Proci:e:dings of Fii^TH Annual Me^eting 31 



merce, various boards of trade and granges was enlisted. On 

 February 15, 1916, four months after its first meeting, the Mos- 

 quito Commission, accompanied by Dr. Headlee and a repre- 

 sentative of the County Chamber of Commerce, appealed to the 

 Board of Chosen Freeholders of Cape May County for an appro- 

 priation of $10,000 for the work. 



The board of freeholders about January, 191 6, granted the 

 appropriation of $10,000, the first payment of $1,000 being 

 made May 19, 191 6. 



An office was rented, and Mr. Beckwith prepared the work 

 for the commission chief inspector, who took up the work No- 

 vember I, 1 91 6, at which time Mr. Beckwith returned to Dr. 

 Headlee. Early in the summer it was found necessary to add 

 an assistant inspector. The force of laborers was increased at 

 once and a contract let for machine ditching of 300,000 feet. 

 Thus activities in the field began on the largest scale permissible 

 by the appropriation, considering only the elimination of the 

 salt-marsh mosquito. 



The members of the commission and the inspectors have ad- 

 vanced the personal work through the farm districts, cities and 

 towns. The one-time objecting landowner now welcomes the 

 ditching and placing of floodgates. The feeling of co-operation 

 is prevalent throughout the southern section of the county. 

 Cape May Point, South Cape May and West Cape May have all 

 contributed to the commission in 191 7, although the amounts 

 are not gTeat. Cape May City and Wildwood ditched where 

 necessary within their jurisdiction and oiled regularly through- 

 out the summer. 



Now the result is that eight separate sections of meadow and 

 marsh land have been cleaned and ditched, totaling 551,463 feet 

 of ditching, which cost $8,527.25, at a rate of 1.6 cents per foot. 

 Also a floodgate was placed at Pond Creek outlet. 



The ditching covers the districts from Cape May Point along 

 the Atlantic Coast, 10 miles to Turtle Gut Inlet, the southern 

 point of Wildwood Crest, and from Cape May Point to Fishing 

 Creek meadows along the Bay Shore 8 miles. Cape May Point, 

 South Cape May, West Cape May and Cape May City are pro- 

 tected by ditched territory. The farms inland and Wildwood 



