N. J. Mosquito Extermination Association 121 



proposition. The farmers who first settled here understood the 

 situation. It was good ground for grazing purposes, because 

 it was partly salt and partly fresh, so they dug broad ditches 

 parallel with the upland to drain it. In our county we call them 

 band ditches or "farmers' ditches'' and have cleaned out a great 

 many of them. 



We have met with the hay cutters' objection that they cannot 

 get over their salt meadows. We have either got to kill some 

 of these gentlemen or build them suspension bridges, but the 

 draining must be done, no matter what it costs, and this year 

 we will do as much as we possibly can. 



I don't know that there is anything further to say. The 

 superintendent's report of the weather last year reads like a 

 sort of tirade against nature, because it really was a wet sum- 

 mer, after we got rid of that dry spell in May; there was just 

 rainstorm after rainstorm that kept us busy w^atching for breed- 

 ing places. 



I read of a barber in Oklahoma the other day who married a 

 widow, a very pretty widow. He said he was very happy. He 

 said it was such a relief to go home at night and find a face that 

 didn't have to have something done to it. I wish that was the 

 way with our salt marsh. 



Secretary Headlke — I would like to point out that the gov- 

 ernor of our state, by reason of his long residence in Hudson 

 County, as soon as the mosquitoes appeared at Sea Girt, decided 

 that that was no way for the mosquitoes to do — there was some- 

 thing wrong — so he called for help. 



President Meyers — Passaic County's report will be read by 

 Commissioner Walter R. Hudson. 



Mr. Frank Wilkinson — I regret very much the physical 

 condition of Mr. Hudson would not allow him to be present with 

 us at this convention. I knov^ the deep interest he takes in mos- 

 quito control work would surely have brought him here if it had 

 been at all possible for him to do so. 



In summing up the ^results of our season's work in mosquito 

 control, it would be possible to make a most favorable report 

 were it not for the condition which existed during last July in 

 what is known as the Eastside section of Paterson. This dis- 

 trict can be distinguished as territory surrounded by the river as 

 it flows from Sixth Avenue to Market Street. The condition in 

 the Passaic River is such that we were unable to control breeding 

 and the annoyance was indeed great. It may be said at this time 

 that the future prospect of being able to expect freedom from 



