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OPV THE

COASTAL PLAIN OF NEW JERSEY

WITH

Remarks in Reference to Other Regions

and Kindred Subjects

BY

JOHN GIFFORD, D.Ckc.

FROM THE

Annual Report of the State Geologist of
Bes Jersey for 1899.

TRENTON, N. J.:
MacCreciisuH & Quicitey, State Printers, Opposite Post OFFICE

1900,

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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XVII.

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The Forestal Conditions

AND

Silvicultural Prospects

OF THE

COASTAL PLAIN OF NEW JERSEY

WITH

Remarks in Reference to Other Regions
and Kindred Subjects

BY

JOHN GIFFORD, D.Céc.

FROM THE

Annual Report of the State Geologist of
New Jersey for 1899.

TRENTON. N. J.:
MacCreciisH & QuiGLey, State Prinrers, Opposite Post OFFICE

1900,

Forestal Conditions and Silvicultural Pros-
pects of the Coastal Plain.

I. General Description.

Although small in area, the State of New Jersey is very varied
in nature.* In the north there are rough, wooded mountainous
regions; in the central portions rich farm lands, and in the south
vast stretches of sandy pine-lands. The average value of im-
proved land in New Jersey is higher than that of any other State
in the Union. ‘The State is without a rival in reference to loca-
tion and transportation facilities. If forestry cannot be practised
with profit in this region, there is little hope for it elsewhere in
eastern America.

The region to which this title refers is located in the south-
eastern portion of the State, less than one hour’s ride by train
from New York and Philadelphia.+ It is irregularly triangular
in shape, and is included between latitudes 4o° 20’ and 38° 55’,
and longitudes 74° and 75° 30’.t It is the northern extremity of
the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which extends southward in vast
stretches of sandy pine and swamp-lands, to the cocoanut groves
and pine-apple fields of Florida. The Coastal Plain of New
Jersey is bounded on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on
the southwest by Delaware Bay, and on the northwest by a com-
paratively thickly populated and productive agricultural region.
The area of this territory is about 2,500 square miles, at least

* The area of New Jersey is 8,224 square miles, with a population in 1895 of 1,672,942. ‘The area of the
Grand Duchy of Baden, an important forest state of the German Empire, is 5,821 square miles, with a

population of 1,657,867. It is considerably smaller than the Kingdom of Belgium, which contains 11,373
square miles, with a population of 6,195,355.

+ The combined population of adjacent cities amounts to more than five millions !

{This region lies in about the latitude of Naples, Constantinople and Northern Japan. Although
South Jersey has the temperature of Northwestern Europe, it enjoys the sunshine of Italy.

(235)

236 GEROLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

seventy-five per cent. of which is woods.* It is slightly rolling
in nature, seldom exceeding two hundred feet above the level of
the sea, and is traversed by several navigable rivers + besides
many small streams.

The climate of this region, although close to the ocean, is, in
comparison with that of Western Europe and the Pacific coast,
dry. Our prevailing winds which come from the west are dry.
During the hot, dry days of midsummer even wild bushes often
die. On the other hand, the destructive effects of strong winds,
frost and snow press are very slight.

The East American life zones, each characterized by certain
forms of life, extend westward with exceedingly irregular and
broken borders. ‘There is a transition belt in which the North
and the South more or less overlap. ‘This is the true agri-
cultural part of Eastern North America, where apples, white
potatoes, barley and oats attain their highest development. It
is where the oak, hickory, chestnut, liquidamber, white cedar,
etc., of the south, meet the white pine, maple, beech, birch, hem-
lock, tamarack and arbor-vitae of the north. South of this
transition belt begins the first of the true Southern zones, the
Carolinian, to which the Coastal Plain of New Jersey belongs.

A very large percentage of the Carolinian life zone is forestal.
Owing to its immense size and to the nature of the agricultural
crops which it produces, and for which there is only a limited
demand, a large proportion of this zone is destined to remain in
forest for many years to come. The Boreal and Austral zones
are forestal, the Transition zone agricultural. The eastern part
of the Transition zone, from the Dakotas to the sea, although at

* The term ‘ forest’? is seldom used by woodmen. Good or bad, big trees or bushes, it is all called
““woods,’’ which is a good generic name for such nondescript lands. The word “forst,”” from which
comes ‘‘ forest,’’ is a pure Germanic word, From the earliest times it has been applied however to woods
which have been protected and regulated.

t It is easy to secure an abundance of water in this region, which is a very important feature from a
cultural standpoint. In addition to many streams, a natural copious flow may be obtained from artesian
wells, so that in places irrigation is easy and practical,

} The Coastal Plain of New Jersey is a northern extension of the Carolinian belt into the Transitiou
Zone. It isin reality a part of the South in the North, and as Prof. Merriam says: ‘‘ When such farms
occupy suitable soils in thickly inhabited regions, so their products may be conveniently marketed, they
are of more than ordinary value, for the greater the distance from its area of principal production a crop
can be made to succeed, the higher price it will command. Hence, farms favorably situated in northern
prolongations or islands of southern zones, or vice versa, should be worth considerably more per acre
than those situated within normal parts of the same zones. The obvious reason is that by growing par-
ticular crops at points remote from the usual sources of supply, and at the same time conveniently near
a market, the cost of transportation is greatly reduced and the profit correspondingly increased ”’

REEORI ON HORES TS: 227

present agricultural, was formerly the great white-pine region
of North America. The white pine of the Transition zone and
the short-leaf pine of the Carolinian zone meet on the edge of
the Coastal Plain of New Jersey.

The Carolinian zone is characterized by the short-leaf pine
(Pinus echinata), sassafras, persimmon, liquidamber, magnolia,
white cedar (Chamecyparis thyoides), cardinal bird, opossum,*
grape, English walnut,t sweet potato, etc. On its southern
borders the long-leaf pine (P. Aalustris), the old-field pine
(P. teda),t the bald cypress (Zaxodium distichum) and the
southern magnolias appear. In this zone§ the white cedar
(C. ¢hyotdes) and short-leaf pine (P. echtnzata) reach their
optimum. ||

Throughout the entire mainland of the Coastal Plain of New
Jersey very light sandy soils predominate, although there are
many beds of heavy clay, and ridges of road-gravel, also sand
and clay loams and vast stretches of mucky swamp-lands. ‘The
higher portions of the upland are usually gravelly, the interme-
diate sandy, and the lower, loamy and clayey. ‘The farther
south the richer the soil and of course the thriftier the forest
growth. The gravel is yellow and consists of small water-worn
quartz pebbles mixed with sand and clay. When of the proper

#The oppossum (Didelphys virginiana), about which so much has been written because of its mar-
supial pouch and peculiar habit of feigning death, is arboreal in habit, with hand-like feet and prehensile
tail, and is fond of the fruits of the persimmon tree, the seeds of which it is instrumental in distributing.
It is highly esteemed as food, especially by the negroes of the South.

+ East of the Rocky mountains the Persian walnut has been most successful in a limited area along
the Atlantic coast from New York southward through New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, central
Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. Farther south it does not succeed, owing mainty to the depre-
dations of microscopic worms, which cause a disease commonly known as “‘ root-knot.’’

tOne specimen of Pinus t2da was discovered by Mr. Pinchot, and another by Mr. Archur Hollick,
in Southern New Jersey. The region of the Pokomoke river, on the peninsula between the Delaware
and Chesapeake, is, as far as I have been able to observe, the most northern limit of the natural growth
of the bald cypress.

2 According to the investigations of the U. S. Biological Survey (see ‘‘ Laws of Temperature Control
of the Geographic Distribution of Terrestrial Animals and Plants,’’ National Geographic Magazine, Vol.
VI, December, 1894), the northward distribution of terrestrial animals and plants is governed by the sum
of the positive temperatures for the entire season of growth and reproduction, and that the southward
distribution is governed by the mean temperature of a brief period during the hottest part of the year.
According to Prof. Merriam the species of the Carolinian belt require a total quantity of heat of at least
6,400° C. or 11,500° F., but apparently cannot endure a summer temperature the mean of which for the
six hottest consecutive weeks exceeds 26° C. or 78.89 F, The northern boundary of this zone, therefore,
is marked by the isotherm showing a sum of normal positive temperatures of 6,4-0° C. or 11,500° F.,
while its southern boundary agrees very closely with the isotherm of 26° C. or 78.8° F. for the six hottest
weeks, The minimum temperature was assumed to be 6° C. or 43° F., that is, the point where meta-
bolic processes are just possible.

|| By optimum is meant the combination of conditions that produces the best average result.

238 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

mixture and consistency, it is an excellent and inexpensive road
material. The abundance of such gravel in a country where
the natural roads are bad is a fortunate coincidence. When
sand and gravel are cemented together by compounds of iron, as
is often the case, a durable conglomerate is formed, which is the
principal building-stone of the region.

The sources of the rivers of the Coastal Plain are on its
northwestern edge. The land slopes gradually to the sea, and
is so level that tide-water penetrates far into the interior.
Drainage is therefore good, and stagnation of standing water
only occurs here and there in places which are underlain with
an impermeable hardpan.

The Plains* are extensive, practically treeless regions in the
northern part of the Coastal Plain. The region called the East
Plains contains 6,662 acres, and the West Plains 7,737 acres.
There are other areas of the same nature, so that 20,000 acres
is a conservative estimate of the amount of land of this kind.
These Plains are hilly, about one hundred feet in height, and
with gentle slopes. The surface soil is usually a bleached sand.
Often there is a subsoil of clayey loam and gravel at varying
depths. Often the subsoil is hard-pan, and in places there are
beds of conglomerate and strata of clay. ‘There is practically
no physical difference between the soil of the Plains and the
soil of thousands of acres in the neighborhood on which trees
of good dimensions are growing. Owing to the hilliness of the
region in comparison with the surrounding country, and owing
to the lack of a more extensive cover, the soil has been subjected
to the leaching and beating of rain and the scorching and drying
effects of the sun and wind. One would expect to find it, there-
fore, exceedingly poor in quality, with a dearth of plant food,
which might, at least in part, account for the absence of a more

* The term “ plain ’’ is usually applied to hroad stretches of country which are level or undulating.
Owing to the fact that vast treeless areas in the West are called “‘ The Plains,” treelessness is popularly
associated with the word “ Plain.’’ For this reason, no doubt, certain treeless regions in New Jersey are
called “‘ The Plains,’’ although they are hillier than the surrounding country. Geographers, however,
apply the term to level regions regardless of their cover ; for instance, “ the Atlantic Coastal Plain.’’ It
is worthy of note in this connection that the people of the West distinguish between the ‘‘ Plains ’’ and
“ Prairies.’? The term “ Prairies’’ is applied to the region between the 1o4th meridian and the eastern
base of the Rockies. Their treelessness is mainly due to a lack of moisture. East of this are the
« Plains,’’ a fertile but formerly treeless region. The absence of trees is here due rather to the extreme
fineness of the soil or to fire and grass than to moisture conditions. Wherever a plain is produced by fire
reforestation is possible, but in regions where treelessness is due to a lack of moisture, afforestation is
difficult and often impossible without irrigation,

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XVIII.

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REPORT ON FORESLS: 239

extensive growth. A chemical examination disappoints one in
this respect. Very little dependence, however, can be put in
the analysis of a soil. Although the essential ingredients may
be present in sufficient quantity, they may not be in available
form. A soil may be physically and chemically good, but if
moisture is insufficient, the forest will be light and commercially
of little importance.

The Plains are covered with a low bushy growth of several
species. ‘The highest tree (a sassafras) measured in this whole
region was fifteen feet (four and one-half metres). The most
peculiar feature of this area is the fact that a large part of the
growth is a coppice of pine. By the natives these short, stunted
pines are called ‘“‘she-pines.” * They are the stump-shoots of
Pinus rigtda, commonly called the rough-bark or pitch-pine.
When this pine is cut many shoots sprout from the stump, but
since insects soon attack and devour it, the young shoots usually
die in consequence while still small and tender. There is a
strong tendency in the pitch-pine, Peas rigida, to send out
shoots, especially when growing under adverse conditions. Soon
after a fire, with the foliage completely burned, and the bole
girdled, many dormant buds in the crown and on the trunk
develop into shoots, which soon, however, wither and die.
Even logs which have been cut and hauled to the mill send
out similar shoots. These, of course, wither and die just as
soon as the starchy materials and moisture in the trunk are
exhausted. The poorer the soil, and more adverse the condi-
tions, the stronger seems the tendency to sprout from the
stump. Sprouting in this way is rare among the conifers, and,
although of interest botanically, is commercially of no signifi-
cance whatever. Ordinarily a pine coppice is short-lived, but
on the Plains it has persisted for many years. Fire sweeps over
this region frequently and burns the shoots while still only a
few feet high, but the stump, gnarled, charred and full of pitch,
continues to live. Some of the stumps appear to be more than

* The term ‘‘she-pine,’’ or ‘‘ she-pitch-pine,’’ is also applied to Pinxus heterophylla, which grows in
the region of the Gulf of Mexico. In the language of the natives, the prefix ‘“‘she’’ indicates not sex but
inferiority and imperfection. P, heterophylla has been regarded by the lumbermen as a tree of very
inferior quality and of little value in comparison to the true southern pitch-pine, P. palustris. In the
same way the term “she balsam-fir’’ is applied to Adzes fraseri, a small, short-lived tree which inhabits
only the high slopes of the Alleghany Mountains in Carolina and Tennessee. For the same reason the
adjective ‘“‘ bastard’’ is often applied to trees.

242 , GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

red cedar ( Juniperus virginiana) and holly (lex opaca) appear
as forerunners, the seeds of which have been dropped by passing
birds. ‘The persimmon and sassafras, hardy oaks, and wild-
cherry (Prunus serotina) also spring up, and near the sites of
old dwellings are clumps of the tree-ofheaven (Az/anthus glan-
dulosus) growing with tropical rankness, root suckers from the
old trees which were once in favor for shade and ornament ;
now and then also an old sycamore with serpent-like limbs ;
here and there pines appear, the edges gradually close in
on the field, the solitary forerunners become surrounded by
their progeny, the gaps are slowly filled by whatever may
chance to fall by the many natural means of seed distribution.
Thus, in time, the whole becomes a mixed forest of many
species and of all age classes: here a thicket, there a pole-wood
consisting of softwood and hardwood, evergreen and deciduous
sorts, many sickly suppressed trees and many much branched,
rough and knotty trees which were the forerunners, holding
their own in the struggle for life even against their own
progeny. Soon come axe and fire; the weaker kinds perish,
the best are used, and a few pines and a coppice of hardy oak
alone remain. Sometimes, if surrounded by pine, these old
fields come up in a growth of pine as thick and green as a field
of orain

The forests of the eastern United States are possessed of
marvelous regenerative power. Among the hundreds of native
species there are many capable of great endurance, and, indeed,
in the regions east of the western prairies there are few spots so
sterile and inhospitable that one or more of these species cannot
survive. There is abundant material for the development of
new and elaborate systems of silviculture suited to the condi-
tions and needs which exist.

A very large part of the Pine-Barren district 1s oak coppice.
The area in pine, however, is constantly decreasing, the area in
oak increasing. Oak of some kind almost invariably follows

* One must not too hastily conclude that the majority of the Jersey pines are pitch or Indian pines
(£. rfgida). A careful census of many districts will show, especially in the southern counties, that the
short-leaf pine predominates. Although the pitch-pine endures fire to a greater extent, the short-leaf
pine is more prolific. From a forestal standpoint, this is, in spite of everything, a hopeful condition of
affairs, because, as I shall endeavor to show later, there is no coniferous forest tree of the dry sandy por-
tions of the Carolinian zone which is silviculturally and commercially the equal of Pizus echinata, the
short-leaf or smooth-bark pine.

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REPORT ON FORESTS. 243

pine. Throughout every pine woods are scattered here and
there suppressed oaks, the seeds of which may have been dropped
by jays or chickarees. Just as soon as the pines are cut, these
oaks, owing to increase of light and room, grow quickly. In
spite of the poverty of the soil and the inroads of insects, and
although burnt and cut again and again, they show remarkable
vigor. *

Even scientific men have advanced the theory that one species
of tree follows another because the first exhausts certain ingre-
dients in the soil which it must have and which another species
may not need. Such statements are rarely founded on facts.
The reason one species follows another may be easily determined
in almost every case with a little observation and study. ‘Trees
do not generally exhaust the soil, but, by bringing inorganic
materials from deep layers of the soil and depositing these in the
form of litter on the surface, and by protecting it from the beat-
ing and leaching of rain and scorching effects of wind and sun,
improve its quality. In moist pine regions which have been burnt
over several times and on which everything 1s killed, birch often
springs up in an almost magical way. This is due to the facts
that the seeds of the birch are quickly distributed by the wind
and quickly germinate, and that the birch is capable of living on
extremely poor soil.

Many dry leaves cling to the small oak trees until the follow-
ing spring ;t the limbs reach close to the ground, and fire, there-
fore, in the late winter or early spring, before there is much sap
in the wood, kills them, although the stumps live on, and with
great persistency produce a fresh growth. In the struggle for
existence the scrub oak and the black jack (Q. marilandica)
usually survive. Although these two oaks are of slight economic
importance, it is due to their pertinacity that in many places
the soil has been prevented from shifting. The species which
form this coppice are, post oak (Q. mezzor), black oak (Q. velu-
tina), white oak (Q. alba), chestnut oak (Q. Arizus), Spanish
oak (Q. digitata), red oak (Q. rubra), black jack (Q. marz-

* It is well known, however, that oaks, chestnuts, and similar trees, lose their vitality when asexually
reproduced for a great length of time,

+It has been suggested by botanists that these clinging leaves indicate a tendency or are a step
toward the evergreen state. The magnolia glauca is almost evergreen in Southern New Jersey. When
leaves cling in this way it is an indication that the species is frost-tender and that the !eaves were injured
by frost before the normal corky layer was formed at the base of the petiole.

244 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

landica), and scarlet oak (Q. coccinea). Hybrids and irregular
forms are common. ‘The coppice is usually cut as pole-wood for
fuel, and has little value. Owing to careless cutting the stumps
are apt to be partly decayed. This decay spreads to the tree.
It also invites the inroads of insects, the number of which
injurious to these oaks is legion.

The wonderful rapidity of tree growth in this sandy soil is
often remarked with surprise. Bleached white as snow, and,
apparently, absolutely destitute of plant food, it is nevertheless
capable of supporting a thrifty arboreal growth. The young tree
starts with the greatest difficulty and languishes throughout the
early part of its life, but as soon as its roots have reached the
deeper and richer layers of the soil it starts afresh and grows
thenceforth with astonishing rapidity. The soil is porous, and
although well drained, is moist a short distance below the surface,
The lay of the land and the nature of the soil is such that the
roots of trees can in the majority of cases penetrate to where
there is constantly sufficient moisture. From the Plains, the
highest part of the Coastal Plain, there are naturally all degrees
of soil-moisture conditions, through the Pine Barrens to the
swamp lands.

A swamp is usually defined as a tract of land with or without
trees, lower than the surrounding country, and so saturated with
water as to be unfit for cultivation.

This definition, however, is insufficient. When one speaks of
a swamp in Southern New Jersey, or in any part of the South-
eastern States, a wooded region is usually meant. A swamp,
also, is not always unfit for cultivation. Some of the best farm
land in America ison swamp bottom. Neither is it always lower
than the surrounding country. Elevated swamps are common,
and the Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina, which
is like a Jersey swamp in many respects, is several feet higher
than the surrounding country, with a lake in the center from
which water runs in all directions.

The amount of water in a swamp is an important matter, also
the temperature of the water. It variesin amount from a degree
of mere moistness to the condition of the Cypress swamps of the
south, which are at times navigable for canoes, bateaux and often
good-sized scows. Along the Mississippi river there is a vast

REPORT ON FORESTS. 245

region called the River-swamp, which is seldom completely
flooded. Here, several of the trees which grow in southern New
Jersey reach their optimum. Many trees which thrive in water
in the south cannot live in the swamp-lands in the north, because
of their coldness, but thrive on the upland. By the term swamp
is merely meant a wet, muddy region, covered with a wild growth
of trees and bushes.

To wet, almost treeless or treeless areas, the terms savanna,
morass, bog, slough and marsh are applicable. The term
savanna is usually applied to lowlands covered with grasses and
other herbaceous plants ; the terms morass and bog, to extremely,
spongy, sphagnaceous lands; and the term marsh, to the soft,
muddy deposits around and along bodies of both salt and fresh
water. Some are inclined to restrict the term marsh to those
areas formed in salt water. There is little reason for this, since
salt and fresh marshes are essentially alike in formation. All
these terms are, unfortunately, exceedingly elastic in meaning.
A cedar swamp, for instance, is a swamp while covered with
trees, but when cut over, cleared and planted with cranberries,
it becomes a bog.

Much of the Swamp-land in the Coastal Plain of New Jersey,
although merely moist and extremely fertile, will probably
remain in woods for many years to come, because of the diff-
culty in clearing it. A swamp bottom consists of the forest
detritus of ages, and is a matted mass of roots, stumps and tree
trunks.

The swamp-land may, for the sake of convenience, be divided
into cedar swamps and deciduous or hardwood swamps.

The white cedar (Chamecyparis thyotdes),* the finest soft
wood of the region, grows in dense pure forests. The tree is
tall, straight and sharp-pointed. The bases of the crowns meet
to form a solid canopy. The trees grow so close that one sup-
ports another, and when a few are cut, or felled by storm, others
in the neighborhood, deprived of their support, fall in every
direction. The limbs are often festooned with a gray lichen
(Usnea barbata), the pendant tufts of which are favorite nesting
places of the Parula warbler (Compsothlypsis americana). ‘These

* This tree should not be confounded with the white cedar or arbor vite of the north (7/uya occt-
dentalis).

246 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

swainps are warm and protected in winter, and harbor, there-
fore, many birds. They are cool in summer and fragrant with
the odor of clethra (C. alzzfolia) and magnolia (AZ. glauca). A
cedar-swamp bottom seldom freezes. This may be partly due to
the fact that cedar swamps are usually located in regions of
springs.

The forest floor is usually covered with a thick mat of spongy
sphagnum moss. ‘The streaims in passing through the swamps
often separate into several streamlets, which meander through
the mass of moss and submerged tree trunks and roots. The
water of these in dark places is black as ink, but in the light
and in shallows is the color of mahogany or amber, owing to
impregnations from the humus. Nothing is more characteristic
of the Coastal Plain of New Jersey than these swamps of cedar.
Although practically the northern limit of this excellent species,
it is perfectly at home in South Jersey. Free from disease, and
always a fresh rich green, cedar swamps form the most striking
feature of the landscape. It is a common saying in South
Jersey that a cedar swamp attracts a shower. It seems to be
often the case that a thunder storm follows a branch or stream
until it reaches a mass of swamp, and there drops its rain.

Owing to the excellence of the wood, these swamps are
devoured with avidity by lumbermen. The bottom when not
too difficult to clear, and when properly located, is in demand
for cranberry bogs.* When a cedar swamp is cut or burnt, if
certain conditions prevail, it may come again in cedar, usually,
however, deciduous swamp trees, inferior in nature, usurp its
place.

* The cultivation of the large or American cranberry (Ozxycoccus mtacrocarfon) is a very important
industry in South Jersey. The berry, the size of a cherry, grows in large quantities on a low creeping
vine, which forms a mat on the surface. The clearing and preparation of these bogs are expensive, but
the yields are often enormous, and the bog lasts for many years without perceptible deterioration. The
cultivation of this plant requires skill and experience. In times past fortunes have been lost as well as
won in the cranberry industry. The amount of fruit yielded year after year by a bog suitably located
and tended is often enormous A cedar-swamp bottom through which there is a running stream is
selected. This is banked and arranged so that the bog can be easily and quickly flooded, since it is desir-
‘able to keep it covered with water throughout the winter and for a short time at other seasons of the year,
to protect it from frost, to drown out undesirable weeds and insect pests or prevent a fungous disease called
‘“scald.’’ A bog may be flooded at any time without injury to the vines, except when in blossom In
clearing a bog the stumps are usually removed, but not always. The whole is turfed with a cranberry or
bog-hoe, which has a wider blade than the ordinary grub-hoe. Ditches are dug throughout the whole
bog, and sometimes the surface is sanded. It is planted in a simple manner with a suitable variety of
wild-berry from the woods or from another bog. Usually the vines are mown down with a scythe.
These pieces are dropped over the area ready for planting and pushed into the soft soil with a wooden
dibble. They soon take root, and in the course of a couple of years their vigorous stolons have complete
possession of the soil,

/

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY

REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XX.

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REPORT ON FORESTS. 247

The swamp lands* being moist, have naturally not suffered
from fire as much as the uplands. They often consist, therefore,
not only of a great mixture of species, but are a semi-tropical
tangle of wild grapes, and othe# vines and bushes. ‘The decid-
uous or hardwood swamps usually contain a mixture of the
following trees of more or less importance: Acer rubrum, red
or swamp maple; Lzguzdamber styraciflua, sweet gum or
bilsted; Myssa sylvatica, black or sour gum, and Magnola
glauca, or brewster, are the commonest. In some swamps there
are beeches (Fagus latifolia), tulip trees (Lzrzodendron tulipi-
sera), swamp white oak (Quercus platanordes), willow oak (Q.
phellos), holly (flex opaca), sassafras (.S. sassafras), and now and
then a pitch-pine (/zaws rzgzda), a smooth-bark pine (/P2zzs
echinata), a white cedar (Chemecyparis thyordes) or even a white
pine.t

Fire and the axe have converted many of these swamps into
sorry looking thickets and cripples,{ which are little more than
tangles of saplings, bushes and vines. It is easy to imagine how,
in the course of time, fire, burning over land of heavy nature or
land which is usually moist, will gradually kill even swamp trees
and shrubs, until nothing remains but herbaceous plants among
charred stumps. "These swamps often become very dry in sum-
mer, and the natives, to improve the quality of the berries (or
very rarely the pasturage), set fires. ‘his must be done, however,

*It is in these swamps where the animals of the woods take refuge, especially the deer, which, at a
certain time of the year when the law allows, are remorselessly chased by packs of hounds. The extinc-
tion of this animal in New Jersey is only a matter of time unless the use of dogs is absolutely prohibited
atall seasons. It is the prevailing opinion in the Adirondacks that the wisest move in the protection of
deer was the prevention of hounding by law. The meat of a hounded animal is poor in quality, to say
nothing of the cruelty which the nagging of dogs occasions. Hunting at best is an immoral sport, and in
America is everybody’s privilege. In every backwoods town there are local social gypsies or pothunters
who love sport and hate work, who spend their days wandering in the woods with dog and gun, and their
evenings in the country store or tavern relating their experiences. Several animals in South Jersey are
hunted not for their pelts or for food but for the bounty which the townships very foolishly pay for the
heads of certain so-called ‘‘ depredatory animals,’’ among the worst of which the fox is classed.

+ The white pine was at one time quite abundant in Manahawken swamp. These pines towered high
above the cedars of the swamp. This suggests the possibility of growing the white pine in such districts
either alone or mixed with white cedar. The choppers whom I consulted at the time of my visit called
the white pine ‘‘ white wood.”’

t The term “‘cripple’’ is a localism used in South Jersey and on the Chesapeake peninsula. It is
applied to a thicket or bushland. It is interesting to note that the Germans use the word in the same
sense, For instance, a stand of trees which has been abused by careless cutting, etc., is called a ‘‘ Krup-
pelbestand.’’ Underbrush is sometimes called ‘‘ Kruppelholz.’’

248 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

when the soil is not toodry.* In this way moist swamps become
meadows. ‘This land, if left to itself and protected from fires,
soon recovers, but there is another kind of grassy land, namely
“ Savanna,” which is of little Worth in New Jersey at present,
and destined to remain unchanged for many years to come.

The formation of such grass land in New Jersey is usually due
to a hard-pan which is often only a few inches below the surface.
Hard-pan is the name applied to a dense, almost impenetrable
stratum of compacted material. It is generally soil in the pro-
cess of becoming rock. In these savanna lands ft it is bog-ore
and organic materials cementing the particles of sand. It is
covered by several inches of humus, which is saturated wiih
water and is sour in consequence. Here and there on knolls in
these sloughs, a pitch-pine grows, but topples over in the course
of time, owing to the slight hold which it has upon the soil:
The hard-pan is similar to the “‘ortstein”’ of Northern Europe and
the “alios” of the French Landes. ‘This stratum exists in all
degrees of hardness, and often in sufficient quantities to prevent
the growth of trees on considerable areas of land, but in a region
where even good wood-land has little value, the comparatively
small area of savanna is not worthy of much consideration, be-
cause the cost of drainage and preparation would amount to more
than the land is likely to be worth for some time to come.

Stretching along the coast of Southern New Jersey and along
the Delaware river, fringing the mainland and bays, and extend-
ing along the rivers far inland, are many miles of salt marshes.
They are of course treeless.{ In former times these lands were
banked and cultivated much more extensively than at present.
Owing to the difficulty of keeping the banks in order, they have
in large part been abandoned. ‘The marshes, endless to the eye,

* Constant burning causes deterioration of pasturage in the course of time. The weaker grasses are
gradually killed. On salt marshes and wild meadows where the soil is very moist, so that the roots are
not injured by fire, regular burning is a benefit ji

+ The term savanna is a relic of the Spanish in America and in general merely means a tract of level
land covered with low vegetation, usually grass. It is used throughout the world in this sense. In old

Spanish the word means a ‘‘ sheet,’’ and was originally applied to a flat snow-covered region.

{In places hardy shrubs and trees are gradually intruding on the marshes as they become by deposit
higher and sweeter. In other places groups of trees may be seen which have been killed by too large a
dose of salt water.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 249

are intersected by many bays, salt ponds, thoroughfares and
winding creeks. They yield thousands of tons of salt hay
(Spartina junci?), and black grass (/uncus gerardz), which are
extensively used for fodder and packing. It is transported on
flat-boats or scows up the many rivers to the interior, and is also
baled and shipped to the neighboring sea-shore resorts and cities.
Owing to the fact that these marshes already yield a good
income, that is, a fair rate of interest on the amount invested,
and probably more than cultivated fields would pay, by producing
year after year a good grade of hay without any labor except
the reaping, and a little ditching now and then, it would be a
precarious investment to bank and drain them as has been done
with similar land in Holland, except in the northeastern part
of the state, where proximity to cities makes land more val-
uable than in the southern part. These banked lands, although
fertile, are unsatisfactory to till; the dykes are* a constant care
and anxiety, and storms and high tides, besides other serious
dangers, often cause irreparable damages.

The reasons for mentioning these marshes in this connection”
are, firstly, they yield an abundance of fodder and litter, and
secondly, the mud is an extremely rich fertilizer, consisting
mainly of humus, but containing also lime, and the decomposed
bodies of both macroscopic and microscopic organisms. It 1s an
inexhaustible store of fertility. In it are the materials which
the sandy soil of the interior needs most. By applying this mud
in the fall, so that the frost will pulverize and mellow it, and,
the following summer, sowing a leguminous crop for green
manure, the sandiest field is rendered so fertile that with
intensive culture, including a regular supply of water and intel-
ligent labor, it will produce fruits and vegetables of the finest

*The banks are often seriously damaged by the musk-rat (Fiber ztbethicus), an aquatic rat-like
rodent. It yields a salable fur and is extensively trapped. They dig through a bank in all directions»
causing it to leak and weakening it throughout in a way which is difficult to repair. They are prolific
and must be combatted in various ways. Many encourage the presence of black snakes (Bascanion
constrictor), which feed upon its young. A tight hemlock board or slab-fence is often constructed
against the face of the bank, or small pilings are driven close together along its outer edge. Ditches
should never be dug on both sides of a dyke, if so, the rats are very tond of channeling from ditch to
ditch. If sand is used in the construction of the outer part of a bank, rats are less apt to disturb it,
because it caves easily and thus interferes with their digging. Willows should be planted on these banks
and fascine and wattlework constructed on their faces. The great use of fascine and wattlework is not
fully appreciated in America. The banks which worry the Jersey farmer would be little more than play
to the enterprising Dutchman who, with patient toil, farms into the very jaws of the sea. He would even
look with envious eyes on our shallow inland bays and would soon convert them into many acres of rich
polder-land.

250 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY... 3

quality. ‘This litter and mud are abundant and available to all
those who have enterprise and energy enough to utilize them.

The mainland and marine marshes are protected from the
action of the ocean waves by a line of barrier beaches or sea
islands. "These beaches, on which are located many famous
resorts, are separated from one another by inlets through which
the tide sweeps swiftly. Strictly speaking, a beach is that part
of a shore between high and low water, but in New Jersey the
term is applied to what are really sea-islands. These islands
consist of a fine white sand which in places is mobile. When
the tide falls, the sand of the beach proper, dried by the sun
and wind, is blown either inland or into the ocean. ‘The pre-
vailing winds blow toward the sea, and the sand as it dries flies
back into the water to be whirled again on the beach by the
waves. If the wind continues for some time from the sea, sand-
hills are formed. Any small obstacle sufficient to diminish the
energy of the wind may cause the commencement of a dune.
As soon as a little hill is formed, it is easy to see how it may
continue to form while the conditions remain the same. Soon
a strong west wind, however, may hurl it back into the sea, or
an eastern gale fling it inland on the marshes. And so it goes,
forming and re-forming, changing in fact with every caprice of
the wind, gentle and almost unnoticeable during a hght sea-
breeze, but a stinging, blinding sand-blast in times of gale. In
case of an obstruction, which interferes with the action of
the wind, a dune forms equal in height to the obstacle. A
great deal of the land on these islands is now occupied by
resorts; it is all in fact owned by private parties, and is in
places extremely valuable. But here and there are tracts of
wild, shifting dunes. At Avalon there isa huge dune, caused
by a dense forest which is being slowly but surely engulfed.
The dune begins just above high-water mark, and then extends
inland, gradually increasing in height until its summit is even
with the foliage of the trees. It is a peculiar scene from the
top of this dune; on the land side there is a dense mass of dark
green foliage, beyond which there is the broad expanse of green
salt marshes with their bays and thoroughfares.* On the ocean
side, sloping to the breakers, there is a huge mass of fine sea-

* A waterway from one bay to another is called a ‘‘ thoroughfare’’ along the Jersey coast.

‘

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXI.

RHE CREST OF THE SAND-DUNEVON SEVEN MILE. BEACH

HOWVdd AMW NOUAUS NO SOITIOH

‘IIXX (ON 932I1d

AUALSAAXOA NO LYOdaa
Aasaal MAN AO AFTANNS ITVOIDO1OaD

REPORT ON FORESTS. 25

sand, out of which project the jagged trunks and limbs of
smothered trees. The fine sand sifts into shoes, pockets, cloth-
ing and hair. It comes fresh from the great ocean-mill, ascends
the surface of the dune, and falls over its crest into the forest.
When a stiff breeze is blowing it skims along like drifting snow,
and shoots from the summit of the dune, trimming the tops of
the trees as flat as though shorn with shears.*

If these forests are what cause the dunes, by preventing
the west wind from blowing back the sand, how did the forests
form? Single trees here and there, or groups of trees, which
are clean underneath, so that the west wind sweeps through
without serious interruption, do not cause the formation of dunes.
In the course of time, however, a thicket forms under these
trees. ‘They become covered with grape vines, Virginia-creepers
and green-briars. The birds and winds scatter the seeds of
many sorts of shrubs and bushes, such as Prunus maritima,
sweet-gale, Baccharis halimtfolia, etc., ete., until a dense forest
is formed through which the west wind cannot penetrate, the
consequence of which, in the course of time, is a dune, which in
turn finally engulfs and kills the forest that had caused it.+

It is a mistake to suppose that this sand is sterile because it
appears barren. ‘True, it consists mainly of granules of quartz,
but these are extremely fine, the interstices are small, and the
capillarity great in consequence; mixed with it are particles of
shells and other materials, organic and inorganic, which are in
the ocean, working down the coast until washed ashore and
shifted with the sand.

The forest at Avalon is so dense that many birds seek shelter
there. The principal trees of these beaches are the holly (//ex
opaca), the red-cedar (/Junzperus virgintana), the sour or black-
gum (WVyssa sylvatica), magnolia (AZ, glauca), wild-cherry
(Prunus serotina), hackberry (Cel¢7s occidentalis), sassafras,
swamp-maple (dcer rubrum), and a few oaks, and pitch-pines
and even red-mulberry. The commonest, and by far the most
characteristic, trees of the beaches are the holly and red-

*I am of the opinion that the shapes of trees along our coast is due more to the sand-blast than to the
direct action of the wind. This also limits the number of species. Those plants with foliage best able to
withstand this sand-blast are the ones which grow nearest the sea.

¢ By clearing away the underbrush and trimming the trees to let the west wind through, it might be
possible in several places along the coast to dispel the dunes and prevent their future formation.

252 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

cedar. The holly thrives here, reaching a much larger size
than on the mainland, apparently enjoying the moist, salt
atmosphere and loose sand. It is a dune-tree par excellence.
Its limbs are close and jagged, in striking contrast to the
pyramidal, symmetrical holly trees of the inland open field. Its
prickly foliage is dense and dark green, and its crown is flat.
It produces rich red berries in profusion, and its bole is bright
gray in color, rugged and sturdy. It is not uncommon to find
two hollies grown together, or the limb of one tree growing
into another tree, or a limb bending down and uniting with the
trunk, forming what the natives call “‘jug-handles.”” Those who
are familiar with the region will never forget these groups of
hollies, nor the masses of aromatic red cedars with limbs fes-
tooned with gray lichens. (See plates XXI, XXII and XXIII.)

There is but little danger lurking in these sand-hills. They
are, in this respect, unlike the dunes of Gascony, which, if
robbed of their forests, would bury villages. The Jersey dunes
are so wild and picturesque that many prefer to let them have
their way; but the scenes on these beaches, so attractive and
peculiar to-day, are destined to lose much of their charm by
being transformed into resorts for recreation and pleasure.

How lacking in shade and attractiveness are our American
sea-shore resorts in comparison with those of the Old World !
Look at Arcachon (see plate XXVIII), for instance, with its
summer village by the shore and its winter village of beautiful
villas in the midst of a magnificent pine forest ; or at the famous
Dutch resort, Scheveningen, with its beautifully shaded avenues ;
or Domberg (see plate X XV), or anywhere, in fact, in the lee of
the dune, which protects the farm-land where the industrious
Dutch have beautiful villas in the midst of the woods. Sand-
bars and mud-flats should never be despised, and a country close
to the sea enjoys many advantages of which its people are not
always conscious.

The utilization* of the forests of America began with the
Indian. The Coastal Plain of New Jersey, however, was very
sparsely inhabited before Europeans landed. Here and there
along the rivers may be seen the vestiges of Indian villages, pot-

* One often hears and reads the statement that the branch of forestry called “ forest utilization ’’ and
“lumbering ’’ are synonymous. This is a mistake in that lumbering is no more forestry than the picking
of wild fruits is agriculture.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXIII.

A GROUP OF RED CEDARS ON THE COAST OF NEW JERSEY

REPORT ON HOREST S. 253

sherds, broken shells, bones and bits of jasper. At certain times
of the year large numbers crossed the State to enjoy for a time
the bathing and fruits of the sea, but the permanent population
was never large. The Indian of New Jersey domesticated no
animals and cultivated only a few plants. His clumsy stone
implements were so unwieldy and impotent that he was unable
to exterminate animals or cut down forests.* He depended
mainly upon the fruits and animals of the woods. He needed
only wood for fuel, which was everywhere plentiful, and white-
cedar logs, out of which to shape his canoes. The rivers were
his highways, the canoe his conveyance. Fires, no doubt, were
set both accidentally and purposely by the Indian, but in South-
ern New Jersey they were probably infrequent, and did compar-
atively little damage. Indians in parts of Western America still
fire the bush} to facilitate hunting. They desire open prairies
and intervales for their game. In many places east of the Missis-
sippi river, after the Indians departed, prairie fires which they
had purposely set every year, became less frequent, and forest
vegetation in consequence began to appear in the open land.

He has left his impress upon the country however, and Indian
words are indelibly attached to many localities, and to the names
of many plants and animals, such as persimmon, chinkapin, hick-
ory, tamarack, mahogany, pecan, etc.

Although the Algonquin Indian of New Jersey was dependent
upon the forest and still in a primitive state, he cultivated smal]
patches of maize and perhaps other vegetables, and was familiar
with the edible wild plants. From the Indian the whites learned
of a tree (Acer saccharum) with a sweet palatable sap{t that grew

*«* The chief use of the hatchets among the Delaware Indians of New Jersey,’’ says Kalm, “‘ was to
make good fields for maize plantations. If the ground was covered with woods, they cut off the bark all
round the trees with their hatchets at a time when they lose theirsap. The trees thus girdled died, and
the ground was a little turned up with crooked or sharp branches ”’

+ The term ‘“ bush’”’ is a peculiar one. It usually means a single low woody plant. In certain
regions, however, it is applied to a wild forest with a dense underbrush. The sugar maple forest or
orchard is sometimes called the ‘‘sugar-bush.’’ The word in Dutch is ‘‘ bosch,’’ and means forest, and,
no doubt, the Hollanders were the first to apply it in this sense in South Africa and America. The word
‘bois’? in French and ‘‘ bosco’’ in Italian are probably modifications of the same word. There is an old
English word “ boscage,’’ which means a thicket or woodland growth. In old English law boscage
meant food for cattle derived from trees or bushes, also a tax on wood brought into a city.

{¢ Col. Wm. Fox, in his paper on the maple-sugar industry, in the latest report of the New York State
Forest Game and Fisheries Commission, says: ‘‘ For our first knowledge of this product we are
indebted to the North American Indian, the same people who gave us corn and tobacco. From the
records of the earliest explorers on this continent it appears that the Indians tapped the maples, gathered
the sap in rude receptacles, and boiled it. The first white settlers used the same methods, which substan-
tially remain unchanged to day.’”’

254 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

in the northern mountains. ‘The settler, in times of famine,
often appealed to the Indian, and many of the fruits and vege-
tables upon which he fed have been since neglected. The Indian-
club and the Indian-fig, for instance, two of his important food-
plants, are perhaps worthy of cultivation and improvement.*

The Indian of New Jersey was soon superseded by the settler,
who, provided with two powerful implements—the axe and the
gun—cleared small patches of land, and built cabins along the
rivers. [rapping was the settler’s first occupation and peltry ft
was one of the first and most important products of the virgin
forest. Hunting and trapping in early times were hazardous,
but often lucrative occupations. The forest was difficult to clear,
and just as the young poplars to-day harass the New England
farmer, by invading his pastures, and the mink and fox rob the
hennery, so in early times a hundred-fold more bothersome were
the suckers and seedlings, and animals from the woods between
the clearings. Fire was freely used, and from the ashes potash
was extracted by leaching. This lixivium, by mixing with
erease produced soft-soap, which is still manufactured by country
people. In many places to-day wood 1s extensively burnt for its.
ashes and used as a fertilizer.

Soon shipbuilding developed into an important industry. Oak
and pine of the finest kinds were plentiful. Saw-muills were
built along the streams, and lumber was shipped even to the
West Indies in exchange for rum, sugar and molasses. The
construction of schooners continued until recent times to be an
important industry. Now, only small sloops, scows and bateaux
are built. Ships of iron, propelled by steam, have superseded
the clipper.

* It may often be the humblest and least conspicuous plants which yield the richest food materials,
and not always the major forest products which, considering labor and time, yield the largest returns.
The salep of Turkey and the truffles of France are excellent examples. Salep is a farinaceous food
obtained from the tubers of wild orchids, It contains a substance called bassorine, which is very nutri-
tious. Over $3,000,000 worth of truffles are exported annually from France. They come mostly from
Perigord, and grow in limestone regions on the roots of oaks.

+ Several wild animals have, and perhaps others might be, profitably bred for their pelts. The
skunk (Mephitis mephitica), one of the commonest and most disagreeable of all the animals of Eastern
America, produces a salable fur called ‘‘Alaska sable,’’ and in spite of the facts that it emits a nauseating
odor and that a kind of hydrophobia results from its bite, has been kept in confinement and bred for its
skin. The mink has been tamed and reared in minkeries in New York State. It has been said that a
mink is as profitable as a cow. Coues, in his “‘ Fur-bearing Animals of North America,’’ says: ‘‘ Were
not fashion so notoriously capricious, mink pelts would maintain a conspicuous place in the fur-marts of
the world; certainly few surpass them in richness of color, gloss and fineness ””

REPORT ON FORESTS. 255

Scattered here and there throughout the Pines are the remains
of what were once centers of a flourishing industry. This
was the manufacture of iron from bog ore (limonite). In some
places the furnaces and forges have been completely obliterated
and forgotten; in others only bits of black slag remain,
while in others the ruins are still standing. These centers
of industry, usually located in the neighborhood of streams
and bogs, were connected by stage routes, along which here
and there were clearings and taverns. Immense quantities of
charcoal were consumed by these forges and furnaces, the owners
of which usually possessed the land for several miles in every
direction. Wood in those days was in demand, and coalings were
frequent. Even after the iron industry in the Pines succumbed,
charcoal was shipped to the cities by schooners in large quan-
tities. Owing to the abundance of other forms of coal, the demand
for charcoal has gradually decreased. Along the rivers there
were many depots to which the charcoal was carted, which are
still in evidence, owing to the great masses of coal-dust which
‘accumulated there. Coal and iron were worked side by side
in the neighboring State of Pennsylvania, transportation by
rail increased the competition; the iron industry in the Pines
was unable to survive, and with it faded the manufacture of
charcoal,* and the value of coal-wood. The ruins of furnaces,
the large dilapidated houses, the overgrown roads, the wharves,
the piers, the old ship-yards, and the masses of coal-dirt on the
landings are evidences of what the country was when iron was
made from bog-ore, and when schooners were built to trade to
foreign lands. The woods were full of men hewing timbers,
cutting coal-wood, working in the coalings, raising bog-ore and
carting materials from place to place. The death of these indus-
tries, however, is only the result of progress. In*the develop-
ment of the whole of a country, certain parts, although they
may have once played an important role, must suffer. In the
course of its development almost every country is subjected to a
series of industrial ups and downs.

Another peculiar old-time industry was the mining of cedar.

he bed of a cedar swamp is a mass of forest detritus, several

*Tt is unfortunate that so little charcoal is used in the American household. The fine flavor of
French cookery is partly due to the use of an excellent quality of charcoal. Other kinds of coal and wood

emit gases in the process of combustion which taint food more or less, and for successful broiling charcoal
and the brazier are necessary.

256 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

feet in depth, in which there are logs of white-cedar perfectly
preserved and excellent in quality. The white-cedar, like the
cypress of the South, reaches a ripe old age. Over one thou-
sand annual rings have been counted in buried stumps six feet in
diameter, and, judging from fallen trunks, the age of these
swamps is many centuries. It establishes the fact beyond a
doubt that the white-cedar has been growing in South Jersey
for ages, and that it is perfectly at home there in every sense of
the word. The wood of many of these buried logs is sound and
light. These were dug out, sawn into billets, and split by hand
into what were called ‘“ mud-shingles,’ which last for many
years. *

It seems strange that the mining of cedar, when wood was
plentiful, should be more profitable than at present, when white-
cedar is scarce and poorer in quality. Lumber is cheaper in
parts of Eastern America to-day, however, than it was a quarter
of acentury ago. This is due to the fact that a much wider
field has been brought into competition by the development of
railroads, and special long-distance freight rates from regions
where timber is still plentiful, and where very complete, labor-
saving, wholesale methods of working it are in practice.

The production of tar was not very extensively developed,
and lasted only for a short time. The existence of the industry
was due to the peculiar exigencies of the times. During the
Civil War the North was deprived of necessary naval stores, for
which the ship-chandlers were willing to pay enormous prices.
The natives of southern New Jersey took advantage of this
opportunity and collected large quantities of ‘‘ fat-pine knots,”
out of which they manufactured tar.

At one time the splitting of hoop-poles for barrel-hoops was
an important industry. Coppice oak was used for the purpose.

*In “ mining’’ cedar logs a great deal of skill and experience was required. Of course, many of the
trees in the swamp were worthless when they fell. The person in search of shingle logs, therefore, first
sounds the swamp-bottom with an iron rod. When he finds a solid log, he notes its position, size and
length. With a sharp spade and axe he cuts down to it, in order to secure a chip of it, from which he is
able to tell, especially by the smell, whether it was uprooted by the wind or broken off above the ground.
In the first case it is apt to be much sounder and better. If satisfactory, he digs a trench along its length,
and saws it off at both ends. The hole he has dug soon fills with water, and, after the log has been com-
pletely loosened, it rises and floats, being surprisingly buoyant. It turns over also, at the same time,
being lighter and fresher 1n appearance on the underside. It is then rolled out of the bed where it has
rested many years, is sawn into proper lengths, and split into shingles, There is still, no doubt, buried
cedar in the swamps of South Jersey, but although fine in quality, it requires so much labor to work it
that it is no longer profitable.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 257

Owing to the substitution of bags for barrels and iron for wooden
hoops, there is practically at present no demand for hoop-poles.
At one time many people found employment in gathering the
leaves of the upland sumac.* These were ground at the mills
and were used for tanning.

The principal industries of the present are the cutting of
wood for fuel and the working of timber for constructive pur-
poses. Several minor products of more or less importance are
also collected.

Wood for fuel may be divided into two classes—pole-wood
and cord-wood. When small-sized trees are cut in the pole
stage, such as oak coppice, they are merely stripped of their
branches, and are not divided into regular lengths, and are sold
as pole-wood, which is consumed locally and bought and sold
by the one-horse or two-horse wagon-load. This wood is abund-
ant and has little worth. If killed by fire, as is often the case,
it is not seriously injured for fuel, although slightly charred,
and often disagreeable to handle. Large quantities of this wood
may be had for the asking. ‘The person who sells pole-wood
usually receives little more than his labor is worth in cutting
and delivering it to the purchaser.

Cord-wood + is cut into sticks four feet long, and split once.
It is usually either pure pine or oak, sometimes mixed. If located
near a railroad or along a good wagon-road, there is a slight
margin of profit in this wood. In many parts of the Coastal
Plain of New Jersey it has no worth, because the cost of cutting
and transportation is equal to or even more than the market
price. Often, however, if the owner has teams of his own, he
cuts the wood when slack of other work and transports it in
order to furnish himself with labor. His wood-land really has

* The chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) furnishes the best tanning material of eastern trees. It is
hardly safe to recommend the planting of trees for tan-bark owing to the fact that other means of tanning
are in process of development, and new and perhaps better methods are liable to replace the old. There
are a few people, however, who believe that oak bark will be worth more a few years hence. The use of
quebracho, from South America, has had an important effect on this industry, but quebracho wood and
hemlock will not last forever. The chestnut-oak is common in South Jersey, and one should have no
hesitation in planting it. It grows fairly well in the shade of pine trees. In spite of the use of many other
tanning materials, the choicest leather is ‘‘ oak-tanned.’’

A cord, in Jersey, is four feet wide, four feet high and eight feet long. It contains eight cord feet
or one hundred and twenty-eight cubic teet, or 3.62 cubic meters.

I7 FOR

258 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

little intrinsic value.* It is merely a means to an end. It
pays, however, to convert the straight limbs and tops of trees,
from which saw-logs have been cut, into cord-wood. South
Jersey has to compete in the production of cord-wood with the
woodland along the rivers of the neighboring States of Delaware,
Maryland and Virginia, where a large negro population exists,
which is skillful with the axe and willing to work for small
wages.

The production of fuel-wood in South Jersey, however, will
always take care of itself. Woods should be managed, therefore,
with saw-stuff in view. Good lumber? is scarce and high in
price, while fuel-wood { has practically no value whatever.

Much could be said of chopping in general, and the imple-
ments and methods in use of felling and converting trees. The
American axe, the most perfect and useful of ordinary imple-
ments, is worthy of a chapter in itself. Intelligent chopping
should be classed as skilled labor; in fact, by a judicious use of
the axe in the hands of a person with an exact knowledge of the
conditions which obtain, it is often possible to bring order out
of chaos and correct the work of careless slashers. §

It requires only a short space to describe the handling of tim-
ber in South Jersey. There is no rafting, no skidways, no lum-
ber camps. All this belongs to the past, when ship-building

*A few years ago wood was sold in Philadelphia from South Jersey for the purpose of dry distillation.
There are several establishments of this kind in neighboring States. I fail to see why this industry could
not exist in South Jersey as well as elsewhere. It is an industry which would use the rough wood, for

which there is no market, and which rots in the forest. There are many dry distillation plants in New
York and Pennsylvania, and the gemand for the product is constantly on the increase,

+ The terms “‘ timber’’ and “‘lumber’’ are used in a peculiar way in America. Lumber means sawn
stuff in merchantable form. It means also disused articles or discarded goods of any kind, and, according
to some authorities, it is a modification of the word Lombard, the Lombards having been, in early times,
famous pawnbrokers. Although the word lumber only means sawn or dressed stuff, the term lumberman is
applied to a forest proprietor, a lumber merchant, or a worker of timber, Timber is applied to large-sized
sawn or dressed stuff, and to the forest of trees large enough to produce such material. Such a forest is
designated ‘‘standing timber.’”’ ‘‘ Timber-culture ’’ is used instead of silviculture, and the term ‘‘ stump-
age’’ means standing timber, considered with reference to its value for cutting, so called because the
amount cut is ascertained by counting and measuring the stumps.

tA chopper should cut the tree close to the ground, leaving a clean-cut sloping or roof-shaped stump.
This lets the water off, prevents decay, and produces a vigorous coppice. The slashings should be piled
in open places and burnt where there is no danger of the flames injuring neighboring trees. Always pro-
tect the young growth, favor the most useful kinds, and never forget that they are the materials from
which the future forest is formed.

21t would be difficult to find an apter term for the common run of wood-choppers than ‘‘slashers,’’
and the lumbermen themselves have aptly applied the term ‘‘slashings’’ to the immense piles of rubbish
which they leave in their wake. It is this slash which brings disaster to the woods because of its great
combustibility.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 259

was an important industry. ‘The writer can just remember the
long line of mule teams, bound to the shipyards on the shore,
with long straight stems of the oak and smooth-bark pine. The
logs are now, usually, short and small, the roads are good and
level, so that with the help of a couple of skids, cant-hooks and
parbuckles the handling of logs is a stumple operation.

The saw-mills are simple in nature and only work lumber for
local demands, finding, however, in the resorts along the shore a
good market for building materials.

The income from the gathering of wild fruits is probably
equal to, if not more than the yield from fire-wood. ‘The most
important of these are the cranberry, huckleberry and blueberry.

The cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarpon*) is now extensively
cultivated. It keeps well throughout the winter, and forms a
rich crimson sauce, which is relished with turkey. Large
quantities of these berries are exported to other States, and
even to foreign countries.

The high-bush blueberryt (Vaccenzum corymbosum), which
reaches perfection in the swamps of South Jersey, has never
been cultivated. It is preferred by many to all other wild fruits.
It reaches the dimensions of a large shrub, if not a small tree,
on rich, moist, loose soil. The quality of the berries can be
easily improved by trimming. The natives know this and
accomplish it in a drastic, wholesale fashion by firing the woods.
The young shoots which spring up after a fire bear large luscious
berries.

The wild grapes are also abundant. The fox grape (V2tzs
labrusca), is plentiful in the swamps, the vines of which often
form luxuriant tangles in the tops of the trees. The fruit is
dark purple or amber in color, with a tough pulp, but delicious
musky aroma, and famous for Jelly.

The persimmon tree (Dzospyros virginiana) bears an abund-
ance of rich fruit. The improvement of this fruit by grafting
has begun. At present, when a little green, the fruit is puckery ;
when ripe, too soft; it 1s also too small and has too many seeds.

* The term ‘‘cranberry’”’ is properly restricted to the genus Oxycoccus, the term ‘“‘ huckleberry’’ to
the genus Guylussacia, and the term “‘ blueberry ”’ to the genus Vaccinium.
g y MA 8

+ White or pink varieties are not uncommon, which are simply cases of albinism. These are very
sweet and worthy of propagation.

260 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

It contains, however, a larger amount of nutritive matter than
other fruits, and is excellent for pies and puddings. *

The beach-plum (Pras maritima) grows in sea-sand, close
to the ocean, and in the driest, most inhospitable places, and at
the same time bears a large crop of plums, which are excellent
in flavor. It is only a shrub, but well worth planting in sandy
regions. In addition to the above fruits there are many others
of more or less importance for food, flavors and wines.

The floor of a cedar swamp is usually covered with a mass of
sphagnum-moss. ‘This is collected, baled in hay presses, and
sold to nurserymen for packing purposes. ‘This material is
remarkable for its ability to retain moisture and is extensively
used in the shipment of plants.

Large quantities of holly, mistletoe, cedar, etc., are sold in
the cities. Many thousands of the most beautiful and sym-
metrical young conifers are sacrificed annually for Christmas
trees. If the trees were raised for this purpose it would be a
legitimate business, but the Christmas-tree gatherer, in order to
secure extra fine specimens, cuts the tops out of large-sized red-
cedar trees, just as fishermen peel the inner bark from the butts
of the white-cedar for fish-strings.

Many flowers, especially those of Magnolia glauca, are col-
lected in large quantities and sold.

The cultivation of the willow for basket work is in its infancy
in New Jersey. The wood of the white-oak (Q. alba), when
split into thin slivers, is an excellent basket material.t These
baskets are strong and durable. The common American market-
basket is not woven. It is extremely cheap and simple, and
goes with the contents.

There are many plants of more or less value medicinally.
Perhaps the most important, which is common throughout the

* The persimmon grows luxuriantly in the old fields of South Jersey, where animals have carried the

seeds. It is possible to bud or graft thesé trees with choice varieties of the persimmon, which produce,
when in the proper stage of ripeness, a very delicious and salable fruit.

+The basket-tree of the South, however, is Ouercus michauxii, the basket or swamp-white-oak.
This tree is very closely related to Quercus platanotdes, if not a southern form of the same. It grows
in the swamps of South Jersey, but is not abundant. It is one of the most magnificent trees of the oak
family. A few years ago it was plentiful on rich southern swamp bottoms. Its wood is of very fine
quality for constructive purposes, and possesses a peculiarity which especially fits it for basketry. Each
annual ring may be easily separated in the form of a thin flexible strip of great pliability and strength.
The thousands of baskets used in the cotton fields of the South were woven from ribbons of this wood.
This, together with the facts that it requires rich land, and does not reproduce itself freely, is about to
cause its extermination.

REPORT ON FORESTS: 261

woods of the E. Carolinian Zone, but rare in New Jersey, is the
witch-hazel (HHamamelis virginiana), a fluid extract of the twigs,
etc., of this plant is a famous lotion for allaying inflammations.
It is used by everybody for the ills of both man and beast. It
is a peculiar shrub, with several branching crooked trunks,
about ten feet in height. Its pale yellow flowers bloom late in
autumn when the leaves are falling, and the woody capsule,
which explodes and scatters its two black shining seeds, matures
the following summer. It grows well on the poorest kind of
gravelly soil.

Acorns are abundant and are fed to swine. ‘There is a fair
crop almost every year, and an immense crop every now and
then. ‘Turkeys which thrive on dry, sandy soil, feed on the
acorns. Black walnuts contain rich food material and are used
by confectioners. Hazel-nuts grow well in the swamps, having
escaped in several places from cultivation. "The wild chestnut
thrives in the moist sand of South Jersey, and although the
nuts are usually small, they are very sweet and abundant. In
addition, the collection and careful preparation of the seeds of
important forest trees would yield ever-increasing returns.

I have yet to mention forest litter, especially the collection of
‘“pine-chats”’* or leaves, which in many pine regions plays a
very important and peculiar role.

Forest litter is extensively collected in southern New Jersey
for the bedding of animals and as fertilizer for sweet potatoes ;+
in fact, fair crops of this staple food material may be raised on
extremely sandy soil, without other manure.

It is, however, south of New Jersey, on the peninsula between
the Chesapeake and Delaware, where the litter is most assidu-
ously collected and used. The conditions which exist there are
peculiar and instructive to those interested in the amelioration
of pine-lands. In fact, it is the demand for forest litter which in
a great measure has prevented forest fires and impressed upon
the natives the value of their forests.

*In provincial English the term “ chat’? means catkin, or a twig for kindling. The term “ catkin””

means little cat. There may be some connection between the old English application of the term to small
twigs and the use of the word pine-chat in the South.

¢ The German literature on this subject is quite exhaustive. The manurial value of pine straw lies
mainly in its nitrogen contents. From one acre there may be had annually about 2,500 pounds of straw>
furnishing about 20 pounds of nitrogen, 12 pounds lime, 34 pounds potash, 31{ pounds magnesia and less
than 3 pounds phosphoric acid.

262 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

Almost every farm has its pine forest. These, of course, are
of all sizes and ages, varying from fields as thick and dense as
grain to forests fit for large-size timber. There are few signs of
forest fires.

The soil is light and sandy, dune-like in nature, along the
shore, to which the pines grow close, although a few have been
killed here and there by shifting sand. The natives recognize
the value of the forest in holding the soil in place, and in pro-
tecting their truck-patches from the force of the wind, which
would naturally at times sweep over this narrow peninsula.

On entering one of these forests, one observes at once that
although there are many small trees of holly, and bushes of
sweet-gale, the ground is free from litter and brush. If one
happens to visit the region at the proper season he will see men
and women raking up the forest litter. Very early in the spring
or late in winter one can see field after field covered with pine-
chats, to be plowed under just as soon as the weather permits.
In fact, the fields are laid out in squares, by means of the plow,
in order that the pine-chats may be easily measured and thus
evenly distributed. Just as soon as a field becomes worn out it
is abandoned; the adjoining woods furnish the seed, the wind
sows it, and soon a fresh growth of pines appears. Here and
there throughout the forests there are avenues, which, although
constructed to facilitate the collection of pine-chats, serve at the
saine time the purpose of fire-lanes.

Because of the value of the pine-chats the forest floor is free
from inflammable materials just at a time when fires are most
likely to occur. The removal of this debris is contrary to the
principles of German forest management, because it naturally
impoverishes the forest soil. In the course of time, however,
many of these potato-fields are allowed to come up in pines, and
fresh fields are cleared when the pines have been cut.*

* Unlike other crops, the forest constantly improves the soil, provided the litter is not removed or
allowed to burn, The roots of trees penetrate to its deeper layers, and absorb large quantities of mineral
matters. A large percentage of this material goes to the leaves, and is deposited on the surface. The
surface soil is both enriched by these mineral substances and protected by a mulch of humus in varying
stages of decomposition, As the lower layers rot, new layers of leaves and twigs are being constantly
deposited, so that the forest soil, in the course of time, fairly reeks with nourishing plant-food. It has
been shown, without doubt, that the removal of litter from poor soils is ruinous. It is like stealing food
from a starving man. ‘The removal of forest litter from rich soils is indeed, however, a very small matter,
and it is doubtful if it really does very serious injury.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 263

Another point of great advantage is, that the forest 1s not con-
tinuous, but cut into parcels, with farm lands and glades inter-
vening. In fact it is a land of thrifty forests without foresters,
and practically without the need of forest laws.

For private holdings of pine lands, I aim inclined to favor this
method of management, under the peculiar conditions existing
in certain parts of America. In this way the forest constantly
yields, indirectly, an important income. It is simply a rotation
of crops, of which the pine is the most important, producing
throughout its whole life a material which, to the farmer of the
eastern shore of Virginia, is of more value than wood.*

It is easily seen, from the condition of the forest industries
which have just been described, that the Coastal Plain of New
Jersey has passed through the first and most lucrative stage of
its existence. The time is at hand for the establishment of
industries with permanency in view. The most important step
in the right direction would be the protection of its woodlands,
game, fish, oysters and clams, which were once so abundant.

* By this system of culture the pine naturally and quickly regenerates. Large quantities of swine

run in the forest in this region, and probably do as much good as damage in keeping the soil loose on
che surface and by covering the seeds in the process of rooting.

Il. Forest Policy and Silvicultural Suggestions...

HKORKS ie POLICY.

As has been explained already, there exists in Southern New
Jersey a vast area of land which is in a deplorably unproductive
state. It is sufficient to say that in the hands of private owners,
under the circumstances which at present exist, the future of a
large part of this land is not bright. A change of some kind is
necessary, and this must come either in the form of a change
_ of ownership or of the circumstances which fetter ownership.

The only way in which the ownership may be quickly and
materially changed would be by State purchase. It is question-
able whether under the circumstances State ownership would
be justifiable, and whether, even if it could be easily accomplished,
it would improve the situation. The State ownership of forest
land in New Jersey is only justifiable on the ground that the
presence of forests is necessary for purposes of protection
against the destructive forces of nature, for pleasure parks or
for the purpose of preserving the beauty of certain unusually
beautiful or wonderful localities, such as the Palisades.

It is generally conceded in this country that State ownership
of forest land for revenue is unnecessary. The American people,
in fact the Anglo-Saxon race as a whole, has a wholesome aver-
sion to the participation of the State in industries for the pur-
pose of revenue.

Many claim that even in cases where the forest exerts no very
marked influence in a protective way against the destructive
forces of nature, that the State ownership of forests is justifi-
able on the grounds that it requires so long for trees to mature
that private individuals are unable to grow and handle them
satisfactorily to themselves or to their neighbors.

This argument, however, does not always hold good. Were
aman to plant the seed and then wait for the forest to mature,
even the most ardent forester would become impatient. Were

(265)

266 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

he to begin, however, with a forest such as exists even in New
Jersey, he could, even from the beginning, reap something every
year, and his forest would, at the same time, improve in quality
and productiveness. It is quite possible for a private individual
to sow the seed and reap at least three or even four crops of sal-
able materials in a lifetime. It is worthy of note that some of
the finest, that is the most productive, forests of Denmark are
under private control. <A private forest does not always mean a
neglected forest and a short rotation. Many rich families in
Europe gladly avail themselves of this sure and permanent way
of investing their fortunes, which pass from father to son, as do
the date-groves of the East. In America the railroads, express,
telegraph and telephone are private. The finest institutions in
America are due to private enterprise. Great public reforms are
usually brought about by the energy and influence of a few pub-
lic-spirited people. After all, what is the state in America? It
is simply an organized community, the ruling powers of which
are only persons which the people have chosen temporarily from
their midst. The purchase of forest land, the management of
forest land, or the sale of forest land, depends upon what the
majority of legislators may think best, and they in turn are sup-
posed to comply with the wishes of the majority of their con-
stituents. The personnel of the legislature is constantly chang-
ing, so that the management of forest lands owned by the state
would be subject to many vicissitudes unless placed permanently
and absolutely under the care of one of our best educational
institutions or in the hands of other permanent and reliable
trustees. Since, then, the state control of forest lands is not
justifiable on the grounds that large timber cannot be raised
from the seed in an ordinary lifetime, let us consider briefly the
question of protection which it affords in South Jersey against
the destructive forces of nature.

The effect of the forest on the climate of South Jersey, except
in so far as it breaks the force of the wind, is probably slight.
Owing to its insular position the effect on the precipitation of
moisture is probably not considerable. The effect of the forest
in these respects is in general disputed and not proven. The
effects of the forest on the run-off of water is also of small
moment because the country is so flat and the soil is so porous
that floods never have and probably never will occur.

RE POR ON FORESEES: 267

The great function of the forest on the sandy soils of Southern
New Jersey is the beneficial influence which it exerts on the
quality of the soil, both physically and chemically. ‘The forest
fixes the soil, preventing it from shifting. The winds would
blow it from place to place were it absolutely bare. ‘The forest
brings from the subsoils inorganic materials which it deposits
on the surface in the leaves and wood. ‘The soil is enriched and
protected from the beating and leaching force of the rain and the
drying effects of both sun and wind. ‘The granules of silica are
gradually comminuted by the chemical action of decomposing
organic matter so that the influence of the forest on a coarse,
sandy soil tends to render it more and more of the nature of
loam, and finally, in the course of ages, fertile and able to sup-
port not only a dense forest growth, such as Fontainbleau, but
even in time fit it for agricultural purposes. In fact, this is the
only rational form of treatment for such soils, and although they
may become fit for agricultural purposes in the course of time,
the forest should be one of a series of crops. In this system of
rotation the interval from the time the forest is cut until the
land is allowed to come again in forest should be short.

In rocky regions the soil is constantly fed by disintegrating
stones on the surface and in time recuperates, but with sandy
soil the only natural fertilization is by means of the forest,
which returns, in part at least, the materials which have
leached into the deeper layers of the soil while the land was
under cultivation.

Since, then, considering all things, the State is not justified
in purchasing and managing these pine lands, and since it is
extremely doubtful whether their condition would be materially
changed by State ownership, it is important to consider the
circumstances which fetter private ownership. It is safe to
assume, without further discussion, that the woods of South
Jersey, for a long time to come at least, are destined to remain
in the hands of private parties. They must be regarded, there-
fore, as buszness and not protective forests, although they may
of course perform both functions at the same time. The possi-
bilities of successful forest management from a business stand-
point are dependent upon certain fundamental conditions.
These forests must be regarded in the light of sapply forests for

268 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

materials needed for local consumption and for export to neigh-.
boring cities. We must consider, therefore, the following
conditions :

(1) The ability of the State to afford protection to private
property.

(2) The geographic position of the region in reference to
markets and in reference to means of transportation.

(3) The value of land and the cost of labor.

(4) The quantity and quality of the materials the region is.
capable of producing.

(5) The ability to use the materials in local industries.

(6) Fair taxation.

Let us consider, first, fire:

This is the kernel of the whole question. Although no end
of legislation has been passed on the subject, nothing has been
accomplished. Not to mention forest management, the State
has failed up to the present time to protect the property of its
citizens. Until this is accomplished but little progress is possible.

The ‘fire season”? in New Jersey begins about the middle of
March, and continues with more or less fierceness until the end
of October. Sometimes only the thin leaf-covering of the soil
is burnt, and little damage is done; sometimes the deep, dry
muck of the swamps burns for many days, and sometimes the
fire sweeps through the crowns, but often the surface, crown and
ground fires are one, roaring and rushing irresistibly with the
wind, with miles of front, until stopped by a lack of food
material, a fall of rain or a stream of considerable dimensions.

About fifty per cent. of the fires of the Coastal Plain of New
Jersey are caused by sparks from locomotives, ten per cent. are
set by incendiaries for evil purposes, ten per cent. are set pur-
posely to improve the berry crop or pasturage, and the rest are
accidentally and carelessly set.

The effects of fire are practically the same all over the world:
impoverishment of soil, destruction of game and its food supply,
unhealthfulness, increase of insect pests, in addition to the loss
of wood and other property and injuries to industries which use
wood.

For the prevention of fire, the punishment of fire-setters and
the construction of wide fire-lanes along all public wagon-roads

REPORT ON FORESTS. 269

and railroads, are necessary. Railroad companies should be
required to construct lanes, broad and clean enough along their
tracks, to eliminate all danger from flying sparks, to ditch all
swamp-lands to water or sand on the outer edge of the lane, and
to constantly use efficient spark-arresters on their engines. The
townships should be required to construct similar lanes along
all public roads. In this way, what are now points of danger,
from which the majority of fires start, would become avenues
for the prevention of its spread, and would serve at the same
time as vantage points in combatting it. Whenever possible
these fire-lanes should be kept under cultivation, in other places
the brush * should be cut, and all combustible materials burned
at a time when there is no danger of setting fire to the adjoining
woods. The usual method of extinguishing extensive fires is
by “back-firing”’ or “counter-firing.” This is, however, dan-
gerous work, and should not be attempted save by those who
are experienced and capable. Very often the back-fires, set by
inexperienced, excited persons, have not only resulted in disas-
trous conflagrations, but have rendered the skillful work of others
of no avail. For the extinguishment of surface-fires, shovels,
sand and hard work are usually sufficient. Fortunately, sand is
everywhere plentiful, except in swamps. It is often possible to
beat out surface-fires with a green bough or bush. In the extin-
euishment of ground-fires, or those which burn in the peat of
swamps, it is necessary to confine them within certain limits by
digging deep trenches.

Formerly charcoal burners set fire to the forest in order to be
able to purchase it cheaply, by rendering it unfit for any other
purpose than coal wood. ‘The charcoal industry is done, but the
natives still fire the huckleberry-bush to produce fresh shoots on
which the finer berries grow. Berry-picking is an important
industry, and the occurrence of such fires is common. The main
differences between the conditions existing in Southern New
Jersey and the peninsula between the Chesapeake and the Dela-

* The ‘‘ Esterel,”” a region of France not far from Cannes, is famous for the elaborate fire measures
which are in force there. It is a mountainous district, thinly covered with pine and cork-oak and
extremely susceptible to fire, which causes great havoc when the very violent wind, called mistral,
blows. I visited it a few years ago and was surprised to find that, in addition to the formation ot many
fire-lanes, the removal of underbrush, observation posts, telephone, perfectly organized patrols, etc.,
that they burn over patches of the surface every year from December to February with the object of

preventing the growth of weeds and underbrush and the accumulation of combustible litter. Little by
little the whole area is burned over in this way.

270 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY,

ware are, that the forest-land there is cut into many small
blocks, between which is farm-land, and that the proper senti-
ment exists in the minds of the natives, a sentiment due to the
value of the pine-chats.

The division of large tracts of land into parcels is of advantage
economically and socially, provided they are of a size sufficient
to support a family of ordinary intelligence. Such a farm should
consist of at least thirty-five acres of cleared land and sixty-five
acres of woodland. ‘The sale of city lots in the woods, or even
five or ten-acre plots, is rarely fruitful of good, and is, on the
whole, detrimental in the end to the purchaser and community
in general.

Where fire constantly burns the litter from the surface and
prevents the formation of young forests, the soil constantly
deteriorates and finally becomes sterile and lifeless—literally
lifeless—because the organisms in the soil which cause the
decomposition of humus and the conservation of nitrogen are
killed. The prevention of fire, therefore, is of course the first
and most important step.

Further discussion in reference to the prevention of fire on
lands owned by private parties seems like threshing old straw,
but since it is hardly likely under the circumstances that the
State would buy and properly care for this vast tract of sandy
land, or would force private parties to institute efficient meas-
ures in this line, as is common in Europe, it is necessary to
devise other schemes which might accomplish this end and
which fit the peculiar conditions, political, social and economi-
cal, which exist.

It is generally recognized throughout Europe that the con-
struction of suitable fire-lanes throughout the forest conduces
more to the prevention of great conflagrations than any other
institution. The recent fires in the Landes of France were due,
it is claimed, to the neglect of fire-lanes. These serve as van-
tage points in the fighting of fire, and often in themselves are
sufficient to prevent its spread. By means of fire-lanes the
country is cut into parcels and the danger of great conflagrations
very materially reduced. ‘These fire-lanes, in order to be
efficient, must be wide, clean and well cared for, for otherwise
they are of little use. Now the great question is, how to estab-

REEORT ON FORHS TS: 271

lish a complete system of fire-lanes for those regions of Southern
New Jersey which, from the sandy nature of their soils, are
destined for many years to come to remain in forest.

The scheme which I have to suggest is that these fire-lanes be
constructed and kept in order in a way similar to the construc-
tion of State roads, which have been so popular of late. In
this way no terrible burden of expense rests upon anybody.
The individual benefited thereby pays part, the community pays
another part and the State pays the other part. Woodland
owners who would be benefited thereby would not hesitate to
donate land for the purpose, while the small quantity of land
required of those who may be foolish enough to object should be
summarily condemned and appropriated by the State. One
would expect very slight opposition to a system of fire-lanes
from those persons whom the protection it affords benefits, except
perhaps from those who call themselves ‘‘land-poor,” that is,
persons who own so much unproductive land that they cannot
pay their taxes.* Such people would not object to the relinquish-
ment of small strips of unproductive land, but would hesitate
with the fear that it might increase their burden of taxation.
But the difficulties of this kind would be no greater than those
which have been met and overcome in the construction of roads.
As with all progressive movements of this kind the opposition
fades away and the strongest opponents are often the loudest of
praisers in the end.

The owner of the land would be benefited and encouraged and
the payment of a slight increase in tax would be a great and
permanent investment. Lands which are now a burden to him
would become more valuable and the capital which is buried
therein would increase and, if need be, become available. ‘The
money which the county and State would expend would return
a hundred fold in increased resources and prosperity, and would
benefit those who are most in need of it.

The State or county or township ownership, or combined
ownership, of a system of fire-lanes, in no way savors of pater-
nalism, and should be as palatable to the American taste as the

* Fire-lanes may be constructed at slight expense in Southern New Jersey. After the wood is cut it
is necessary to plough three or four furrows along the edges and then to burn over the lane at times when
there is no danger of setting fire to the neighboring woods. A lane fifty feet in width would be quite
efficient.

272 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

State ownership of roads. In fact these lanes may serve at any
time as roads, or may be converted into such on short notice at
almost any time. Fortunately gravel is almost always near at
hand, so that in the course of time the whole fire-lane system
may be converted into a great road system, which would add
much to the value of the land and increase the value of the
wood, owing to the ease with which it could be transported.
After visiting most of the forests on sandy soil in Europe, and
having lived a number of years in the pine-lands of South Jersey,
I am convinced that it is foolish to talk of forest culture and
silvicultural methods until fires are reduced in number. For
this purpose fire-lanes are essential, and this is the only scheme
I know of which seems practical and possible. Once institute a
perfect system of fire-lanes under combined State and local con-
trol and the number and severity of the fires will be reduced to
such an extent that the evil will, I am certain, gradually fade
away, and modern systems of silviculture will gradually creep in
as the value of wood and land increases. The people of the State
are perfectly familiar with the modus operandi of the road law,
and the same general principles applied to fire-lanes would be
no great and startling innovation, but would, I am certain, be
fraught with beneficial results. It is the only system which
appears to be perfectly adapted to the peculiar conditions
which exist in Southern New Jersey.

Such an institution would have also a great educational effect.
Many people who had never thought of such things before
would be impressed by the object-lesson. The constant presence
of such reminders would impress upon certain classes of people
the facts that fires are not necessary, that the useless destruction
of wood is wasteful, and that the absence of wood in a country
which is fitted only for its production means a lack of work for
woodsmen, teams and sawmills.

In addition to these fire-lanes let all the existing roads of the
southern part of the State become a part of this system by being
converted into fire-lanes, that is, widened and cleared of com-
bustible materials along their edges. The remotest portions of
these vast piney-lands will in this way become accessible, and the
large amount which is actually invested in woodland and
cranberry-bogs will be rendered safer, with surer yields. A

re

REPORT ON FORESTS. 273

large amount of money which is lost in fire-fighting will be
saved.

Just as there was opposition in the beginning to the new road
law, so there will be opposition to such a scheme; but let the
State inaugurate it in a trial district and soon others will follow.
It will not, of course, stop all forest fires, but it will certainly
reduce their size, stop their fury and save the loss of much
valuable material. The new State road from Atlantic City to
Camden is a fair sample of what is needed. It serves at the
same time the purpose of fire-lane and thoroughfare. Formerly
it was a bed of hot, dusty sand. Many new buildings have been
constructed along the road, and owing to the ease of communi-
cation and transportation it has brought the people along it
closer together and has instilled into the old residents a certain
amount of life and spirit which they never would otherwise
have obtained. If cleared of brush along their sides, many of
the gravel roads of South Jersey, which are often now the points
from which fires start, would serve as fire-lanes in preventing
the spread of fire and as vantage grounds in combatting it. The
local officials who have charge of these roads and lanes could, if
required, extinguish many fires in their incipient stages.

The consideration of these fire-lanes as future roads leads to
the second important condition—markets and transportation.

This question needs but little consideration. A glance at the
map is sufficient to convince anyone that no region could be
more auspiciously located in this respect. With plenty of good
gravel with which to construct roads, with many railroads, with
many navigable rivers and with two of the largest cities of this
eountry near at hand, but little more in this respect could be
desired. At the same time, however, we must not fail to con-
sider the fact that other great wood-producing regions are near
at hand and that in Pennsylvania there are immense quantities
of coal. This state of affairs naturally suggests that the pro-
duction of wood for fuel, as is now generally the case, is the
least profitable of the forest industries which may be practised
in South Jersey.

The third condition relates to land and labor. This question
also needs little consideration. There are thousands of acres
which may be had at a ridicuously low figure, considering the

I8 FOR

274 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

location, and everyone familiar with the region knows that there
are hundreds of woodsmen who are stagnating and degenerating
in consequence of a lack of work.

The fourth condition relates to the quantity and quality of the
materials the region is capable of producing, and since I shall
refer to this later under the head of Silvicultural Suggestions, it
is sufficient to say in this connection that owing to its peculiar
soil and climate South Jersey has and is still able to produce
just those kinds of forest produce which are most in demand.

The fifth condition relates to the possibility of the establish-
ment of local industries which may consuine the products of
the forest or which may convert these products into less bulky
and more salable form.

When certain industries may be established within a region
it is, of course, a great advantage in many ways. It increases
the working population, the value of property and improves
the standard of life. Labor is at the base of pleasure and intel-
lectual development.

At present large quantities of wood are supplied to glass and
brick factories throughout South Jersey. The fuel question,
however, is of little importance, and will always take care of
itself in this country. In fact, even the woodsian, when he can
afford it, will burn coal because of its convenience.

The first industry which would flourish on the production of
saw-stuff would be the saw-mill. And if only the increment is
cut, as should always be the case, many small mills, instead of
a few large ones, would result. The condition might be similar
to that of parts of Germany where many small mills are con-
stantly at work year after year cutting the well-earned incre-
ment. The big mill with its elaborate, costly equipment, work-
ing with feverish excitement half the time and idle the rest,
did not develop however in this country until after the timber
resources of South Jersey were practically exhausted. Even in
the great lumber districts the large mill, when our lumber
resources have been exhausted to such an extent that these
voracious monsters cannot be fed, will be replaced by smaller
establishments which will for some time to come operate on the
leavings and the young timber as rapidly as it becomes mer-
chantable. The time is not far distant when the great lumber

REPORT ON FORESTS. Aah

industry which has shot across this country with meteoric fierce-
ness will have spent its power. It has been digging its own grave.
In the meantime the tide of feeling in reference to the estab-
lishment of more rational methods of forest treatment has been
steadily rising. This country, although so large, is so closely
knitted together by a network of railroads, which favor the dis-
tant parts by special long-distance freight rates, that a strin-
gency of even so important and bulky an article as lumber will
not be seriously felt until the crop is exhausted, even in the
remotest corners of this land, if not this continent. ‘There is
nothing surprising in the fact that a man in New Jersey may
use in the construction of his house white-pine from the far
North, cypress and yellow-pine from the far South and red-
wood shingles from the far West, and buy it all from the stock
of one lumber dealer in Philadelphia or New York.

_ Besides the development of the saw-mill industry in Southern
Jersey, when the woods are properly protected and managed
there will arise, no doubt, many other industries, such as box,
stave and market-basket manufacture.

It is, of course, impossible to predict the many industries which
may be operated in a couritry where such a useful material as
even the poorest grade of wood is produced.

In the Spessart, in Germany, for instance, years ago 1mmense
quantities of beech were planted, to supply the glass factories
with fuel. The glass works have ceased to exist and the beech
is subjected to a process of dry distillation which yields several
valuable products. Hardwoods, by this process, will yield char-
coal, pyroligneous acid, an inflammable gas which may be used
for illuminating purposes, besides other products. Some day we
may export charcoal to the tropical regions of the globe, where
it is the most satisfactory fuel because it emits no smoke, and
braziers can be used instead of stoves.

Then there is the possibility of producing wood for pulp and
cellulose. Spruce is the principal source of supply at present,
but even if spruce cannot be produced successfully in South
Jersey, which is, however, a question, there are other trees which
are and no doubt many which may be used for that purpose. In
fact it would be impossible to predict the future of this industry,
which, although in its infancy, is already immense.

276 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

It is safe to assume that in case the forests of South Jersey
are protected and allowed to grow other industries will form
and grow with them.

The sixth condition is fair taxation. All are agreed that this
is a knotty question and one difficult even under favorable cir-
cumstances to fairly adjust. It seems to me that since forests
require considerable time to grow, since owing to the force of
the elements and disease the growth of years is liable to be sud-
denly spoiled and shattered, since forests are not insurable, and
since the man who produces a forest is the benefactor of his
neighbors, the State can well afford to tax lightly such land.*
In fact, the man who starts and properly cares for a forest
deserves to be exempted froin taxation, or at least exempted
until the crop is cut. Several have suggested that the tax
should be levied only on the amount cut. ‘This plan, of course,
has some disadvantages‘and may not be practical. At any rate
a fair re-adjustment would tend to improve the condition which
exists. I have faith enough in the good sense of the American
people to believe that with proper protection by the State
against fire and thieves, with fair taxation, with sufficient roads
and with proper guidance, there will develop even under private
control a system of forestry which, although perhaps not as
systematically regulated as in Europe, will be as good as the
peculiar economic conditions of the region will warrant.

SILVICULTURAL SUGGESTIONS.

It seems to the writer that, notwithstanding the complexities
of European silvicultural systems with their manifold modifica-
tions and combinations, the methods of forest treatment may be
divided into four systems which are more or less applicable
the world over, none of which are unconditionally good or bad,
and the merits of which depend upon the circumstances of each
case. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages, and
must be adapted to the conditions which exist in every instance,
and its success, above all, is dependent upon the knowledge and

* An anomolous condition sometimes exists where a speculator desires a high assessment and cor-

respondingly high tax in order to convince prospective buyers of the great worth of the land which he is
endeavoring to sell.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 277
skill of the person who endeavors to apply it. "These systems
are, briefly, as follows:

I. The selection system, which is especially adapted to uneven-
aged or irregular protection forests.

II. The system of clear cutting and then regenerating by
planting with young trees or by sowing the seed, or by waiting
until the wind sows it from an adjoining forest.

III. The system of regenerating pure even-aged forests natur-
ally by uniformly and gradually thinning throughout, and
admitting the light so that the seeds will germinate and the
young growth properly develop.*

IV. The coppice system, where the forest consists of species
which will sprout from the stump or the root.

There will probably be opportunity for the application of all
of these systems in Southern Jersey. The following is a brief
way of classifying these systems :

f Regeneration effected irregularly

throughout the forest by the re-

; moval of single trees or small
groups of trees.

Selective-cutting system, applica-
ble to pure or mixed forests of un- -
even age.
~ Regen ration by means of plant-

ing young plants or cuttings or by
| sowing by hand or by natural sow-
| ing from adjoining woods

Clear-cutting system, applicable
to pure or mixed forests of even or -
uneven age.

[ Regeneration effected uniformly

Successive-cutting system, appli- | throughout the forest by successive

cable to pure woods of even age ; thinnings and final complete re-
{| moval of mother trees.

{ Regeneration effected by stuimp-

Coppice system.
ae x | shoots and root suckers.

If a party possesses woodland, even if sparsely stocked with
inferior kinds, and cannot afford or may not desire to plant afresh
with better species, but wishes to gradually improve it, the best
system to apply is the selection method.+ There are many large
forest-owners in South Jersey who are able to employ a forester

but who cannot afford the cost of extensive plantings. These

*As early as 1736 this system had developed so far in Germany that three distinct cuttings were pre-
scribed: First, when the seed had fallen and germinated; second, when the young trees reached the
height of a man’s knees, and third, the mother trees were completely removed when the young trees had
reached the height of a man.

+ Irregular forests to which this system is applied naturally suffer more from fire than regular forests.

278 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

large land-holders employ managers who are practical men but
with little knowledge of forestry. The selection method is
usually the best for a new country where the demands for wood
are less than the supply, and where a system to be popular must
yield enough constantly to pay all expenses, taxes, and a little
besides. It is an excellent system for co-operative associations
and corporations which have other objects in view, such as the
protection of game or water supply. It is extensively practiced
in India, where it is usually known by its French name, ‘‘jar-
dinage.”’ It is not confined to new countries, however, and is
even the favorite method of many European foresters of treating
protection forests.

To apply this system it requires more skill, experience and
intelligence than the majority of land-holders or managers pos-
sess. It is, however, an elastic system, and in its simplest form
is practical for land on which there is any growth worthy of the
name of forest.

It is about the reverse of what is ordinarily practiced in
America. In New Jersey one man may buy all the merchant-
able oak on a certain piece of land, another all the cedar, ete.
Any diseased trees or kinds without value are left standing, not
for soil protection, but because they are not worth cutting.
These are stimulated by the increase of space and light, produce
large quantities of seed, and soon have complete possession of
the soil. In other instances the land is bought with all that
covers it and stripped of what is merchantable. Covered with
slashings,* it is left to be swept by fire or abandoned to the
weeds,f or is sold to land-agents who divide it into many small

* The first steps toward forestry in Germany were the removal of slash and the leaving of seed-trees
here and there of a desirable species.

+A weed is simply a plant out of place. Trees, under certain circumstances, may be weeds. In
fact, the common custom of culling the best from the forest is similar in effect to harvesting the vege-
tables and fruits of a garden without disturbing the weeds.

In the swamps of South Jersey, clambering vines and worthless briars and bushes often have com-
plete possession of the soil. The various species of grape which mingle with the branches of trees hinder,
of course, their growth, but, owing to their beauty and the value of their fruit, their presence is not so
odious, It is quite otherwise with the poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron) which firmly clasps the roots,
trunks and branches of trees, and is poisonous to the touch. The swamp sumac (Rhus venenata), which
is a shrub, and often almost a tree, is abundant, and is also poisonous, causing a distressing dermititis,
which is often accompanied by serious illness. Another class of extremely disagreeable weeds are the
climbing, prickly briars of the genus Smilax. The most provoking feature of these weeds is that when
their rhizomes have once gained possession of the soil, it is well-nigh impossible to eradicate them.
Clothing and skin are torn in handling them, burning only causes them to sprout with fresh vigor, and, if
left alone, they soon reach the tops of trees, to which they become inextricably attached. The only way
to get rid of them is to cut them down with a bush-hook or machete, and then with a grub-hoe dig up
heir rhizomes, bit by bit and year after year, until their extermination is complete.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 279

farms, which they sell to all sorts of new-comers. Sometimes it
falls into the hands of speculators, who hold it indefinitely, with
various purposes in view. In consequence of this mode of treat-
ment, uplands which once produced pine fit for ship timbers are
now only bush-lands; swamp-lands which have yielded choice
white-cedar are now cripples. The only suggestion of silvi-
culture is the custom of leaving a seed-tree here and there.
Many of these seed-trees were left, however, not for the purpose
of seeding the ground, but as line-trees, to mark the borders of
properties.

The aim of the selection method is the constant betterment of
soil and forest. It prescribes that the soil must be kept covered,
and that the most valuable species must always be encouraged.
The dead and diseased trees must be removed, also all inferior
kinds which are a hindrance toa young, more promising growth.
Many minor points the owner or person in charge must settle.
The axe must be cautiously used, and always with a purpose
beyond the immediate reaping of a wood crop, and the operator
must be perfectly familiar with the peculiarities of the species
with which he is dealing. Caution in cutting, and the sowing
of seed, or the planting here and there of desirable kinds, will,
in the course of time, bring order out of chaos.

On large areas of Southern New Jersey where there is little
more than bushes it will be necessary to plant afresh. In many
instances where the forest is very thin and of poor species it will
pay in the end to cut clean and establish a new forest by either
planting or sowing. The system of clean cutting and planting
has many advantages and disadvantages. One can work in a
systematic and regular manner and can start the kind of forest
he prefers. It is, however, usually expensive, the young plants
are in greater danger of frost, drought, weeds and disease, and
the fertility of the soil is impaired by being bared to the action
of the elements for a considerable period of time.

If one has a pure, even-aged forest, the third system is proba-
bly the best. ‘This is the system which is so successfully applied
to the spruce forests of Europe, and is an excellent way of
regenerating white-pine in this country, and also, perhaps, white-
cedar in South Jersey. In this system regeneration occurs uni-
formly over the whole area under treatment. When the trees

280 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

have reached maturity regeneration is effected by a series of
uniform successive thinnings. The number of thinnings depends.
upon the circumstances of the case. Success in the method
depends primarily upon two conditions: First, the trees must be
in condition to produce a good crop of seeds; and, second, the
forest floor must be a favorable bed for germination. From that
time on the forest must be gradually thinned and finally removed
as rapidly as the condition of the young growth will permit,
which varies with the species, climate, soil, ete.

This system is only applicable to pure, even-aged forests.
This is a disadvantage, however, because for several reasons the
tendency at present is decidedly in favor of mixed growths.
Pure growths, especially of conifers, are much more seriously
injured by the destructive forces of nature, such as winds and
insects, than mixed forests. An excellent form of forest from a
silvicultural standpoint consists of a growth of conifers with an
underwood of some kind of shade-enduring deciduous trees:
The overwood is healthier and the soil is protected and
enriched by the underwood. ‘To produce this kind of wood it
is necessary usually to resort to the clean-cutting system with
regeneration by planting or sowing.

The fourth system, coppice, is so simple that little explanation
is necessary. The crop is simply cut clean year after year, and
the new crop is formed either from stump-shoots or root-suckers.
Care should always be exercised in cutting the stump close to
the ground, with a clean sloping top, so that there will not be
the slightest opportunity for rot and so that the young shoots
will be healthy and sound.

In the choice of species for planting and for favoring in mixed
growth we should not fail always to consider the silvicultural
qualities as well as usefulness for lumber. Fashion often guides
us in our choice of kinds, and we should not fail to bear in mind
that modern devices of treating wood may completely change
its appearance and durability.

The species of trees which may be successfully grown in
southern New Jersey I have divided into two groups—first,
those which require good soils, and, second, those which will
thrive on the poor sandy soils and swamp-lands of the Coastal
Plain; and since the latter are the lands to which the forest will

REPORT ON FORESTS: 281

in time be relegated, I shall describe here mainly those species of
the second class.

To the first class belong such trees as the white-pine, the
white-oak, the swamp-white-oak (Quercus platanotdes), the
beech, the chestnut (Castanea dentata),* the black-walnut, the
shagbark-hickory, the tulip tree, the white-ash, the sugar-maple,
the basswood, the Douglas-spruce (Pseudotsuga taxtfolia), and
the Norway-spruce (P2cea excelsa). ‘To the second class belong
such as the following: the short-leaf-pine (772s echinata), the
red-cedar ( /unzperus virginiana), the white-cedar (Chamecyparis
thyordes), the locust (Robinza pseudacacia), the cottonwood (/o/-
wlus deltordes), ete.

Others which may be classed as subsidiary sorts, and which,
under certain circumstances, are worthy of encouragement, are
chestnut-oak (Quercus prinus), sassafras, holly (/lex opaca),
bilsted (Lzguzdamber styraciflua), brewster (Magnola glauca),
red-maple (Acer rubrum), and wild-cherry (Prunus serotina).

Pinus echinata, formerly P. mztzs, is the most important pine
of Southern New Jersey. It is usually associated with the
pitch-pine (Pzxws rzgzda), with here and there patches of the
scrub-pine (Pras virginiana or tnops).

Several foresters have encouraged the planting of pitch-pine
in New Jersey, because it grows on extremely poor soil, and
endures a great deal of fire. This tree is not the equal of Pezzs
virginiana and inferior in almost every respect to Prus echt-
nata. It isa mistake to encourage the propagation of inferior
species, such as the pitch-pine, in regions where P. echzzata and
several other excellent trees grow equally as well. Pitch-pines
are, of course, better than nothing, but when they are mixed
with P. echinata, as is often the case in Southern New Jersey,
the latter should be favored. In spite of fires, and the great
demand for its wood in early times for ship construction, owing
to its marvelous reproductive ability, the smooth-bark-pine has
held its own.

*In a way, the chestnut is without arival. It is a rapid grower, forming a vigorous coppice, pro-
ducing a valuable nut, and yielding a wood which is highly prized for fuel, fence-posts, fence-rails, ties,
telegraph poles and interior house-finish. For the latter purpose it has become of late very fashionable
and is equal in beauty to other hard woods which are worked with much more difficulty. The chestnut
should be grown wherever the’soil is able to support it. Like the black-walnut the chestnut is able to
grow on soils which may be classed as medium in quality, and (in places where there is sufficient moist-
ure) even on very sandy soil.

282 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

In the “ Timber Pines of the South,” Dr. Chas. Mohr, in the
chapter on this species, says: ‘‘ When maintenance of forest, and
production of timber under a rational system of forestry is to
become the rule, this species, above all others of southerly distri-
bution, will claim attention, for it can be safely asserted that of
the coniferous trees adapted to the climatic conditions of the
Southern Atlantic forest, no other can be found of better
promise, for the production of valuable timber in the shortest
time.’ In another place he says: ‘Among the coniferous trees
of Eastern North America, the short-leaf-pine stands next to the
long-leaf-pine (P. falustrzs), in importance to the lumber indus-
try and in the value of its timber. Freer from resinous matter,
softer, more easily worked, not less susceptible of a good finish,
the luinber of the short-leaf-pine is often preferred by the cabinet-
maker and the house-carpenter to that of the long-leaf-pine.
Less tenacious and of less power of resistance under strain, it 1s
principally used for the lighter frame-work in buildings, for
weather-boarding, flooring, ceiling, wainscoting, cases for win-
dows and doors, for frames and sashes of all kinds, and for
shingles. Most of the dwellings located within the districts
where this tree prevails are built almost entirely of short-leaf-
pine lumber, which bears ample testimony to its wide usefulness.
It is also extensively employed in car-building, for cross-ties,
and in the manufacture of furniture.” In another place he
says: ““No other timber tree found in the southern portion of
the Atlantic forest region is more easy of natural reproduction
than this, throughout the wide range of its distribution. This
is readily accounted for by its great fecundity, the seeds pro-
duced in great abundance almost without failure every year
being profusely spread far and wide, and germinating easily
whenever the proper soil and a chance are offered for their
reception. By their thrifty growth the seedlings soon gain the
upper-hand over the contemporary growth of other species.”

Sudworth, in a paper on the “Forest Trees of Tennessee,”’
says: ‘As is well known this pine (P. echznzata, short-leaf-pine)
ranks in comercial importance next to the famous long-leaf.
The adaptation of the pine to the poor, dry hills and other slop-
ing lands of East Tennessee is truly remarkable as seen in some
localities. Theories that great care and nursing are necessary

REPORT ON FORESTS: 283

‘to re-establish a pine forest on entirely denuded land are easily
-controverted by the thousands of young short-leaf-pines taking
possession readily, and in dense stands of old pasture and
abandoned hills, and entirely without the nursing influence of
broad-leafed kinds. Even under the damaging influence of
tramping stock and invading fire, this young growth has
gradually advanced, and solid phalanxes of saplings and middle-
sized polewood now form a large part of the second-growth
woodlands attached to farms, together with oaks and other hard-
woods. There appears, therefore, to be no more useful and valu-
able concomitant in the future forestry of East Tennessee than
this willingly self-propagated short-leaf-pine.”’

Now and then a beautiful seedling forest, naturally regenerated
from adjoining woods, may be seen in New Jersey, and, as in the
eastern peninsula of Virginia, if this species is favored, in the
course of time it will be the rule and not the exception. It is
not difficult, however, to secure a good stand by sowing the seed,
provided the seed is fresh and fertile. The easiest and cheapest
way is to plant the seed mixed with dirt in rows, or in narrow
strips, across the field, four or five feet apart.* The best way to
prepare this seed-bed, in case the land is not too stumpy, is to
run a narrow, one-horse scratch-harrow over it, and then, after
the seed is sown, run the harrow over the same strip again, in
order to cover the seed. If one man strikes out the strips with
the harrow, while another sows the seed, a large area can be
covered in a short time. Where a horse and harrow cannot be
used, it 1s best to work in the seed with a rake. Throughout
the south swine prepare this seed-bed. After the seed has been
sown, if the soil is very dry and sandy and liable to shift, the
strips must be covered with pine-chats and brush, on which a
little sand may be thrown to hold them down. As soon as the
young pines form a closed canopy thinning should begin, and
continue throughout the whole period of their life, so that the
trees may have sufficient space and light and yet free themselves
of limbs. ‘The removal of litter and the time of cutting depend
entirely upon circumstances. If the owner needs the litter it is
proper to remove it; if he wants poles or small pilings there is
nothing to hinder him from cutting his forest in the pole-stage.

* A good stand of the short-leaf-pine has been secured by spreading the pine twigs with ripe cones
attached over the land

284 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

Red-cedar ( /unztperus virginiana) is an excellent tree for the
dry sandy upland. No American tree has a more interesting
and instructive cecology.* It ranges from Cape Cod to Van-
couver’s Island, from Canada to Florida. In the north it inhabits
dry, rocky uplands; in the south it grows in swamps, which are
‘often covered with water; in the rich bottom-lands of the Mis-
sissippi Valley it is a lofty and noble tree; in the limestone
regions of northern Alabama it is almost a bush; and along the
shores of New Jersey it is flat-crowned and irregular, but a beau-
tiful tree in spite of shifting sand and salt sea breezes. The
quality of the wood also depends upon the region in which it
grows. In many places it is of little worth; in others it is excel-
lent in quality, strongly aromatic, rich red in color and famous
the world over for pencils. It is one of the commonest trees in
Southern New Jersey, quickly producing a highly prized wood
on soil the surface of which at least is sterile. Its fruits are
devoured by birds which scatter its seeds. When growing alone
it is pyramidal in shape, with many branches. Sometimes the
twigs and leaves are stiff and prickly ; sometimes soft and pendu-
lous. ‘The wood of these knotty trees is extremely beautiful,
and the limbs are of use for boat knees, rustic fences, etc. It is
also an excellent wind-break, although subject to a fungous dis-
ease which infests the apple and quince.T

* The basis of silviculture is cecology or the science of trees in relation to their environment, many
of the most important points of which in reference to American species are unknown. Much may be
Jearned of the habits of trees by studying them in regions in which they are not indigenous. More is
known of the silvicultural peculiarities of several American trees in Europe than in America. A careful
study of the tropical forest will throw light upon many physiological problems, especially those which
have to do with climatic conditions (see Haberlandt’s Tropenreise). It behooves the Americans to.
emulate the Dutch in Java and the English in India, and establish in their new possessions experiment
stations, schools and laboratories where northern students may study plant physiology, the size gua non
of agriculture and silviculture.

+ The cedar-apple (Gymnosporangium macropus) is common throughout the State, and is of special
nterest because it leads a dual life, one phase of which is on the red-cedar (/uniperus virginiana), and
the other has the cultivated quince, apple and their allies for its host plants. On the twigs of the cedar
it causes brown, irregularly lobed excrescences, as large as chestnuts, over the surface of which there are
slight indentations or centers in which the teleutospores are located. These spores are thick-walled,
brown, two-celled bodies, which in warm, moist spring weather, germinate, that is, the cell-wall breaks,
and there protrudes from each cell of the teleutospore a hypha or tube on the end of which several
small spores or sporidia are formed, All the germinal tubes from one center adhere together, forming an
orange-colored, gelatinus, tentacle-like growth. Several of these gelatinous masses, distributed over the
surface of the whole excrescence, give it the appearance of a crysanthemum a short distance from the
tree. Very often many hundreds of these may be seen ona single tree, and when they are in the height
of their germination are peculiarly striking. The sporidia are borne long distances by the wind to the
young, tender leaves of the apple and quince, on which, if the conditions are right, they soon germinate,
and produce the other stage of this peculiar disease, which, on its orchard hosts, causes the well-known
“‘rust.’”’ Although this fungus does practically no injury to the cedar, ‘‘the rust’’ is a very serious
disease, especially in the south. It is more dangerous to quinces than to apples. The spores can be
carried by the wind several miles. Although not wise to plant orchards in the neighborhood of red-
cedars, or vice-versa, this disease is not of sufficient seriousness to discourage the propagation of the
red-cedar in South Jersey, because the apple industry is there of little importance.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 285

The young red-cedar trees are difficult to transplant in dry
sandy soil, and the seeds, although abundant and easily collected,
tarely germinate evenly. I have been told that nurserymen
bury them in a “‘rot-heap”’ for two winters and a suminer, and
sow them the following spring. (The same is true of the holly
[Zlex opaca}.) ‘The wood of the cedar, even when knotty, is in
demand for posts; the quality produced in Southern New Jersey
is excellent and there is little land too dry and sandy to support
lit

Of the hardwood trees, the most valuable for the dry uplands
of New Jersey is the Robinia pseudacacia.* In the Region of
Bordeaux, where the soil is similar to that of the Coastal Plain
of South Jersey, extensive private plantations may be seen.
For this purpose, especially on small farms where fencing is an
important item, the locust has no equal in spite of the depreda-
tions of the borer. In California, I have been told, the borer
does not exist, and that in twenty years a locust tree in the
open attains a diameter of as many inches. It is claimed by
some that the injury caused by this insect is less if other trees
are planted with the locust. It is excellent for planting in open
places in the forest in the form of hursts, here and there, or as a
fringe to pine plantations especially along railroads because it is
not inflammable. The locust grows rapidly on poor soil, pro-
duces an extremely useful and durable wood and an ash richer
in inorganic constituents than the majority of hardwoods. As

*A great disadvantage of the locust is the fact that it is seriously infested in this country by the
locust-borer (Cyllene rodiniz). It was indeed fortunate for Europe that when the locust was introduced
this pestiferous insect was not imported with it. In Europe, it is a beautiful shade and ornamental tree;
in its native land, owing to the depredations of this insect it is usually unsightly. The trunks
and limbs are sometimes completely honeycombed by this insect. If the trees are watched in
August and September, one is likely to find handsome brown and yellow banded, wasp-like beetles,
laying oval, dull white eggs in wounds and crevices of the bark. In about ten days these eggs hatch and
the larve bore into the tree. hey are still small by winter, during which time they lie dormant in the
wood. Inthe spring they begin to bore, until about August, when they stop feeding and enter the pupa
stage, and a week or so later appear as full-sized beetles. These beetles live upon the pollen of the
golden-rod. The outermost trees are usually completely riddled, while those in the center of a group
may escape altogether. It seems to suffer less also when mixed with other trees. Although these
insects are very abundant and seriously injure the wood and impair the vitality of the tree, it is still fit for
fence posts, for which it is almost exclusively used. This insect infests healthy trees, growing on rich
soil, but the proportion of trees in a plantation which is thus seriously injured is not sufficient to dis-
courage the propagation of this unique and extremely useful tree, Owing to the depredations of the
locust-borer it is always best to mix another species with the locust. For this purpose Prunus serotina
and the American chestnut are excellent. The wild-cherry (P. sexotima) is worthy of more encourage-
‘ment than it has heretofore received. It grows on poor soil, is easily propagated, yields an excellent
wood, and attracts birds which are fond of its fruits. Mr. J. H. Schober, the pioneer of heath planting
in Holland, who is experimenting with many species of foreign trees on his plantation at Schovenhorst,
was loud in his praises of this tree and pronounced it one of the most promising of his vast collection.

286 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

with other leguminous plants, bacteroids, which reside in a
symbiotic state in tubercles on its roots, are able in some myste-
rious way to accumulate nitrogen. The litter, which is rich
but thin, quickly decays. Once established, the locust hurst
will never need renewal; hundreds of stool-shoots and root-
suckers are present to take the places of felled trees on the
admission of light. Besides a tap-root the locust has an exten-
sive horizontal root system by which the soil is held in place.
It is for this reason used on railroad embankments and dry soils
subject to shifting. The wood is useful for posts and other pur-
poses, even when young, and is therefore of great value for
private planting. Both red cedar and black locust may be sown
in the same way that I have indicated for the pine. ‘The seeds
of the locust, if planted in the spring, should be soaked in warm
water for three days before planting.

The white-cedar (Chamecyparis thyotdes) is the choicest of
the soft woods of Eastern America. Not even inferior to the
famous pumpkin-white-pine. In fact, for boat and tank con-
struction it has no equal. The wood is light, soft, clean, easily
seasoned, and remarkable for its durability.* It neither warps
nor checks under the most trying circumstances. It is exten-
sively used for bridge-plank, shingles, weather-boards, interior
finish, and in the construction of fences either in the form of
rails cr palings. It has a pleasant cedary aroma, and when
expose to the weather becomes a beautiful steel or lichen-gray
color.

The white-cedar should be grown in the form of, a pure
crowded wood, on wet mucky or wet sandy soil. The canopy
should be uninterrupted, and the lower limbs should interlace.
If the forest is too thin, irregular, with all age classes and here
and there other species, the trees are easily uprooted by the
wind, owing to the slight hold which they have upon the soft
mucky soil. The stand should be so thick and the lower limbs
interlace to such an extent that the tree will free itself from
branches, produce clean boles and prevent the growth of under-
brush. Owing to its sharp, conical top it endures close plant-

* The bark of the white-cedar is tough and fibrous and similar to coir in nature. Many trees of this
species in South Jersey have been ruined by the fishermen, who use strips of the tough bark on which to
string their fish. In Russia the manufacture of mats, rope, etc., from bark is an important industry, and
in New Jersey the white-cedar bark might be used for similar purposes.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 287

ing, although regular thinnings are necessary almost throughout
the whole period of its life.

In this way, even in America, the forest will yield a small but
constant income, since there is some demand for cedar poles.
When sawed in half, barked and soaked in preservatives, these
poles, even when very small, are of use in the construction of
fences. In spite of the common use of wire, there is still in
America great demand for good fence material. These saplings
are useful for vine-props, masts for small boats, handles for
rakes, boat-hooks and the like, racks for wagons and stalls, flag-
poles, plaster-laths, fence-palings, and even shingles. In fact,
from the time the tree reaches a diameter of three inches it is
useful.

If a cedar tree becomes covered with gray lichens, as is often
the case, it indicates slow growth, unhealthfulness and unsuit-
able environment.

The cedar is a great seed-producer, even when quite young.
The seeds are formed in small cones and are easily collected.
A pure stand of cedar may be secured in three ways. If one has
a mixed deciduous swamp, with here and there a cedar, as is
common, the easiest way to convert it into a pure stand of cedar
is to cut and keep down all trees except the cedar. These seed-
trees, with the admission of light and air, will produce an
abundance of seed. A stand of cedar produced in this way
may be irregular and uncertain. Perhaps the easiest and
quickest way to secure a stand of this tree is to plant it.
Young cedars are constantly invading cranberry bogs where
they are very unwelcome. These can be easily secured in large
numbers, and are better for planting than the spindling speci-
mens from the woods. Another way is to sow the seed. After
removing all the trees and brush from the place where a cedar
stand is desired, when not too dry, it is best to burn over the
surface, and then sow the seed mixed with dirt.

Among those species which grow with surprising rapidity,
even on poor soils, and which may be easily propagated, the
cottonwood or Carolina-poplar (Populus deltoides) deserves first
place.

In speaking of this tree in his bulletin on the cultivated
poplars, Prof. Bailey says: “Taking all things into consider-

288 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

ation, the cottonwood is probably the best of the poplars for
general ornamental planting. It grows rapidly and in almost
every soil, and yet it possesses an air of strength and durability
which most of the poplars lack. Its foliage is always bright
and glossy, and the constant movement of the broad, rich green
leaves gives it an air of cheeriness which few trees possess.
The tree has been much used upon the western prairies and in
western towns much too abundantly for good landscape effects.
The rapid growth of the tree gives a feeling of luxuriance to
plantations, even when most other trees appear to be weak or
starved. The cottonwood grows best upon rather low lands,
and yet it is generally an admirable tree upon high and dry
areas.”

The so-called Carolina-poplar, according to Prof. Bailey, is
only a very luxuriant, cultivated form of the cottonwood. Like
the locust, the cottonwood has an extensive root-system, and
reproduces itself profusely by means of root suckers. It is, there-
fore, excellent for holding the soil in place.

The wood of this tree is extensively used in the manufacture
of paper, and there is no reason for supposing that the demand
will not increase. This tree grows perfectly on the moist pine-
barren land of Southern New Jersey, and I can see no reason
why its cultivation should not be encouraged.

Throughout southern Europe the poplars are extensively
planted by the owners of small holdings. These tall straight
trees form a characteristic feature of the French and Italian
landscape. ‘They prefer poplar, because the trees are easily pro-
duced from cuttings, because they soon grow to a size fit for
boards, because they yield the peasant loppings for fuel, and
because they throw so little shade that grass and other crops
will grow between the rows. Plate XXIV shows a peasant bind-
ing poplar loppings in fagots for fuel, and a peasant sawing
boards by hand from poplar logs which he has probably raised
from cuttings of his own planting.

This leads us to the consideration of those persons who possess
small tracts of land in South Jersey out of which they must earn
a livelihood. ‘The land has been undergoing such a process of
division of late that the average land-holder probably owns little
more than a hundred acres. The day of the large farm in New

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXIV.

BINDING TWIGS INTO FAGGOTS

SAWING BOARDS BY HAND IN FRANCE

REPORT ON FORESTS. 289

Jersey is past. Owing to its nearness to excellent markets,
general farming is being replaced by a more intensive form of
agriculture, and old-fashioned crops are being replaced by
specialties.

Hundreds of uneducated emigrants have invaded the Pines,
owing to the cheapness of the soil and proximity to large cities.
Few of these have brought with them European forestry ideas,
and many of the most disastrous fires are those which they care-
lessly set in clearing their farms. Throughout this region there
are German, Italian, Russian and other foreign colonies. By
thrift and frugality many of these have produced fruitful farms
on soil that was formerly waste-land, indeed it is claimed that
owing to the warmth of this silicious soil, the fruits are earlier
and sweeter.* It may be easily worked with one horse and few
implements at any time when not frozen, and when abundantly
fertilized and watered produces a superior grade of fruits and
vegetables.

What the small farmers have already accomplished in this
region demonstrates, without a doubt, that there are many latent
possibilities in the ‘pine-lands of New Jersey. Owing to the
development of rapid transit and the cheapening of transporta-
tion rates, a migration from the cities into the neighboring
country has begun. A large proportion of cultivatable land,
therefore, is destined to be cleared and farmed, and to these
prospective farmers I would suggest a “ forest farm.”

Suppose a person possesses one hundred acres of woodland,
out of which he wishes to make a combination forest and farm.
The first step is to clear a fire-lane around the whole of it, at
least two hundred feet in width. This lane should constitute
the cultivated portion of the farm. On this no inflammable
crop should be planted.

Even the sandiest, driest land, when fertilized with the
quickly disintegrating pine-chats, produces a fine grade of sweet-
potatoes, which are richer than the white-potato, and together

*Tt is very difficult to say just what lands are unfit for cultivation. Good agricultural soil may often
be unfit for trees and vice versa. Even the “‘ Plains’’ of New Jersey would, if properly treated, produce
choice grades of grapes, berries and sweet potatoes, and perhaps other fruits. In North Jersey the
choicest peaches are produced on what is apparently the roughest and most inhospitable soil. Many
Italians have thrifty fruit-farms on extremely sandy soil in the southern part of the State. A large per
centage of the best land in Southern New Jersey is still inforest. In fact, in early times the land easiest
to clear was cleared first regardless of the quality of the soil, and many of our finest farms were once
true waste-lands.

19 FOR

290 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

with game, fish and:berries often constitute the whole food of
the natives.

If the one hundred acres referred to is perfectly square, a fire-
lane two hundred feet wide around it would contain about
thirty-five acres—as much as one man can comfortably till.
There would be left in the center a forest containing about
sixty-five acres to which the principles of silviculture I have
already mentioned may be applied.

If the whole area of woodland in Southern Jersey were treated
in this way, sixty-five per cent. would be left in wood, and the
whole would be cut up in such a way that extensive fires would
be impossible. ‘The sixty-five acres of forest should be divided
into about four blocks of fifteen acres each, by lanes or avenues
wide enough to permit a wagon to pass. ‘These lanes should be
kept clear of litter during the fire season. If part of the land is
swainp-bottom the owner is fortunate. He can easily have a
white-cedar hurst, a cranberry-bog and an osier-holt, which will
add materially to the profits of his farm.

Owing to the fact that these swamp-lands shrink and become
lower and damper on being tilled, unless assiduously drained it
is better to plant crops which need little or no cultivation, such
as forest crops, willows for baskets, the high-bush-blueberry and
the cranberry.

Willow culture is destined to become an important industry
in this region. ‘The first to begin it on damp pine-barren land
was the Baron de Hirsch Colony of Russian refugees. The
willow has been righty called the Cinderella of trees. It will
grow on land which for other purposes is almost hopeless. Its
pliant twigs are excellent for trunks, boxes, crates, etc., besides
baskets. It furnishes work at a season of the year when there
is little else to do. It is a good plan, as is common in Europe,
for one member of the family to learn the trade of basket-
making. In this way a local industry is produced.

In addition to these industries, if progressive, the owner of
the “ forest-farm ”? could keep both bees and poultry with profit,
even in the most remote and barren part of this whole region.*

* Every enterprising farmer should have in the corner of his garden a pen seed-bed. It
should be boxed on the sides and ends with wide strong boards and covered with fine poultry netting
which should be nailed to a frame so that it can be easily removed. The soil of the bed should be a soft,
rich, sifted loam, Whenever the farmer in his travels finds seeds of trees which are desirable he should
sow them in this bed, While the trees are still small he should transplant them to his wood-lot. In this

way, little by little, and with the expense of only a little labor, he can supply himself with seedlings and
gradually improve the condition of his forest.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 291

Apiculture, although it requires considerable skill in manipu-
lation, should be a subsidiary forest occupation. ‘This has been
strongly recommended to the forestry people throughout
Europe who have their homes in the forest. In South Jersey
there is abundant bee pasturage. The locust, the linden, the
catalpa, the chestnut, the red-maple, the hazel, laurel, huckle
and blue-berries, grape vines, willows, holly, persimmon, mag-
nolia and a host of other plants, yield honey, or pollen. From
pollen bee-bread is manufactured on which the larvee are fed.
From buds, ete., the bees collect a viscid glue, or propolis, with
which they strengthen their cells, and fill up the cracks in their
hives as a protection against cold.

In order to secure a fine type of bee it is necessary to sup-
plant the native queen with one of a better variety, either
Italian or Carniolan.* .

Besides gathering large quantities of honey, bees materially
increase the fruit and seed crops by fertilizing the flowers.

Poultry-raising is also an important subsidiary occupation.
In the dry soil and mild climate of the Pines chickens and tur-
keys, and along the rivers water-fowl, thrive, securing through-
out a large portion of the year their own livelihood, and at the
same time do incalculable service to the forest farmer in restrain-
ing insects.

It is, in short, through a combination of several of these indus-
tries, which are minor only in name, that forestry and farming
may become profitable on soil which is not naturally fertile and
where many people own only small areas.

The destruction of vast areas of forest without regard to the
future has a deleterious sociological effect upon the standard of
life and character of the people of such regions. In South

* The domestic bee in America (Af?s medlifica) was introduced by early settlers from Europe. They
have multipled and become common, The Cyprian race from the Island of Cyprus has produced the
largest yield of honey on record for a single colony in America, They are the most assiduous of bees,
but are very sensitive and require great care in manipulation. The Italian variety is also famous and
easier to handle. The gentlest of bees, however, is the gray race of the Mountains of Carniola (Krain,
near the Adriatic) in Austria. This bee is steadily growing in favor in America, See ‘‘ The Honey .
Bee,”’ by Frank Benton, publicationct the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

} While visiting the Dunes of Holland I was told that hens were successfully used to combat an
insect which devoured the sedge which held the sand. They were kept on the dunes in large quantities
and as early as three o’clock in the morning were actively at work. I was also told by several willow-
growers in Europe that when their plantations become infested with insects they simply let in their
chickens, which soon devour the bugs. One of the most beneficial fowls in this respect is the turkey.

292 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

Jersey, for instance, owing to the exhaustion of saw-stuffs there
are many deserted hamlets and silent sawmills. It is true that
on the whole the population is on the increase, but this is due
to another class who have come from elsewhere with other
abilities and other objects in view. Many of the natives, how-
ever, who were born and bred in the forest and earned their
livelihood in the woods have been forced to leave for other
regions and engage at a disadvantage in other work. The few
who have remained of this class are in a state of stagnation, and
in many instances, were it not for the berry crop and the game
in the woods, would die of starvation. Owing to the fact that
they are idle a large part of the year, that they are far from
neighbors except of their own class, that they are often insuff-
ciently fed and clothed, there is little wonder that many are
outlaws. The backwoodsman without work is the man who
sells his vote. The common schools of America are endeavoring
to educate such people, but much of the good influence is offset
by the industrial depression which follows the wasteful destruc-
tion of wood in a country where the majority of the people are
woodsmen. Just as reckless deforestation inevitably leads to
idleness, want and moral degeneration among those dependent
upon the woods, so does afforestation have the opposite effect 1n
the same if not greater proportion.

Then, too, the value of forests from a hygienic standpoint on
swampy soils has been underrated. I believe the malarial con-
dition of our South is due to the ill-treatment of forest lands and
the formation of stagnant marshes in consequence. It is a note-
worthy fact that the Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North
Carolina is free from malaria and perfectly healthy, while the
adjacent fire-swept pine-lands are famous for their unhealthful-
ness. Just as the Landes of France were rendered healthy by
tree-growth and drainage, so is it possible to improve the
sanitary condition of the Atlantic Coast Region.

Ill. Parts of Europe Similar to Southern
New Jersey.

In Europe there are still immense tracts of waste-land, a large
proportion of which has been robbed for centuries, until much
of it is now in a state of extreme poverty. The majority of
this land is worse, although similar, to the Plains of South
Jersey. The system of removing not only the turf but the
surface soil from these wild-lands is ultimately worse than the
effects of forest fires. A forest fire in sweeping over a country
leaves something behind it. The inorganic materials which the
plant took from the soil are returned to it in the form of ashes,
and although a part of them may wash away, something is left ;
but in the heathlands of northwestern Europe the very surface
of the earth is scraped together, so that in the course of time the
soil becomes bare and sterile. We usually think of Europe, and
especially Belgium and Holland, as the places of all the world
where every spadeful of earth has been turned over hundreds of
times, and where every effort has been exerted to provide room
for its swarms of people. One is surprised, therefore, to see a
new settlement called “America” in the midst of a great unset-
tled plain in Holland. ‘There are, in fact, in this little country,
from four to five hundred thousand hectares * of waste-land,
which consists of heath, moorland and morass. The Dutch
prefer, and perhaps wisely, to grapple with the mud and water
along their shores. They would rather farm into the jaws of
the sea than work on their dreary heathlands. Mr. Schober, at
Schovenhorst, has been striving for years, at great expense and
with great perseverance, to show what is possible on the heath-
lands of Holland by careful cultivation and improved methods.
But just as the Swiss loves the steep mountain sides, so does the

* Centare (1 sq. meter)—1,550 sq. ip. Are (100 sq. meters,=119.6sq. yds. Hectare (10,000 sq. meters)
2.471 acres,

(293)

294 | GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

Hollander love his muddy soil. This soil, although difficult
and expensive to reclaim, when once in shape is alinost inex-
haustibly fertile. The fine sandy land of Holland has also been
carefully cultivated, and the dunes along the shore have been
carefully watched and patched here and there because they serve
as dykes along the sea. One of the most attractive regions of
the Low Countries is in the lee of the Dutch dunes, where there
are many beautiful villas and gardens.

Although much has been done toward the reclamation of
waste-lands, the common notion that every inch of territory in
Europe is used to good advantage is a mistake. In fact, Euro-
peans could learn much in reference to land reclamation even in
the United States, where good land is still cheap and abundant.
Much has been done, for instance, in this line in the banked
lands of the Mississippi Valley and the irrigated deserts of the
Far West. There is little that one can learn in Southern Europe
outside of France and Italy, except the disastrous effects of
deforestation. Although much that has been done in Europe is
highly commendable and suited to the peculiar conditions which
exist there, it would be difficult to say just how much of it is
applicable to America. There is one important difference
between the New and Old Worlds which should not be over-
looked in all considerations and calculations. It is the fact that
in general in Europe labor is cheap and materials expensive ; in
America the reverse is the case. Much of the detailed and
extremely careful work which is devoted to small and unim-
portant things may pay in Europe but not in this country.
One cannot help admiring the pains and patience of these peo-
ple, but at the same time in another country, under different
conditions, they would themselves do. otherwise. Carefully
saving and binding together small sticks into bundles for fuel is
all right for the places where fuel is scarce and expensive, but
would be decidedly out of place in America. European sawyers
are horrified at the sight of a circular saw with wide kerf
buzzing at a rapid rate and wasting a large proportion of the log,
but it saves time, and time has been up to the present more
precious than wood.

Kuropeans are generally conservative, especially the peasants,
preferring to do as their fathers did, working often to great dis-

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXV.

REPORT ON FORESTS: 295

advantage with implements which are decidedly clumsy. And
then, too, all sorts of traditions and customs, rights and servi-
tudes have been handed down from generation to generation.
The poor peasant is often fettered by these inheritances, which
he joyfully leaves behind him when he enters a new and fresh
land.

In parts of France forest fires are still quite common, even on
land which has been reforested, while in other parts wood is too
precious to burn even for fuel. In Italy lumber is one of the
scarcest of materials, although there are vast areas of waste-land
where wood could be raised to advantage, especially on the
bare mountain peaks. It is a land of few wood-workers and
many masons, where even the vine-props are often granite.* The
supply and demand are more local in Europe, and transportation
suffers from all sorts of hindrances. A board would pass
through more vicissitudes in going from Germany to Italy than
a bundle of shingles would in reaching New York from Oregon.
This is not so of water transportation, which is of course less
hampered by governmental interferences.

In many districts in Europe the inhabitants depend upon turf
for fuel, which exists in almost exhaustless quantities in the
heathlands of the north, and even in Germany it is not uncom-
mon to see peasants drying cow-dung for the purpose.

In parts of the Plain of northwestern Europe, under the peat,
have been found pine stumps and the stone implements of the
aborigines. Another page in its history is illustrated by oak
stumps, among which have been found bronze axes and other
implements. Here and there are beds of peat buried under the
sand, indicating that the soil has been shifted hither and thither
by the wind. It is generally believed, however, that the great
heathlands of northwestern Europe were never densely forested,
and that the trees existed in the form of groups here and there.
Such places were well suited to the nomadic pastoral stage
of man’s existence. ‘This, to a certain extent, still lingers in
the form of the shepherd tending his “snucken” or little black
sheep on these broad heath-covered plains. There, too, one
often sees a bee-keeper surrounded by many hives of little black
bees, which he moves from place to place for fresh pastures.

* “ Forestiere’’ in Italian means a stranger—that is, a person from the forest.

296 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.:

The Belgian Campine.

The first region that I shall refer to is the Belgian Campine,
a large tract of sandy land in the vicinity of Antwerp. In
wandering over this region one sees much that reminds him of
the plains and barrens of Southern New Jersey. The bushy
oaks, the scrubby pines, sandy or gravelly soil, and many plants
of the heath family which cover the surface, are strikingly
similar to those of Jersey. Here and there in this region are
small houses of the Flemish farmers who often have a hard
struggle in squeezing a livelihood out of the soil. Most of these
peasants plant forests of pine with short rotation from which
they get humus for their compost heaps and fuel-wood. It is
not uncommon to see a woman and a dog in harness tugging
together at a load of manure, or a man in the field plowing
with a cow which is usually at the same time milked. The
house and barn of the peasant are combined, and the manure-
pile, which is close to the door, is his most precious posses-
sion. Now and then green manuring is practiced, and a field
of yellow lupine* is quite as beautiful as a field of crimson
clover.

Much that I have to say here in reference to the Belgian
Campine was suggested by a little book entitled ‘ La Culture
du Pin Sylvestre en Campine,” by L’ Abbé G. Smets, professor
of agriculture at Hasselt, in Belgium. ‘To this I have added
my own impressions and have compared the two wherever possi-
ble. A large number of the Belgian Scotch-pine (Pzzus syl-
vestrts) plantations leave much to be desired. The trees are
stunted and grow to a height of only a few meters. The volume
growth rapidly attains its maximum, and even at the age of
twenty years some of the forests begin to die. Parasites are
abundant.+ ‘There are few old trees; the quality of the wood
is poor and the best stands, according to Smets, yield small profits.

* I have endeavored to grow this lupine (Lupinus lutea) in South Jersey from seed bought in Hol-

land, but it failed to flourish both on good and bad soil, owing probably to the dryness of the summer.
Our purple lupine (Lupinus Jerennis) is worthy a trial on very poor, sandy soil.

+In the pine forests of Northern France and Belgium a wood-eating insect known to en omologists
as Hylesinus pini perdo attacks the pine in swarms. This little beetle bores into the young branches
and tunnels along the medullary canals. The wind snaps off the damaged twigs, and now, in some pine
districts, the forest floor is fairly strewn with the debris, The insect develops very rapidly under the
bark of felled trees, and it is found that barking the logs immediately after they fall under the axe pre-
vents the spread of the pest.

REPORT ON FORESTS: 207

M. Houba says, however, “ that one must not expect too much
of plantings on waste-land, and that the revenues from the poor-
lands of the Campine and Ardennes are equal to five per cent.
on the capital invested.” (If American capitalists could make
sure of five per cent. there would be large investments in forest
land.)

Heathlands, which have not been exhausted by the removal
of the humus, have produced satisfactory forests. ‘‘ Nothing is
sadder,” says Verstappen, “than to pass over certain wooded
zones of the Campine, to-day offering a spectacle of decay which
seems without a remedy. Where thirty years ago one saw
superb pine groves yielding as much as the best wheat-lands of
Hesbaye, now one sees only rare groves of third and fourth
grade, while the greater part of the surface is covered with a
growth not exceeding three to five meters in height.” Levasseur
says that a good plantation of pine properly managed, well
located, should yield, at the end of eighty years, 27,175 francs
per hectare. That is, according to our system of measurement,
$2,174,per acre, or $27.17 per acre per year! Prof. Smets esti-
mates a yield of from 1,500 to 4,000 francs per hectare in a
period: Of 30'to: 46 years for the Belgian Campine.. That is
about a yield of $4 per year per acre for this poor heathland !
If these figures are correct, the wonder is why every inch of that
land has not been reclaimed.

The Scotch-pine will grow under a great variety of condi-
tions. It is not very sensitive to frost and accommodates
itself to low and damp places. It isa tree of the vast plains with
silicious bottom and deep soil. It is a species easy to satisfy and
has been successfully transported to many countries into many
soils. It is probably the most widely spread of all the pines. It
is like the red-cedar of America in respect to endurance, grow-
ing in wet and dry locations, in hot and cold, on mountains and
in the lowlands. Very rarely, however, does it reproduce itself
naturally.

Here and there, at a certain depth, a bed of impermeable clay
or heath-humus buried under eolian sand arrests the growth of
the trees. These beds do not exist everywhere and their bad
effects may be overcome by thoroughly working and softening
the soil. This all tends to prolong the life and vigor of the tree

298 GEOLOGICAL. SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

and render more available the nutritive elements of the soil, but
even plantations the soils of which have been carefully pre-
pared before planting, produce results which are far from satis-
factory. ‘The poverty of the soil,” says Smets, “is the general
cause of the failure of the pine in the Campine.” ‘The idea has
prevailed that the Scotch-pine can succeed everywhere, that it
only demands a trace of nutritive elements, that every soil suits
it. Although the demands on the soil by this pine may be less
than other forestal species, nevertheless a soil may reach an
almost hopeless sterile stage after years of cropping by the
removal of wood and the surface humus and soil. It is well
known, too, that trees on such soil are more subject to disease
and quickly succumb. ‘They are simply stunted by starvation.
Young trees en masse are, it is said, as exacting in their demands
upon the soil as a crop of rye.* Although, as I have already
said in the previous chapter of this report, very little reliance
can be placed in the chemical examination of a soil, the absence
of one essential ingredient may compromise the whole crop.
When a tree grows rapidly and reproduces itself abundantly, as
occurs in the pine-lands of South Jersey, it is evidence enough,
without chemical examinations, that the soil is in good condi-
tion, no matter how barren it may appear. In the Plains of
South Jersey, which are treeless, only one essential may be lack-
ing or the difficulty may be a physical one. According to
Schiitze, pineries may be classified as follows :

Phosphoric Acid, Potash, Lime (Chaux),

Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.

PARNeLY, TSUiClASS: ~stoee whe, ees 0.0501 0.0457 1.8876
“ 13 aeade arabe fete 0.0569 0.0632 0.1622

_ aq, i Ste Sa 0.0388 Or2er 0.1224

_ ane oa a Aa? arene 0.0299 0.0392 0.0963

= sth ‘ Lacan Gs oe 0.0236 0.0241 0.0270

> s teEe. 2° a aah ay h- oe 0.0236 0.0215 0.0458

The Expt. Station Record gives tables which, in general,
show the limits assigned to rich and to poor soils. They are as
follows:

* The sands of the Golden Gate Park were so poor in nature that barley sown on its surface after
being ploughed and cultivated in a favorable season with plenty of moisture, grew only about six inches
in height and failed to perfect its seed. After planting sea grass to fix the sand and lupines to enrich the
soil, the trees which were planted only grew to a height of ten feet, owing to the lack of nutriment in the
soil. See the Reclamation of Drifting Sand Dunes, in the Forester, for October, 1899.

REPORT ON SORES LS: 299

Nitrogen, Phos. Acid. Potash, Lime.
Wiety POOT'SIi1S, 5-2 5. . 0.05 % 0.01 % 0.05 % 9.10 %
IBOOR SOUS aes =e ct aie (1 0.05-0:10 0.01-0.05 0.05-0.10
NCCI GIs ee a ores. oe, 2 OSLO 0.05-0. 10 0. 10-0.20 1.00
ie imac eum 42! 24. 2 O310-0,20 0. 10-0. 20 0.20-0.30
Metyaitcimaee ss 6% fs) 2 > ©2204 0,20 up 0.30 up 2.00

According to this the treeless Plains, as far as the soil is con-
cerned chemically, except in the quantity of lime, if these analy-
ses are correct, have a first-class pine soil. The soil of the Jersey
Plains contains the following ingredients:

Sample I. Sample IT.
INGERO CCT metaer ts: iimrd. vel gh tae sed ee 0.06 0.03
WHOSPMOFICraCId.: Es re ane we ge se 0.07 0.065
AOE AG IMME Cermanee ters atet sar. el ial tay) ec) ne 0.05 0 02
inte Merrett uke Sieh c ee ety ee 0.06 0.02
SiltcariiTSole ter, gloss Se Beso es 96.40 96.95
JENIUGS 0a NE OITA vac oy en Eas 0.28
PerierOmde nee e.mail alee Som 0.40 . 0.20
MGREOUS OMI Gel x: cach la wm “ey 1.26 1.06
WVIAC MESHAS wale ce ta ec ge sn omc <a one 0.04 O 02

According to’Smets, the soils of the Campine contain the fol-
lowing proportions of ingredients :

| | Phosphoric Acid. | .
| | Potash. Lime (Chaux). | Magnesia.
| Azote. | Sol. Insol. | ‘ |
| in H cl. | Sol Insol. | Sol. Insol. Sol. Insol.
| | | | |
Pine land, | 0.06 | 0.013}. . .| 0.013] 0.648) 0.004) 0.959 0.023| 0.260
Pine land, .| 0.040 0.012/. . .| 0.032/ 2.026) 0.055; 0.950] 90.033! 1.291

Cult’v'd soil,| 0.122, 0 034] 0.010) 0.005) 0.4 0 027) 0.624) O.OII| 0.052
34 5 Sy) 7 | 5

According to these analyses, even the Plains of South Jersey,
if ploughed and worked, then planted with a leguminous crop,
then ploughed again and limed and then planted with pines,
would probably produce a good crop, provided the soil is not
too dry. Very often a leguminous crop, such as cow-peas, may
not take the first trial owing to the absence of bacteroids in the
soil so that several attempts may be necessary. ‘This probably
would not pay, but it would be an interesting experiment. It

300 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

is claimed by many that forests do better on soils which have
been cultivated for a time. The soil is mellowed by the process
of cultivation, and the inorganic materials which have leached
through the surface during the process of cultivation are reached
by the roots of the trees. Pines which spring up in old
abandoned fields are very vigorous, and in Virginia signs of the
old corn-rows may be seen in forests on land which produced
cotton and corn up to the time of the Civil War. At the same
time the materials which have escaped the field crop by leaching
are brought again to the surface by the tree so that the soil is
being rendered fit again for agricultural purposes. The forest
is thus an important factor in the rotation of crops, as I have
already explained in the first chapter in connection with the
eastern shore of Virginia. Although the farmers in that region
remove the litter, they wisely allow old fields to come again in
pines and clear fresh pine forest. By making the rotation of
the pine short, the growing of pines in the sand-lands of the
South may in time play an important agricultural role, and may,
as one in the series of several crops, be necessary to maintain
the productiveness of the soil.

It must not be forgotten also that the roots of trees corrode
even the silicates, and coarse sandy soil, under the influence of
vegetation, becomes gradually loam-like in nature, although
clay may be lacking. For this purpose pines have great advan-
tages in that they are adapted to sandy soils and that the stumps
soon rot after the tree is cut. It is not a difficult task to clear
a pine forest for agricultural purposes. In planting old fields
the surface should be plowed under in order to bring fresh soil
to the top. The young crop demands a rich surface-soil ; later,
when the roots penetrate into the subsoil upon which the tree
feeds, it can take care of itself. Smets recommends, therefore,
the growing of- young plants in nurseries in good soil first, and
claims that the so-called hardening of plants by growing them
under adverse conditions is amistake. This is, of course, expen-
sive, and is not necessary in a country where a good crop is
usually produced naturally or may be easily produced by sowing.

There is formed in the heathlands of the Campine a peculiar
powdery dry light-brown or black humus which decomposes
with difficulty and collects’ in thick beds. It is formed mainly

REPORT ON HORESTS. 301

by the stems and roots of heather. It is acid or sour in nature
and sufficient alkali to neutralize it is lacking in the soil. It is,
in fact, antiseptic in nature. This kind of peat does not form
in Southern countries except in mountainous regions. ‘The
peat which is formed in the swamp-lands of New Jersey is of a
very different nature, decomposing quickly, being comparatively
mild or easily converted into a good fertile condition by drain-
age and cultivation. This mucky land is one of the best forest
soils in New Jersey, being the home of the white-cedar (Chame-
cyparis thyoides), our choicest soft-wood.

According to Smets the role of the pinery should be to pre-
pare anew the soil which has been exhausted on the surface by
agriculture or by the removal of humus.

Smets concludes that if the heathlands of the Campine are
cultivated for a time, enriched by lupines and lime, and then
planted with pine, they will produce fair forests, provided the
humus and litter are not removed. In Hungary the pineries
are limed.

In reading the government reports in reference to the Cam-
pine I have concluded that what is accomplished in Belgium in
this line is accomplished under difficulties. The struggles we
are having in America are no greater than those of other coun-
tries. There has been commission after commission, report
after report, with all sorts of recommendations. In 1808 there
were still 173,000 hectares of unreclaimed heathland in the
Campine.

As an illustration of the peculiar difficulties encountered I
shall mention “ bud-stealing,” which, although recent, is serious
in its consequences. These pine buds, which are used in liquors
and medicinal preparations, are collected and sold by the
peasants. Whole families work at this industry, silently in
the night, in young forests, in the springtime. The tree, when
robbed of its terminal bud, grows crooked, and if the process is
repeated stops growing and finally dies.

I shall conclude this section with the statements that with
the exception of the Plains the whole of South Jersey is quite
equal in timber-producing qualities to the better portions of the
Campine. Some of the finest forests of the world, in fact, are
on soil no worse than the Jersey sands. The magnificent forest

302 , GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

of Fontainebleau (40,000 acres), for instance, is on a bed of dry
sand. Remove this forest, and 98 per cent. of 1t would become
a desert of drifting sand. It should always be borne in mind
that sandy soils in regions in which there are sufficient warmth
and humidity, if left to nature and freed from the pernicious
interference of the human species, fires and browsing animals,
will in the course of ages become forest-clad and fertile. By
forest-clad I do not mean a meagre growth of trees and bushes,
but a rich, dense forest, with a soil which, under the influence
of leaf-nold, will ever improve in quality, both physically and
chemically. By the application of skill and knowledge this
process may be, of course, hastened. ‘There are French foresters
who have said that were it not for the camels and Arabs of the
Sahara the oases of vegetation would have gradually spread and
covered a large proportion of that barren waste. On the other
hand a magnificent forest on fertile, sandy soil can be quickly
converted into a sterile desert by the reckless removal of fer-
tility from the surface. Those lands in Southern New Jersey
which are being subjected to the same or similar processes
through which the Campine of Belgium has passed belong to
the Beacon Hill Formation, which is mapped and described in
the Annual Report of the State Geologist for 1898.

In referring to this region, Mr. Knapp says: ‘In the vicinity
of Hammonton many clearings have been made on this forma-
tion and have been found to be profitable for the cultivation of
berries. It is possible that considerable tracts elsewhere might
be used in the same way, but at present a very small proportion
only of this formation is in cultivation. The formation as a
whole seems to invite forest culture rather than the ordinary
form of agriculture.” He also assures us that although the soil
is coarse, loose and white, its surface appearance is worse than
its real character.

The Dunes and Landes of Gascony.

In this chapter I shall refer mainly to the Dunes and Landes
of Gascony, one of the stereotyped examples of the complete
reclamation of an almost uninhabitable and unproductive waste-
land. ‘The two principal works I have consulted on the subject

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY |
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXVI.

NATIVES OF THE LANDES

ae |
Sl a al to

ne

=

2 Deane -
ge ae
agent :
%

x

A CHURCH WHICH WAS BURIED BY THE SAND ON THE FRENCH DUNES

REPORT ON FORESTS. 303

are “Les Landes de Gascogne,” by M. Chambrelent, and ‘ Les
Landes et Les Dunes de Gascogne,” by M. Grandjean.

In the early part of this century (before 1857) the condition of
this flat triangular plain, known as the Landes, which is roughly
bounded by the Bay of Biscay, the river Adour, and the river
Garonne and the Medoc, was, in brief, as follows: ‘here were
miles of marshy, almost treeless wastes, covered mainly with a
low, dense growth of herbage. It was wet, unhealthy and
sparsely inhabited. ‘The few people who lived there depended
upon their flocks. The accompanying picture shows a native of
‘the Landes standing upon stilts watching his flock. (See Plate
XXXVI.) He is dressed in a heavy sheepskin paletot. By stand-
ing on stilts these shepherds can easily see their sheep in the
herbage and can easily follow them through wet and marshy
regions. ‘Their spare time is spent in knitting stockings. The
condition of the Landes was due to the immense sand dunes
which arrayed themselves along the shore of the Bay of Biscay.
They moved inland, covered villages and occluded inlets. The
damage done by these moving sands so increased that the govern-
ment officials studied the work and devised and executed plans,
and now, thanks to de Villers, Chambrelent and Bremontier, the
pioneer workers, the Dunes and Landes are covered with a beau-
tiful growth of the maritime-pine. The region is now a famous
health resort, combining the beauties and pleasures of the sea-
shore with those of a well-managed pine forest which extends
almost to the edge of the ocean.

There are evidences that the Dunes were naturally originally
fixed by forests. These forests were destroyed by vandals and
all attempts failed to stop these menacing mountains of sand.
In 1778 atalented engineer, Baron Charlevoix de Villers, was sent
to Arcachon for the purpose of forming a military post. He
saw at once the necessity of fixing the sand, and was, according
to Grandjean, the first to establish the fact that the way to fix
the dunes is by the means of plantations of pine. He met with
troubles in his work and was finally sent back to the Island of
San Domingo.

In 1784 Bremontier began the work and, it is said, by using
the result of de Villers’ labors, finally succeeded in fixing the
moving sand.*

* Bremontier tells cf a dune which advanced, in a violent tempest, at the rate of two feet in three
hours.

304 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

Plate X XVI shows a church at Soulac which was buried by
the sand.

The methods employed in fixing the dunes may be briefly
described as follows :

A littoral dune was constructed straight along the shore from
the mouth of the Gironde to Bayonne. ‘This dune was the secret
of the success in the fixation of these shifting sands. It is simply
a bank of sand of certain dimensions, with a certain slope suited
to the condition of affairs. This protective, or littoral, dune
is formed as follows: a double fence is constructed of brush,*
or of palisades driven in the sand. This stops the sand which
comes from the ocean. Soon a ridge of sand forms, equal in
height to the fence. A double fence is used, as it gives breadth
to the dune, and stops the sand which blows through the fence
on the ocean side. As soon as a ridge of sand is formed as high
as the fence, the old fence is pulled up, or a new one built on
top; and so on, until a dune of the height desired is formed
artificially. ‘The proper height of a protective dune is 33 feet.
It should slope 25° towards the sea, and may be 60° on the land
side.’ The dune must be at least 300 feet from high-water mark.
After the dune has reached the proper size, it is kept in shape
by the sea marram (Psamma arenarza).+ ‘This peculiar plant,
called gourbet in France, is exclusively used for fixing the sand
on the littoral dune. It has long, much-divided rhizomes, and
will grow well only when covered with fresh sand. The dune
must always be kept in shape. If sand accumulates in any one
spot in undue amount, a draft is formed, which may end in a
breach of the littoral dune. Gardes cantonniers are stationed
along the dune, to watch it closely, and here and there on this
long, straight sand-bank groups of men and women may be seen
digging up the gouwrbet in places where it is too thick, and
planting it where needed. Constantly the dune is watched and
mended; the forest, villages and fields in its lee are dependent
upon it, and it in turn is dependeut upon the humble, but per-
sistent, gourbet.

After the formation of the littoral dune comes the work of

* This system of making a fence of brush is called Clayonage.

+Psamma or Ammophila arenaria, beach or marram grass is the best known of the true sand-
binding grasses. (See Sand-binding Grasses, by F. Lamson-Scribner, in year book of the Department
of Agriculture.) It is common on the Atlantic coast of both Europe and America.

j
;

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY

REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXVII.

RCACHON

S NEAR AN

NE

J

ENCH DL

FOREST ON THE FR

REPORT ON FORESTS. 305

planting in its lee. The surface of the sand is covered with
brush arranged like the slates on a roof, with a shovelful of sand
here and there to hold it down. ‘Then the seeds of Prxus marv-
fima are sown, with seeds of other plants to shade the young,
pines. The pines usually come up well, and grow quickly,
although close to the littoral dune they are gnarled and stunted
by the salt winds. Thus the sands are fixed, and, although the
forests do not yield a large interest in cash, they are of incal-
culable value to a large proportion of the people of Gascony—in
fact, indirectly, to the whole of France. Fire-lanes have been
constructed across the dunes, and, thanks to the watchfulness of
the guards and the rigid enforcement of laws, fires are not fre-
quent. Owing to a lack of roads and means of transportation
on these dunes, only the most valuable timber is marketed after
being tapped for resin. If it is desirable to remove a tree, it is
bled to death before being cut.

The fixation of the Dunes rendered possible the work of M.
Chambrelent, which was the reclamation of the Landes by
drainage and plantings. It is a unique example of personal
initiative. M. Chambrelent, a young engineer in the Depart-
ment of Bridges and Roads, in 1837 was sent to Gironde to
study the drainage of 800,000 hectares of land in the districts
of Gascony and the Landes. His conclusions were not accepted,
so he bought some land and put into effect the measures he
advocated. In 1855 the results of his experiments were sub-
mitted to an international jury. The jury was so favorably
impressed that it recommended the apphcation of Chambrelent’s
plans to the entire region, and in 1857 a law was passed requir-
ing the Communes to do this work. ‘The Communes paid for it
by selling a part of this land which increased in value after the
completion of the work. This region was one hundred meters
above sea level, flat and sandy. It was underlain with a hard-
pan called “‘alios.”” In sumimer it was a bed of burning sand, in
winter constant inundation, and between the two a period of
pestilence. She country was characterized by its sterility and
insalubrity.

A complete system of drain-ditches was dug and the seeds of
Pinus maritima sown. In 1865 all works of drainage were
complete. The pines grew with extraordinary rapidity. The

20 FOR

306 =GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

‘alios,”’ which formerly arrested vegetation, in no way impeded
growth. It is a sandstone, not entirely impervious, and served
to hold the moisture during the dryness of summer. It was
feared that the inability of the tap-root to penetrate this hard-
pan would arrest the growth of the tree, ‘“ but,” says Chambre-
lent, ‘‘the uselessness of the tap-root * has already been demon-
strated. .It extends to inert soil which receives no atmospheric
influences. It really plays only a mechanical role for holding
the tree in place, but in close growth is not necessary, because
the trees support each other.”

He also notes the fact that in spite of very rapid growth the
wood is of superior quality. In another place he says that,
owing to its elasticity, the poles are in great demand in England
for mine props, also that because of its rapid growth, the absorp-
tion of copper sulphate is facilitated, which renders it durable
and valuable for telegraph poles. In speaking of the sanitary.
effects of the forest he says that “the Landes, which in 1865
were pestilential, are now as free from fever as the most favored
regions. The presence of so much wood enables every house-
hold to have generous supphes for heating and drying in cold
and wet seasons. An investigation of the causes of agricultural
depression in other parts of France only too clearly indicates the
inestimable benefit of large wood-supplies for domestic pur-
poses.”

During the Civil War in America, France enjoyed a broad
market for her naval stores at three times the normal price.
Owing to the cheapness of the inferior American product, gem-
mage or tapping for resin is not very profitable.

Such was the work started by Chambrelent. By allowing a
revolution of thirty years to the pine crops it may go on forever,
provided forest fires and insect pests are kept in check. Planta-
tions of coniferous species in all dry countries are always in
danger of fire, and forests of one species only are often com-
pletely devastated by insects.

By the fixation of the Dunes 650,000 hectares of land were
made productive. Formerly if one wished to buy land, he
mounted a hill and called in a loud voice; the land over which
his voice carried was worth twenty-five francs.

* Gardeners often remove the tap-root of trees in order to stimulate the horizontal roct system and
to facilitate transplanting.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 307

‘A man,” says Grandjean, “‘was forced to take some of this
sand for a debt. He became a millionaire later by selling it in
small parcels.” ‘The first summer the visitors lived in the resin
cabins ; now every luxury is afforded to the two hundred thou-
sand tourists who come there every year.

To-day it is a health resort. It is covered with pines and is
prosperous. Although a few severe fires* occur now and then,
and owing to a lack of roads or other sufficient means of trans-
portation all the wood is not sold, nowhere in the world,
however, are the following industries more extensively and scien-
tifically developed: Collection and manufacture of naval stores,
the impregnation of wood with preservatives, and oyster culture.
They have also demonstrated that there is no better way of
fixing shifting sands, of draining swamps and removing pesti-
lence than by forest-planting.

Destroy completely the forest which covers the Coastal Plain
of Eastern America and it will become a bed of shifting barren
sand, in places swampy, pestilential, unproductive, unsightly
and unfit for habitation, although capable of producing under
forest management an abundance of excellent timber and naval
stores forever. Large areas of the Coastal Plain of America are
rapidly approaching the former condition of the Landes of
Gascony.

The eastern coast of America, under proper management, is,
in this respect at least, capable of almost limitless prospects.
The timber of the short-leaf, long-leaf, old-field and Cuban-pines
finds a market even in Europe. Now that yellow-pine (or what
they call pitch-pine in Europe) has won a reputation in other
countries, it is only good business to see that the supply may not
run short, but be more than sufficient for all possible future
demands. Besides, there is and, perhaps, always will be more
wood used per capita in America than elsewhere in the world.
Just as Italy is the land of masons, America is the land of wood-

* After several fires in the Montagne Noir comes the announcement of fire in the Landes, spreading
from the region of Laborheyre and Parentis-en-Born to Mimizan over thousands of hectares of pine-lands
An innocent man amused himself burning the herbage in the midst of a country torrified by the heat of
dog-days near forests of pine. Hatred and ill-will incited criminal hands to imitate this example. The
fire traversed thousands of hectares of forest, as in America, destroying everything in its way. It is
astonishing, considering the slight attention accorded to the laws or restrictive regulations, that such

disasters should not have occurred earlier, during the great heat of August. At last it rains!—Revue des
Eaux et Forets. (September, 1898.)

308 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

workers, where almost every boy knows how to use a hatchet
and a saw.

Although the Landes are in the latitude of Nova Scotia, the
climate is milder than that of Southern Jersey, so that the resin
industry is possible. Arcachon is the combined Lakewood and
Atlantic City of France. The largest city in the vicinity is Bor-
deaux. Just north of Bordeaux,: between the Gironde and the
Bay of Biscay, is the Medoc, famous the world over for its wines.
The soil of this region is, I believe, not unlike that of the Cape
May formation of South Jersey. At Verdon, on the point across
from the seashore resort of Royan, is a beautiful forest of pine
and locust on the dune sand, which was planted by Bremontier.
In the forest of La Teste, near Arcachon, is a red marble monu-
ment in honor of this famous engineer—a fitting memorial to the
ian who fixed the sand of these shifting dunes.

In the Landes, in addition to naval stores and timber, oyster
culture and apiculture are important industries. Small quanti-
ties of cork are also produced. Sheep raising is also an import-

ant occupation, and the mules and horses which are produced
there, although small in size and tough, are gentle and excellent
in quality.

Here and there men and women may be seen spreading boughs
and twigs in the ruts of the roads and in the pathways to
improve their condition.

_ The population of this part of France has rapidly increased.
Just as reckless deforestation inevitably leads to idleness, want
and moral degeneration among those dependent upon the woods,
so does afforestation have the opposite effect in the same if not
greater proportion. In the Landes, for instance, before the
planting of forests a man could buy a farm for a few francs, it
required over two acres to support one sheep. In less than a
century the population sextupled, while that of a large part of
the rest of the country either remained stationary or decreased.
A few miserable shepherds were replaced by wood-workers, resin
collectors, workers in establishments for refining the product
and for impregnating wood, pleasure and health seekers, besides
others who were attracted to do other business produced by the
change of conditions. The population of a country generally
increases in proportion to its natural resources. The fecundity

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXVIII.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 309

of the French in places where there is plenty of room and oppor-
tunity is proverbial as in Canada. It is even so in the Landes,
which, on being reclaimed, was equivalent to the addition of a
new province or colony.

The Banat Sand-Desert of Southern Hungary.

Joseph Wessely, in his book entitled ‘“‘ Der Europiische Flug-
sand und Seine Kultur,” gives an interesting description of the
Banat Sand-Desert in Southern Hungary. This region is north
of the city of Beegrade, which is on the opposite side of the
river Danube, in Servia. This great sand-plain was once a lake-
bottom before the Danube had worn a deep passage, called the
Iron Gate, through the Transylvanian Alps. Even in historic
times these shifting sands were covered with forests. In addi-
tion to such records there are other evidences which indicate
that the region was once forested. These are in the nature of
buried beds of humus, lime caves, caused by lime-water settling
in cavities of rotted tree-roots, and the names of places, as is
often the case in treeless regions, indicate its former wooded
nature. The Magyars, for instance, called this sand plain
“Nyir” in their names, which signifies ‘‘ beech.”

The soil was not sterile in the sense of lacking inorganic
ingredients,* but was of such fine, soft, sandy nature that on
being divested of its vegetal covering was easily shifted hither
and thither by the wind. Reckless cutting for fuel, the collec-
tion of sumac for tanning, and the browsing of many herds
belonging to nomads soon despoiled even the few oases of vege-
tation which existed within recent times. In spite of many
efforts to reforest this region, 30,000 of the 70,660 jochen + were
bare desert. The greatest evil of all was the flocks and herds
which wandered over this region eating the herbage, loosening
the soil and exposing the sand to the action of the wind. In
addition to these difficulties, there was a revolution in 1848,

* The sand of the fertile marl region of New Jersey is subject to drifting here and there. South of
Philadelphia, from the Pennsylvania shore, it may be seen moving in clouds over the fields in New Jersey.
The wind picks up the fine grains and leaves the coarse particles behind. This sand blast is, of course,
very injurious to fields of young, tender crops.

”

+‘‘ Joch”’ is an old European land measure. It is the same as ‘‘ yoke,
amount of land a yoke of oxen could plough in a day.

and originally meant the

310 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

which interfered with the work of reforestation. Wessely con-
cludes by saying that little had been accomplished because of a
lack of knowledge of sand culture and a lack of courageous and
unselfish devotion to such work in spite of opposition and. diff-
culties:

This book appeared in 1873. Since that time there has been
great progress. The work in this peculiar and secluded region
is of great interest to Americans because it was accomplished
under great difficulties, and because 1t was our own locust tree
which was most successfully and extensively planted. In his
book Wessely mentions that the Canadian poplar and the locust
seemed at that time to be the most promising trees for the
region, and that the Hungarian foresters often remarked that
“Die Akazie sei in Nord-Amerika ftir die Ungarische Ebene
eigens erfunden worden.” +

There has recently appeared an article on the locust by the
Hungarian Forester Bund in the Zeztschrift fiir Forst und
Jagdwesen. ‘The successful use of the locust on sandy land in
the Rhine Province led him to inquire into the experiences with
this tree in the Hungarian desert. This tree was at first only
used in gardens and along avenues, but soon its good qualities
were recognized as a supremely useful cover for sand surfaces.
It is to-day principally the locust which relieves the monotony
of the Hungarian steppes. In all there are at least 70,000 hec-
tares or about 172,970 acres of pure locust stands in that country.
It is, in his opinion, the tree of the future for desert sandy
regions. ‘The government is encouraging the planting of this
tree by furnishing gratis every year from the State nurseries
from five to six million young locust plants.

The chief claims for the use of the tree in Hungary are that
its demands on the soil are slight, that it is easily propagated,
and that owing to its extensive root-system and root-suckers it
holds the soil in place. He recommends that the soil should be
worked first, on which a crop of rye or leguines may be grown,
and cautions one not to sow seeds which have been scalded or

*It is worthy of note how that in great reforms much has been accomplished by one or only a very
few persistent, enthusiastic workers.

+‘*The locust kas been discovered in America especially for the Hungarian Plain’’ The term
“‘acacia”’ is used throughout Europe for the locust tree; in fact, in America, it is called ‘‘ false acacia,”’
trom which comes its specific name “‘ pseudacacia.”’

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXIX.

THE FOLIAGE OF THE LOCUST

REPORT ON FORESTS. ari

steamed unless the soil is wet. He says that in Hungary the
wood is highly prized for many purposes, that the flowers
furnish bee food, and that the tree suffers little from disease.

Throughout the Rhine regions the locust is grown as a cop-
pice, with a 15-year rotation. The poles are in great demand
for vine-props, and the net return is 80 marks a year for one
hectare—a yield scarcely equalled by any other species of tree.
The Minister of Agriculture has directed that the locust be
planted on land which has been heretofore occupied by coppice
oak, since the tan-bark industry is no longer profitable. The
American government should offer a high prize to the entomolo-
gist who devises a means of exterminating the locust-borer.
Were it not for the depredations of this insect the locust would
be one of the most profitable and useful of trees for planting on
the Jersey sands. It is specially fitted for the purpose because
of its slight inflammability.

The Luneburg and other Adjacent Heath and Moor Lands.

Our prevailing winds are from the land, and in spite of the
fact that South Jersey is close to the ocean, the climate is dry
in comparison with the plains of Northern Europe. Almost
every summer we have a period of extreme drought which is
very trying to all plants, the roots of which do not penetrate
to where there is a constant supply of moisture. Several
species of American trees, such as the red-oak and locust, appear
to do better in Western Europe than in their native land, while
Salix amygdalina and Salix viminalis the great European
basket willows, which are grown in fields by the side of wheat
and rye, fail in the Eastern United States because of the late
summer drought.

Throughout a large part of Southern New Jersey, in those
portions which are at a low-level and in which the water-table
is close to the surface, there is usually a luxuriant growth of
vegetation, although the soil may be coarse and sandy. Regions
of a higher altitude, such as the Plains, suffer most from a lack
of moisture and also from fire in consequence.

Throughout the Sand-lands of Northern Europe there is little
variety in the nature of the forest. Wherever there is a clump

412. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

of woods on upland or lowland it consists of Scotch-pine. Some-
times it is in straight and thrifty condition, but mostly crooked
and stunted in nature. There is lacking that variety which one
meets with even in the Jersey pine regions, and while there
exists a general resemblance between the two regions, closer
examination soon shows that in reality they are very unlike.
The soil, the climate, the flora, the political, social and economi-
cal conditions are all so different that it would be unfair to
place the Jersey pine-lands in the same category with these
immense tracts, of heath and morass which exist throughout
Northern Europe.

We should not always assume, however, that because a soil is
sandy vegetation will suffer from dryness more than on other
soils. This depends altogether on the capillarity * of the soil
and the proximity of the water-table to the surface. Owing to
the cold and a great abundance of moisture peat accumulates in
immense beds in Northern Europe. Just to the west of the Ems
is the Bourtanger Moor, over five hundred square miles in area,
on the boundary between Holland and Germany. Here and
there in this morass are firm patches on which the houses of the
natives are located, but the most of it is a quaking, treacherous
mass of semi-decomposed vegetable matter. The inhabitants
crossed this bog-land with leaping-poles. A board was attached
to the end of each pole and both people and horses wore wooden
‘““mud-shoes,’”’ such as are used on the oyster-beds of France and
on the salt marshes of New Jersey. These moors were often so
extensive that they served to separate tribes.

The surface of these moorlands was burnt at certain times of
the year in order to render them fit for cultivation. The peat-
smoke or ‘‘ moor-rauch,” in May, 1857, drifted as far as Vienna,
and in July, 1863, to Geneva. In recent times more economical
methods have been practiced, and canals have been dug for both
drainage and transportation purposes. Wherever the land is
imperfectly drained in this region, immense masses of “torf” or

*In the sand-hills of Nebraska and Kansas, even after long periods ot drought, only the few inches
of surface-soil become dry. A short distance under the surface the soil is moist to the touch.

““In the dunes of Algeria water is so abundant that wells are constantly dug in them at high points
on their surface. They are sunk at a depth of three or four meters only, and the water rises in them to a
height of a meter.’’—Laurent, Meoire sur le Sahara. ‘*The Dunes of the Sahara in some places
supply pasturage for the caravans.’’—Pomel, L’ Annee Geographie.

The city of Amsterdam is supplied with water from the Coast Dunes of Holland. This is simply
rainwater, which soaks intothe sand. The Hague also is similarly supplied.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY
REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXX.

DOMBERG—A RESORT IN THE LEE OF THE ZEELAND DUNES

A PIECE OF RECLAIMED MARSHLAND IN ZEELAND

REPORT ON FORESTS. 313

peat accumulate. Here and there are dune-like formations on
which the Scotch-pine has been planted.

The Scotch-pine is a wonderful tree in respect to its endur-
ance. It grows in the wet cold bogs and on the dry upland.
Because of the remarkable endurance of this tree it has been
planted in our arid West. The plantations are still young, but
in a thrifty and promising condition.

Large portions of the heathland of Northwestern Europe is
called “‘ geest,” which is high and dry, sandy or gravelly land.
The geest which I have seen is gravelly, compact, and covered
with a sparse growth of heathplants, and in appearance even
more bare and sterile than the Plains of South Jersey. In
general appearance it is not unlike the Plains, and I have no
doubt but that trees would grow in this region were we to apply
the same principles of culture which are applied on the geest
lands of Holland and Germany.

The heathlands of Europe have been subjected in times past,
and even in places to-day, to all sorts of abusive practices. ‘They
have been pastured, or better, overpastured, from time immemo-
rial, and the top-soil has been many times removed by the peas-
ants for litter, as in the Belgian Campine.

The best example of reclamation may be seen at Schovenhorst,
near Putten, in Holland, on the Schober estate.* I was most
cordially received by Mr. Schober, and he explained how that
by thoroughly loosening the soil by deep plowing or spading
and then applying the proper kind of fertilizer the abuse of
years could be overcome and pine forests once more established,
as was evidenced by the beautiful groves consisting of many
exotic and native conifers which formed an oasis in the midst of a
desert. There are conifers from almost every corner of the earth
in healthy condition, forming one of the most remarkable botanic
gardens I have ever seen, demonstrating well what may be done
by perseverance and skill even where nature is stingy with her
oifts.

Perhaps the largest and wildest of these heathlands is the
Liineburger Heath.t It is near the city of Hamburg, south of
the Elbe, in the province of Hanover. The general surface is

* See ‘* Pinetum Schoberianum,” by G. A. Kuyk. Reprint from Zydschri/t voor Luinbouw.
+See Kultur der Haideflachen. Salfeld.

314 GEOLOGICAT, SURVEY OF NEW JERSEN:

undulating, but the northern edge sinks down abruptly so that
when viewed from afar it resembles a range of low hills. ‘This
is a part of the great North German Plain, which extends from
the Ural mountains to the coast, consisting mainly of heath and
moor, planted in places with Scotch-pine. It consists of loam,
sand, clay, gravel and marl. Here and there are erratic boulders
which have been deposited, no doubt, by glaciers. Where the
soil is loamy and marly the beech is abundant. ‘The sand,”
says Salfeld, “forms scattered hills or great sandy plains from
which the clay has been washed by the rains.”’

In many places the primeval forest consisted of oak and pine.
In other regions beds of ‘“‘ortstein,” a sandstone similar to the
‘“alios”’ of the Landes, prevents drainage and the growth of trees.
On such places the heather holds full sway. These are natural
steppes and probably have never been covered with trees.

In the Liineburger Heath there are many small streams,
although the region is at times quite dry and parched. The
water quickly runs away and the region is exposed to the dry-
ing effects of the winds. “A trip across this heath in winter,”
says Salfeld, ‘‘is dreary enough.” One méets here and there
natives digging up the sods for litter. This exposes the soil to
the wind so that it shifts more or less from place to place. Here
and there are bee-stands which are used only in blossoming time
when the keeper moves from place to place with his hives in search
of fresh pastures. Here and there are sheep corrals. The shep-
herd even in winter may be seen alone with his flock of hardy,
small black sheep called “snucken.” As with the shepherds of
the Landes he knits while his sheep crop the scanty herbage.
These sheep live out of doors in winter, even in the snow, and
when the lambs come many are killed by the shepherd, because
one lainb must suck several mothers on account of the scarcity
of food.

Here and there are streams with irrigated and fertilized
meadows. Along their banks are alders and on the ridges of
sand fringing the meadows are strips of pine to break the force
of the wind.

At last we reach a farm. Attached to the straw-thatched
house is a yard surrounded by a granite wall. Granite seems
out of place here. The origin of the granite boulders from

REPORT ON FORESTS. BS

which the walls are made is not, I believe, positively known.
The cattle stand knee-deep in a mass of heath-litter and dung.
In order to supply this litter an area at least five times the area
of the cultivated fields is robbed of its cover. ‘The removal of
marl and turf and continuous cropping without rotation have
produced a degree of poverty which is often pitiful.

The heath, in fact, is the land of the “little man,” that is, the
man of small pursuits. Birch and heath twigs are converted
into brooms and brushes. Berries are sent to Bremen and
Hamburg and are-used in the manufacture of wine. Edible
mushrooms are assiduously collected and juniper berries are
picked for the manufacture of gin. Even the fine roots of the
pine are woven into baskets.

According to Salfeld old chronicles and documents give
assurance that the geest lands of Northwest Germany were
once richly wooded. ‘There are instances of remnants of old
and extensive forests. ‘“‘ The extent of the forest was meas-
ured,” says Salfeld, “ by the length of time a squirrel could pass
through it by leaping from tree to tree.”’ These forests were of
deciduous trees. They have been supplanted by the pine,
owing to the gradual impoverishment of the soil. Storms, fire
and insects played havoc in these coniferous woods, and swine-
herds and shepherds wandered at will with their flocks.
There was great eagerness to clear the land for fields and mead-
ows. The end has been reached, and now begins the long,
tedious and expensive work of reforestation, which is the only
salvation for abused and depleted sand-lands.

All this illustrates well the fact that unless the forest plays a
part in the rotation of crops on sandy land it is only a question
of time before the soil becomes absolutely sterile.

This land is being reclaimed first by deep ploughing,* which
thoroughly loosens the soil and brings the richer subsoil to the
surface.

The second step is in planting a leguminous crop for green
manure. For this purpose the yellow lupine, what is called in
Brandenburg ‘the gold of the desert”? is used. This does not

* The work of reclaiming the Luneburger Heath did not begin in earnest until 1870. It will be many

years before the plantations will become remunerative. The growth is slow and the cost of reclamation
high. Of late years steam ploughs have been extensively used in order to thoroughly loosen the soil.

316 GHOLOGICAL SURVEY OF-NEW JERSEY:

grow in America, but we have many others which will answer
the same purpose. *

The third step is the planting of pines.

The fourth step, and the ideal stage, as far as the fertility of
the soil is concerned, is the production of a rich, dense forest of
the broad-leaved trees, such as the Forest of Compiegne, which
is pictured in the frontispiece of this report.

Forestry in Denmark.

Nowhere in Europe is forestry more intensively developed
than in Denmark. These practical people waste no time in
advertising what they have accomplished. They have been
working more for financial gain than for glory. There is a
commendable lack of sophistry and impractical notions in refer-
ence to their forest management. It is not my intention to
attempt to describe their methods in this connection, but no
place is more worthy a visit by American foresters. For many
years these enterprising people have been at work developing a
system of their own. They have been practically unnoticed by
foresters until recently, when their methods were described by
Dr. Metzger, in the MWiinduer Hefte. Several writers on the
continent are endeavoring to show that the Danish system is
after all old, and has been elsewhere in practice more or less for
some time. Even if this may be so, the Danes were the first to
fully appreciate its advantages and put it into execution. They
have been quietly ‘‘sawing wood” while their neighbors have
been holding learned discussions. The Danish foresters long
ago traveled throughout Europe, absorbed what they needed
and evolved from it a system of their own, adapted to the pecu-
liar conditions of their little country. They were particularly
influenced by what they saw on some private estates in England.
They show, indeed, the same amount of intelligence in every-
thing they attempt. Their dairy industry is a model, every
man and woman can read and write, and every traveler to their

* The sandy soils of the Pines are in need of humus and green manuring. For this purpose there is
no better crop than Luptnus perennts which will grow where other leguminous crops fail. The plants
of this genus were named /xupinus from Lufus, a wolf, because it was thought that they devoured the
fertility of the soil. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The ferennial lupine of Southern New
Jersey is one of those pioneer plants which in the midst of the sand is paving the way for less hardy
species.

REPORT ON FORESTS. 317

country is impressed with the fact that they are an honest, solid,
wide-awake, up-to-date people.

The forests of Denmark are of special interest to Americans
because a large percentage of the forest is owned by private
parties. The excellent system of forest management is the
result of private enterprise. Only six per cent. of the country
is wooded. ‘These woods are mostly on the islands. Jutland is
mainly heathland. The soil of the country is sandy. A calm
day is rare, and without eternal vigilance and care a large part
of the country would blow or wash into the sea.

The production of Danish forests is high. They produce 4.8
cubic meters of wood per year per hectare. The highest yield
in Germany is in Erfurt, which is 4.5 cubic meters.

The ease of importing both coal and wood cause great compe-
tition. Denmark is near to Norway and Sweden, which are
great exporters of wood, and near to England, a great exporter
of coal. Sixty per cent. of the Danish forests are beech, which
is used for fuel, butter-tubs and wooden shoes; seven per cent.
is oak, which is used for ship building, and twenty-one per
cent. conifers. The Danes have outgrown the notion that
conifers are preferable to hardwoods. Even the forestation of
heathlands with conifers is regarded a necessary evil, and they
cherish the hope that some day the soil will be fit for hard-
woods. .

The wood is sold direct to the purchaser without auction, and
the foresters are more on the order of enterprising business men
than mere administrative officers who spend most of their time
at the desk writing reports. The position of chief forester in
Denmark requires a knowledge of commercial principles and
business skill. These men are granted much freedom and con-
fidence by their employers. They receive a share of the profits
and are therefore financially interested in every operation.

There is no great secret to their methods. It is simply the
application of great skill and economy. ‘They simply do what
pays the best; that is, employ those principles of business
management which produce the largest returns in the shortest
length of time, preserving at the same time a sustained yield
and desirable soil conditions.

318 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY.

The Danes are great believers in pure stands, and instead of
producing 500 spindling oaks on a hectare of land, are content
with 200 sturdy, well-crowned specimens, because it pays.

Great attention is paid to the soil. Their aim is to keep the
surface covered with a coating of damp, mellow leaf-mold.
They are the friends of the earthworm, and do everything
possible to encourage this assiduous little animal, which does
good work in keeping the soil loose and mellow.*

Very careful protective measures are necessary throughout
Jutland, because of the winds. Wind-breaks of trees and shrubs,
and turfed earthbanks are necessary, otherwise the winds would
shift the soil from place to place.

Metzger describes a beech forest 300 meters from the sea.
The outer edge consisted of an impenetrable hedge of clipped
beech, ten meters in width. ‘The soil was full of earthworms.

No peasant rights or onerous servitudes exist in Denmark.
The Danish foresters do not combine hunting with their profes-
sion. ‘They carry a spade rather than a gun. In short they
are the Yankees of Europe, from whom we can learn many
things.*

* The importance of soil aeration is often overlooked by foresters and soil cultivators. When a large
forest fauna is present, especially earthworms, the soil is kept mellow and sweet, and hardpan and peat
are less apt to form. When there is an abundance of these animals in the soil, it is usually an indication
that the soil is in good condition.

+ In the use of scientific names of trees in the above I have been guided by the ‘‘ Check-list of the
Forest Trees of the United States,’’ by George B. Sudworth, Division of Forestry, Dept of Agriculture,
Washington, D.C.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY

REPORT ON FORESTRY

Plate No. XXXI.

GASCONY

DUNES OF

Dil Ws

THE PINERY ON

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