 2080 feet of ditching staked out 

 to be dug. During the second trip to Beach Haven this territory was exam- 

 ined and the ditching proved very efTective. There were some small places 

 which need further treatment and the ditches should be gone over to remove 

 one or two blocks of sod which have been neglected. There was no breed- 

 ing going on, however, except in the section described as having ditches not 



28 MOS 



