Proceedings of Seventh Annual Meeting 6i 



as the flights from the imdrained areas are our greatest problem. 



The county's marshes are pretty completely drained now from 

 Bay Head to a point south of Stafford Creek, and very nearly all the 

 territory from the south boundary of the county at Ballinger's 

 Creek and the Mullica River to Tuckerton Creek. About 200,000 

 linear feet, it is estimated, will finish the initial drainage of these 

 marshes, the worst in the county. When the state shall have finished 

 the contracts between Seaside Park and Barnegat Inlet and our 

 commission completes the draining between High Point and Surf 

 City, then the beaches will have been covered also. The remaining 

 large area will then be between Tuckerton and Stafford creeks. 



We do not wish to be understood to say that the drainage in all 

 the territory referred to is perfect. We find many occasions to ex- 

 tend and correct the general system, for the meadows shrink and 

 places are overlooked that need special treatment, but we are soon 

 to be able to say that with careful maintenance, the work will show 

 at least 95 per cent results. 



As early as possible we started in with the cleaning and were 

 gratified to find the ditches in pretty' fair condition. By May 17 

 the entire system had been covered and was practically free from 

 obstruction. It is difficult to give the cost of cleaning alone, for a 

 certain amount of repair work is found necessary as the gang passes 

 over the meadows and it is more economical to make such repairs at 

 that time. Perhaps it would be better to use the expression "cleaning 

 and repairs," as these operations go together in preparing the system 

 annually for the work to be done. It is safe to say that the entire cost 

 of cleaning over 450 miles of ditches with such repairs as were neces- 

 sary, including the recutting of 7,000 feet, was less than $750. 



Our superintendent and assistant superintendent made inspections 

 of all the areas at least every two weeks and sometimes oftener, from 

 May I to October 31. 



The tabulated results of these inspections show that while at 

 frequent intervals there were some mosquitoes at many places in our 

 county, in most cases they were either the fresh-water variety or 

 came from a small local area of salt marsh, in which our system 

 was not -complete enough to overcome almost daily rains with the 

 ditches full to overflowing with abnormal tides. But the great flight 

 that covered the territory from Tuckerton to Toms River on July 

 26 was caused by breeding on the undrained area south of Tucker- 

 ton and was understood and predicted by our inspectors well in 

 advance of its arrival. 



