183 



consideraton and that in 1916 the number dropped to 50 odd, a 

 reduction of 85 per cent. 



SAI,T-MARSH PR0BI.,E:M ON' NORTH SHORE. 



The amount of salt marsh on the North Shore is Hmited; it 

 amounts to somewhat less than 1,000 acres. These North-Shore 

 salt marshes are isolated bodies, in some cases scarcely grown up 

 from tidal flats which have been formed behind recently-thrown- 

 up barrier beaches. Others are more or less shut in and have 

 apparently resulted from the invasion of the tide into old fresh- 

 water marshes. All but about 200 acres on the North Shore, 

 chiefly about Oyster Bay, has, at some time or other, been ditched 

 or reclaimed. Some of it, however, was done some years ago 

 and will require considerable clean-up work and the installation 

 of more or less new ditching. The Commission hopes, this 

 spring, to put all these ditched areas in good shape and another 

 year to ditch all the remaining areas on the North Shore. 



SOUTH SHORE ERESH- WATER PROBLEM. 



The vast extent of the salt marshes on the South Shore and 

 the enormous amount of breeding thereon floods the whole 

 southern portion of the county with salt-marsh mosquitoes to 

 such an extent that until this source is disposed of the full extent 

 and importance of the South Shore fresh-water problem will not 

 become apparent. Along the western section of the coast there 

 are few streams or swamps, since th-e loose, sandy soil quickly 

 absorbs rainfall, hence but few natural breeding places. As we 

 go eastward the soil seems to become less porous, and sluggish 

 streams, flowing from the middle of the island, give rise to 

 fresh-wiater marshes of various types, varying from cat-tail 

 meadows to cedar swamps. Further, the works of man have 

 intensified these conditions by throwing numerous dams across 

 these streams and creating many small ponds and reservoirs, 

 which have become fringed with marshy growths about their 

 edges and upstream ends, creating ideal anop'heline breeding 

 grounds. It is hoped, during the coming season, to make accurate 



