Proce:e:dings 01^ Fi]?TH Annuai. Mi^^ting 9 



The drainage of our so-called ''stump-lots" was begun early 

 last spring and successfully prosecuted all summer. This work 

 is expensive, costing 7 cents per lineal foot for lo-inch ditches. 

 During the season 81,570 feet of such ditches was made, costing 

 $5,709.90; 33,722 feet of clear meadow ditches were made at a 

 cost of 2>4 cents per foot, amounting to $843.05:; 13,450 feet 

 of old, unused ditches and creeks were cleaned and repaired at a 

 cost of 5.7 cents per foot, a total of $654.28. The total amount 

 of ditches made was 115,292 feet, averaging 51^ cents per foot, 

 or $7,207.07 during the season — $2,707.07 in excess of any 

 amount expended in any previous season for meadow work. 



Our fresh-water breeding places in the county are almost 

 entirely eliminated, except, of course, sewer catch-basins, water 

 barrels, flooded cellars and temporary pools. This does not 

 indicate that our organization fell down or in any way relaxed 

 in the prosecution of the work. On the contrary, the work was 

 pushed with the same vigor and energy as in former years, and 

 as a result about three-fourths of the population of the county 

 experienced almost entire freedom from mosquitoes. 



The conditions, briefly stated, were by no means discouraging, 

 considering the weather and other conditions with which we had 

 to contend. Mosquitoes were not at all troublesome in any part 

 of the county until well along in July. In Arlington, where they 

 were found in greater numbers than in any other part of the 

 county, they did not appear until July 12, and were not trouble- 

 some after August 15. In fact, by that time they had almost 

 entirely disappeared. In Harrison and East Newark, the ad- 

 joining comimunities, they were not troublesome at any time dur- 

 ing the season. At Snake Hill they were not noticed until about 

 July twentieth, and were troublesome there for only about three 

 weeks. Bayonne was not seriously afflicted until August first, 

 and then the trouble existed only along the shore front, princi- 

 pally on the west and south sections of the city and along Newark 

 Bay. Lafayette, Hoboken, West Hoboken and Union Hill ex- 

 perienced far less trouble than in previous years. In North 

 Hudson, adjoining the Bergen County line, pipiens were found 

 troublesome as early as July first. In Jersey City, particularly 



