I02 Proceedings oe Ninth Annual Meeting 



Aedes sollicitans. The March brood reached the winged stage 

 and covered the entire northeast part of the county and were a 

 real nuisance. This mosquito nuisance so early in the season 

 was a new experience, and we trust it will not be repeated this 

 coming year. The following year it cannot recur because by that 

 time our ditching machines will be moved to the area in question 

 and a large part of the Mullica River meadows will be drained. 

 I trust Mr. Engle, of Ocean County, will make note of this state- 

 ment. 



The second could be classed as unusual, at least in x\tlantic 

 County. In the course of regular machine ditching in the western 

 part of the county we encountered an area of meadow — about 

 400 acreS' — with three-square, rosemary and sedge. Underlying 

 these grasses were sand, coarse gravel and cedar stumps. To a 

 county equipped with hand spades and men expert in handling 

 them this condition would not present much of a problem. At- 

 lantic County depends, as you know, almost entirely on mechan- 

 ical means of ditching. So much that we do not have two m.en 

 who can use a two-man spade to advantage. If small spades were 

 used the draining of this area would take months where we were 

 in the habit of cutting the same area in weeks. 



We purchased a contractor's walking plow and attempted to 

 cut with that. The grass roots were so tough that it was im- 

 possible to keep the plow in the meadows. The gauge wheel was 

 removed and a frame, with side-cutting blades spaced twelve 

 inches apart and seven inches deep, put on. This helped some, 

 but it still required three men to keep the plow straight. A blade 

 was then placed on the mold board which retarded the discharge 

 of sod until the entire mass was clear of the ditch. This plow 

 then proved very satisfactory and cut ditches 12'' x 15'^ through 

 the entire bad area, except where stumps were struck. Not 

 having a circular saw mounted on the plow we could not ditch 

 through the stumps, and in such cases the hand spade men had 

 to ditch around them. x\bout 100,000 feet of this ditching were 

 dug. 



The above-mentioned work set back the date of the completion 

 of the drainage of meadows west of the Great Egg Harbor 

 River, but we are exerting every effort to finish before the first 

 of the 1922 brood of mosquitoes mature. 



The season was notable for the one very heavy brood of salt 

 marsh mosquitoes that covered the county on the 12th and I3,th 

 of August. During the time this brood was in the larval stage 

 very careful inspections were made both of the drained and un- 

 drained salt marsh. The drained marshes produced no breeding 



