THE VALUE OF RECLAIMED LANDS. 59 



The drainage work done by other countries has given many prac- 

 tical examples of beneficial results from the mosquito standpoint, and 

 from other points of view as well. The details have very recently 

 become available, through the kindness of the United States consul 

 at Milan, Italy, of very extensive drainage operations carried on 

 near Milan, which involved the reclamation of nearly 80,000 acres 

 of land. These details may be found in the Scientific American 

 Supplement No. 1637, May 18, 1907, pages 26233 to 26235. The 

 work cost $3,200,000, and the annual cost of operation is estimated 

 at $16,000. The beneficial results are summarized as follows: 



1. In both Mantua and Reggio this tract, comprising 77,867 acres, cultivable only 

 for a sparse crop of poor hay and, on account of the vapors arising from its stagnant 

 swamps, dangerous for pasturage during practically all the year, has been made 

 cultivable, in one year, for wheat, grapes, fruits, and hay, and rendered good for cutting 

 into farms on which people can erect homes in safety. 



2. The market values, not only on the 78,000-acre tract but on all contiguous terri- 

 tory, even to the outer bounds of the affected provinces, have leaped to figures equal 

 to two or three times those prevailing before the opening of the Bonifica, i. e., from 

 $120 to $250 or $300 per acre. 



3. Farm labor, which formerly expressly avoided these provinces, and made diffi- 

 cult the harvesting of the extensive crops, has been attracted there by the changed 

 conditions; while on account of the demand created by the active development of the 

 drained tract, wages have not been knocked down by the plentitude of supply. 



4. Live-stock maladies are under better control. 



5. The public health has been afforded a sure and scientific protection. 



SALT-MARSH LANDS IN NEW JERSEY. 



So much work has already been done in New Jersey that, as 

 repeatedly pointed out in this work, the value of the operations 

 already carried on in that State is very great, if only as an indication 

 of what can be and should be done elsewhere. The whole question 

 of the New Jersey salt marsh and its improvement has been consid- 

 ered by Dr. John B. Smith in Bulletin No. 207 of the New Jersey Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. In this work he gives a consideration 

 of the location of the salt-marsh area, the kinds of salt marsh, the 

 vegetation on the marshes, the present value of the marshes, their 

 actual value, effect of drainage on crops, the needs of salt grass and 

 black grass, and a general consideration as to how the marshes may 

 be reclaimed and who is to pay the expense. 



It appears that the present value of the marshes is very small. 

 As a matter of fact, they are either not taxed at all or at such a low 

 rate as to add little to the income of the taxing body. Some of the 

 owners have never paid any taxes, and in some of the townships 

 there is no record of ownerships in the assessor's hands and there- 

 fore no notices can be served. It is pointed out, as an evidence of 

 the recognized worthlessness of such land, that none who work on 

 them consider in the least the results of interference with natural 



