96 



with less than a quarter of one per cent, in the best of the up- 

 land soils of northern New Jersey. Here, then, is a great ex- 

 panse of land rich in plant food and peculiarly suitable for the 

 production of certain crops which should, for the sake of the 

 population of this and other States, be made arable. 



More than a beginning has been made in the reclamation of 

 salt-marsh land in New Jersey. There are in Cumberland County 

 alone about 2,000 acres of land known as diked or banked 

 meadow ; and there are probably 34,000 acres of marsh land in 

 the entire State that have been diked or embanked, and some 

 of those lands are very productive. They are used not only 

 for the growing of grass and forage crops, but they are used 

 for the growing of corn, vegetables and berries, particularly 

 strawberries, and of potatoes to some extent. There is, then, 

 ample reason for the claim that the salt marshes of New Jersey 

 are capable, when properly drained, of producing large yields 

 of crops. 



The question of cost would naturally be raised when reclama- 

 tion of the salt marsh of New Jersey is considered. And as 

 far as figures are available from various sources, the cost would 

 not be at all prohibitive. It is safe to state that men of large 

 means would find it profitable to buy tide marsh land in New 

 Jersey, to reclaim this land for agricultural purposes, and ulti- 

 mately to create values of $100^ or $1501, or even $200, per acre 

 at an expense of $25 or $30 per acre. The extermination of 

 mosquitoes then would become incidental to' the reclamation of 

 potentially valuable land for crop production. 



Under existing conditions South Jersey is not a cattle country. 

 A great deal of the milk which is consumed in this State is 

 brought from beyond the limits of South Jersey, and the dairy 

 industry there is constantly shrinking. Indeed, it has been 

 shrinking for years for various economic reasons which it would 

 be out of place to discuss here. But one may venture to say 

 that, if the mosquito pest were not an economic factor in South 

 Jersey, the salt marsh of this portion of the State would be 

 used extensively for the maintenance of dairy cattle, for the 

 maintenance of beef cattle, and surely for the maintenance of 



