i8i 



never tidal. The drainage of the mainland over most of the 

 county offers no ap-parent obstacles, except near their eastern 

 edge, where the open water of Great South Bay has formed here 

 and there an inner beach behind which the marsh has become 

 brackish and an intense breeder. This condition, coupled with 

 a daily rise and fall of the tides of less than two feet, may open 

 up some new and interesting drainage problems. 



More than half the salt marsh acreag»e of the south shore is 

 included in the 140 odd islands. Many of these islands have 

 never been named. To facilitate our work we have applied 

 names to them, first using the names of the commissioners, and 

 then O'f well-known mosquito exterminatiors. There is now in 

 Hempstead Bay a Howard, a Britton, a Headlee, a Emerson, 

 a Winship, a Major Ross and a Gorgas Island, not to mention 

 an Eaton, Gies, Leslie, and many smaller ones — islands I mean. 

 These islands range from a fraction of an acre to several hun- 

 dred acres in extent. Practically all of them must be drained. 

 There is sometimes difficulty in securing satisfactory outlets 

 where tidal areas fringe their edges. The chief difficulty, how- 

 ever, is not technical but executive, the use of boats being an 

 added expense in inspection, ditching and maintenance. It 

 would not be so bad were there water enough about the islands 

 to allow for free navigation, but at high water there is often 

 little enough and at low water sometimes none at all. The 

 total acreage of salt marsh on the south shore is approximately 

 19,000 acres, or nearly 30 square miles — more than ten per 

 cent, of the total area of the county. 



Summarizing the work done on the South Shore marsh we find 

 that approximately 3,000 acres, or a little more than 17 per cent, 

 of this area has been ditched, 2,400' acres, or a little less than 14 

 per cent, more has been placed under contract, and plans are 

 being made to let a contract for some 4,000' acres, or about 22 

 per cent, more during the summer of 191 7. So that by the end 

 of this year we should have some 9,400 acres under drainage, 

 or more than 50 per cent, of the entire salt-marsh area of the 

 South Shore. 



