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tion purposes, at an expense of three hundred thousand dollars, 

 and proved to be, so far as reclaiming the land is concerned, a 

 dismal failure. 



The meadows* surrounded by this dike have sunken, since that 

 time, about three and one-half feet, and notwithstanding the fact 

 that there are six well-constructed automatic sluice-gates, it 

 would be utterly impossible to drain this territory sufficiently to 

 prevent the breeding of mosquitoes by the ordinary system of 

 small ditches. Fortunately, however, we have on this territory, 

 and adjacent to this dike, three large natural waterways; one 

 situated about one mile north of Lincoln Highway; another, 

 known as Dead Horse Creek, situated just east of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Electric Line ; and Saw Mill Creek at the north end. The 

 beds of those natural waterways are considerably lower than the 

 surface of the meadows, possibly averaging three feet lower, 

 and they act as receiving basins for surface water flowing 

 through our drainage ditches. They are connected with the 

 Hackensack River by sluice-gates, so that when at high tide the 

 gates are closed, our ditches continue to flow into those receiving 

 basins, and at low tide, when the gates are open, the accumulated 

 water is forced rapidly into the river. 



There probably exist conditions in other counties where dikes 

 are necessary, though I am ignorant of their geographical posi- 

 tion. I am inclined to 'believe, however, that dikes built without 

 the necessary receiving basins on the land side will not prove 

 successful in our work; that is to say, the ordinary system of 

 ditching will not answer our purpose on diked areas and that, 

 eventually, the pump' will be found necessary. 



A meadow of sufficient elevation above low water to permit of 

 natural drainage, through ditches deep enough to drain depres- 

 sions or holes, and the necessary outlets, will take care of itself, 

 even though it be occasionally flooded. 



The drainage, however, of a diked meadow, where the outlets 

 are necessarily confined to sluice-gates, will depend entirely upon 

 the drainage periods between tides, i. e., from the time the 

 gates open with the outgoing tide to the time they are again 

 closed by the incoming tide, and the length of that period will 



