N. J. Mosquito Exte:rmination Association 115 



running through their property. They had first attempted to 

 grade the brook with hand spades. After working for two 

 weeks they found that 1,000 feet had cost them thirty-four cents 

 a foot. This cost made extensive operations prohibitive. Some 

 new method had to be devised. The sohition of the problem was 

 reached and effectively carried out by the aid of a four-inch 

 centrifugal pump. This pump, driven by a small Regal auto- 

 mobile motor, was rigged upon a scow. The scow was placed 

 in the brook, the intake pipe of the pump was sunk through a 

 hole in the clay, and the sand sucked out from under. It was 

 then a simple matter to break down the layer of clay and obtain 

 the desired grade. Through the kindness of the Woodbrook 

 Farms owners this outfit was loaned, free of charge, to the Mid- 

 dlesex County Mosquito Extermination Commission for drain^ 

 age work in the Dismal Swamp. Operations were necessarily 

 slow owing to the limited capacity of the pump, but at the same 

 time expenses w^ere correspondingly low. 



As the work progressed the brook level was lowered, the 

 swamp gradually responded to the drainage action, until finally 

 no standing water remained. 



The results of this drainage have exceeded our fondest hopes. 

 Six hundred acres of lowlands have been permanently drained. 

 Farmers are now able to enter this area, once called Dismal 

 Swamp, and obtain cordwood, which is quite a source of revenue 

 in that section. A great mosquito incubator and a constant 

 menace to local campaig-ns in Metuchen has been eliminated. 

 Cesspools, both in the borough and township, have greatly in- 

 creased in capacity. This last will aid considerably the pocket- 

 books of the citizens residing in the low sections of the two mu- 

 nicipalities. The results have really delighted the people affected 

 by the drainag'e and many friends have been made of mosquito 

 control. In fact when the Board of Freeholders of Middlesex 

 County were making up the 1922 county budget, many promi- 

 nent citizens of Metuchen, among them Mrs. C. A. Prickett. V^ice- 

 Chairman of the Third District of Women's Federated Clubs ; 

 Mr. Wilson, Mayor of the borough; Mr. Carmen, President of 

 the Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Van Kirk, Supervising 

 Principal of Schools, appeared before the freeholders of their 

 own accord and advocated an increased appropriation for county 

 mosquito work. This increase was granted. 



All these results were due to an insignificant appearing four- 

 inch centrifugal pump and a paltry $1,800.00 expenditure of 

 local moneys. In all, 14,000 feet of brook has been graded, the 

 average width of which is twelve feet at the bottom, the average 



