FOREST CONDITIONS IN DELAWARE. 49 



dergrowth killed off by fire. Five to ten loblolly seed trees should be 

 left to the acre. 



Where it is desired to reproduce loblolly after lumbering a stand 

 which has no loblolly in the mixture, it will be necessary to cut the old 

 stand clean, burn over the area thoroughly, and then sow pine seed. It 

 might often be an excellent plan* to clean up such forest land and cul- 

 tivate it without fertilizing for ten to fifteen years, as the new soil 

 would give good crops for that length of time, and the expense of fer- 

 tilizing would be saved. When this land is worn out, to grow loblolly 

 pine upon it will be an easy matter, and to start the pine will require 

 simply broadcast sowing. In order to economize on seed it will usually 

 be best to sow in shallow furrows cut 5 or .6 feet apart, or in seed-spots 

 spaced not more than 6 feet in each direction. 



AFFORESTATION OF STATE SAND-BAR LAND 



Conditions on the Sand-bar 



There is a sand-bar in Delaware consisting of a narrow strip, one 

 half to one and a half miles wide, and over 20 miles long, extending 

 along the Atlantic seaboard from Cape Henlopen to Fenwick Light. 

 Most of this land belongs to the State and the practicability and ad- 

 visability of-:the State establishing forests upon it will be shown. It is 

 recommended that this land be set aside by the State as a State Forest. 

 ' For over half its length the bar is bordered on the inside by Re- 

 hoboth and Sinepuxent Bays, and consists of a narrow spit between 

 them and the ocean. Portions of it are known to have been overflowed 

 by immense tides from the ocean to the bay. The bays are very shallow 

 and are gradually filling up with silt brought down by the inflowing 

 streams. The spit is made up of three parts 



(1) Twenty per cent of its area consists of low beach land, fring- 

 ing the ocean, where the sand is more or less shifting, and there is no 

 vegetation. (See figure 6.) This low beach consists of a line of low, 

 more or less fixed dunes, sufficient to check the force of ocean winds 

 and waves. There is only one large dune, at Cape Henlopen, which is 

 actively shifting inland, and is liable to prove serious unless it can be 

 fixed. (See figures 7 and 8.) 



(2) To the leeward of the dune-ridge of the low beach is an area 

 of middle beach land comprising about 40 per cent of the area of the 



*Note. This plan was suggested by Mr. Messick, of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, who wishes to carry it out on some of his own land. 



