26 N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 



dustries, the pressure of the great world struggle. Our superin- 

 tendent, our engineer, our assistant superintendent, our meadow 

 inspector, and all but one district inspector entered the service. 



So that at the opening of the 1918 campaign we found ourselves 

 with a nucleus of but three experienced men about whom to con- 

 struct our working force. This, combined with the scarcity of labor 

 and the ever mounting price of materials, meant necessarily that 

 much of the work which we had planned must be deferred another 

 year. Nevertheless we were able to complete one important link in 

 our meadow drainage system, the tide-gating of Stump Creek, and to 

 make a start on another operation of great importance, the ditch- 

 ing of Walden Swamp. The places affected by this labor have been 

 vicious breeders and their control means much to the success of our 

 work. On the upland we concluded large drainage contracts in 

 Hackensack, Maywood, Riverdale, River Edge, Moonachie, Little 

 Ferry and Lodi Township, North Hackensack, Wallington, and 

 Haworth. In each case a large mosquito breeding swamp or series 

 of swamps were eliminated, the work being done on a co-operative 

 basis, the interested Borough or property owner paying half the 

 cost and the Commission meeting the remainder of the bill and 

 supplying and supervising the labor. In addition to this work, a 

 most concentrated effort was made to keep Camp Merritt fr6e 

 from mosquito annoyance. In close conjunction with the United 

 States Public Health Service and the Medical Corps of the United 

 States Army, all mosquito breeding places within the reservation, 

 or sufficiently near to provide trouble if neglected, were drained 

 and a rigid inspection and oiling system adopted. About 25 per 

 cent of our total appropriation was used for the cleaning up of the 

 Camp Merritt situation, and we are pleased to report that Col. 

 John A. Claxk, the Camp Surgeon, pronounced himself as well 

 pleased with the result of the work. 



So much for the summiary of the work accomplished. As to 

 particular difficulties met and overcome, I have only to ask any one 

 of the contractors who attempted meadow drainage in Bergen 

 County to gain credence to the statement that the Bergen County 

 salt marsh is a "pesky Critter." Nature endowed it with a subsoil 

 enmeshed with inter-twined roots and cedar stumps. All of which 

 adds immeasurably to the difficulty (to say nothing of the vocabu- 

 lary) of the man who attempts to drive ditches through it. At the 



