620 XEAV JEllSEY AGIUCULTURAL COLLEGE 



orders couconiiiii:' tl)t'. ])rt'scr\';iti()n of drainage even against rail- 

 roads. .\t'ter a few prosecutions for interfering' with ditelies, liav- 

 rnakers on the meadows lunx' found it ad\'isal)lc to l>ridg'o them, 

 wherever it is necessarv to drive across. 



Elizabeth. 



Fewer mosquitoes liatclicd from tlie Elizabeth meadows than in 

 any previous years, and that is largely due to the drainage work 

 done under the direction of the board of health of that city during 

 the two or tliree years last past. Elizabeth took advantage of the 

 State law and secured in 1905 $500 of State aid by an appro])ria- 

 tion of $2,000, and in li)06 nearly the same amount by an appro- 

 priation of $1,500. In addition, the Central Railroad of Xew 

 Jersey contributed the sum of $1,000 in return for certain desired 

 concessions, so that altogether about $5,500 have been expended. 

 Previously, and indeed this was the first marsh work in the State, 

 ditching had been done along the Elizabeth river, so that a great 

 deal of the worst mosquito-breeding territory has been completely 

 eliminated. At the present writing a large section of the marsh 

 area east of the Xewark branch of the Central railroad, nearest to 

 Elizabethport, is completely drained. Great ditch has been 

 cleaned and deepened Avhere needed ; a wide, deep ditch has cut 

 off angles, and a connecTion with a branch of Woodruif creek has 

 established a tidewater circulation whicji replaces the former stag- 

 mmt condition. Two tide^gates, now in process of building, will 

 prevent future overiloiw of the southwestern part of the meadow, 

 and will lower the water level materially during the ensuing 

 winter. 



]\rr. IJrchme's reports shovv' that he made twenty-three visits to 

 tlie meadows during the season, and he states that brood after brood 

 was killed off on the drained area, materially lessening the output 

 of the meadow as a wh(il(\ The surface was covered with eggs, and 

 whenever tick' oi- h('a\y rains filled the depressions, larvie appeared, 

 li\-ed for a day (u- two, and then 1)y the niillidus llicii- liudies cov- 

 ered the surfaci^ of thc^ dvied-off soil. 



The first tri]) was nindc A])ril liMh, with Mi'. Lnnis J. IJichards, 

 the health inspector of the city, to (k'terniinc the amount of work 

 that still remained to be dou(> on the Kli/.abeth rivei- section. 



