24 Circular 111 



3. That on areas where the soil is a little less wet, the salt 

 grass grows. 



4. That on areas where the soil is still better drained, black 

 grass grows. 



5. That on areas where the drainage is almost equal to 

 upland, the upland vegetation grows. 



Pickle weed is worthless and sedges (coarse salt grasses) 

 are almost so. Salt grass and black grass make good hay. Mos- 

 quito drainage tends to cause pickle weed and sedge to disappear 

 and salt grass and black grass to take their places, thus greatly 

 increasing the productivity of the salt-marsh. With proper man- 

 agement mosquito drainage hardens the marsh and permits 

 harvesting operations, where before such procedure would have 

 been impossible. 



Studies of the effect of mosquito drainage on the salt-marsh 

 based upon comparison of more than 170,000 acres of undrained 

 marsh with more than 17,000 acres of marsh which have been 

 drained three years or more, show that the yield in salt hay is 

 increased on an average from 0.7 to 2.6 tons per acre, or an in- 

 crease of more than 350 per cent. 



The Drainage of the Salt-Marshes Can Under Present Conditions 

 Be Completed For $900,000 



An average of about 300 linear feet of unit ditching and 

 spurring is required for one acre. The cost of cutting varies 

 from 1 to 3 cents per foot, depending upon the price of labor and 

 the type of machinery used. With funds available for continu- 

 ous drainage over large areas, the salt-marsh can be satisfactorily 

 drained for about $6.00 an acre. 



The total area of salt marsh is about 296,000 acres. Basing 

 the calculations on the estimated degree of completion of salt- 

 marsh drainage in each county, drainage enough to cover about 

 13,374 acres, not to mention dikes, tide-gates and pumps, is 

 needed in Hudson, Bergen, Union, Middlesex and Monmouth 

 counties. To this must be added 12,000 acres in Ocean, nearly 

 10,000 in Burlington, about 20,000 in Atlantic, about 45,000 in 

 Cape May, 52,661 in Cumberland, and 31,780 in Salem, making a 

 total of 184,815 acres. More than 30,000 acres (C. C. Vermeule 

 gives 34,300 acres for the state) of this total have been at some 

 time diked and drained for agricultural purposes. A large part 

 of this improved land has been reclaimed by the sea and will 

 have to be treated. 



