i85 



though most of the rough work was done early, the perfecting 

 work was not wholly finished until November. There were 

 delays due to various causes, in part to a scarcity of labor, in part 

 to the congestion in transportation, and in part to the owners of 

 the land. Nevertheless, the job was finally completed, and 

 though there were some mosquitoes, their numbers were so small, 

 in comparison with previous seasons, that they were hardly 

 noticed. The seasons to come will show the real value of the 

 work. 



Small ditching projects were carried out late in the fall in two 

 other towns, Saybrook and Orange. In Saybrook two small 

 tracts, totalling perhaps 60 acres, were ditched by Ex-Senator 

 Morgan G. Bulkeley. In Orange, near New Haven, ditches were 

 cut in December on about 90 acres of salt marsh, which has 

 heretofore been a prolifiiC source of sollicitans. The cost was 

 met from funds raised by the Anti-Mosquito Committee, line., of 

 the Civic Federation of New Haven, and a similar committee in 

 West Haven. This latter committee has raised additional funds, 

 and within a few weeks about 10,000 feet more of ditches will 

 be cut in one of the adjoining marshes. In all of this work about 

 1,250,000 feet of ditch have been cut in the salt marshes during 

 the year. 



Thus at present in Connecticut more than 6,000 acres of salt 

 marsh have been ditched, which is just about one-third of such 

 territory in the State. From the best maps that we can obtain, 

 planimeter measurements show about 12,000 acres of salt marsh 

 remaining unditched. 



In contrast to your New Jersey work, a prominent phase of 

 the Connecticut work is that the State and the counties have 

 never made appropriations for it, and few towns have done so. 

 Practically all of the money has been raised by voluntary contri- 

 butions, and for each locality placed in a commoni fund, with a 

 local committee or organization to expend it. 



All ditches on the salt marsh cut since 1912 have been main- 

 tained. There have also been a number of improvements in 

 fresh-water swamps. For instance, in the town of Hamden, just 

 north of New Haven, there has always been a swamp, containing 

 13 MO 



