30 



The Maintenance of Salt=Marsh Drainage Systems. 



FRED. A. REMY^ ACTING CHIEF INSPECTOR OF THE ATI^ANTIC 

 COUNTY MOSQUITO EXTERMINATION COMMISSION. 



Ditching of salt marsh in Atlantic County for the purpose of 

 mosquito control was first begun in the summer of 191 3. This 

 work was done under contract system, and the contractors were 

 required to keep the ditches free of all obstructions for the 

 period of one year after completion. Therefore, the spring of 

 191 5 was the first year that the maintenance of salt-marsh drain- 

 age systems was attempted by the Atlantic County Mosquito 

 Extermination Commission. 



At first the greatest problem was that of floating sods cut by 

 hand, spades, which on every high tide, especially those accom- 

 pained by strong northeast winds, were floated into the nearest 

 ditch, one upon the other, thus forming a dam that, if allowed 

 to remain, soon collected mud, small sticks and grass. This 

 flotsam is always collecting but is usually drawn out by the ebb 

 tide unless prevented by some larger obstacle. This condition 

 is eliminated after the grass in the sods has suflicient time to ex- 

 tend its roots into the meadow, and usually requires one full 

 summer. 



After this period of floating sods the stoppages are caused 

 largely by duck hunters, hay cutters and the everlasting ''doubt- 

 ing Thomases." During the winter many hundreds O'f salt 

 ponds are dammed by duck hunters, using not only the sods, 

 but driving stakes through a dam; to make certain that they will 

 have a duck pond when they feel inclined to use one. Such ob- 

 structions are necessarily tedious problems, as the dams have to 

 be taken out in small pieces from around the stakes, which are 

 afterwards removed. Fortunately, ducks do not inhabit our 

 marshes at the times that the A. sollicitans are preparing for their 

 summer crusade, and once removed in the spring, trouble of this 

 sort will not occur again during the breeding season of that year. 



In planning the systems of ditching on various meadows 



