20 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



owners are more alive to the greater returns to be had from a 

 larger growth. Chestnut can be most profitably cut at from 35 

 to 40 years old. If left standing longer, the coppice wood is said 

 to sometimes decay at the heart. It is maintained that a growth 

 of this age will yield as much wood per acre as the original 

 forest. Oak can be profitably left until 50 to 60 years old. 

 The growth of all the deciduous timber is most rapid before 

 reaching 40 years, and if it is merely a question of the amount 

 of wood, no doubt the largest yearly returns come from cutting 

 at 40 years, but the larger timber is suited for more valuable 

 uses and will bring more money per cubic foot. Thus 100 tele- 

 graph poles from an acre of timber 35 years old may be worth 

 $400, while if left until 50 years old they might easily be worth 

 $800 to $1,000. For railroad ties there is little advantage gained 

 after 40 years is reached. But there is now much timber on the 

 Highlands and Kittatinny mountain upwards of 40 years old, 

 and a very large proportion ranges from 40 to 50 years of age. 



We have the testimony of many experienced men in this 

 region that the forests are to-day in much better condition than 

 they were from 1850 to 1860. This is borne out by the com- 

 parative scarcity of trees over 50 years old and the abundance of 

 those 40 years old. We may confidently place the period of 

 maximum deforestation at about 1850. We are told that about 

 this time large areas of the Highlands presented a perfectly bare 

 appearance. The cause was partly the large use of charcoal by 

 the forges and furnaces then scattered all over northern New 

 Jersey, and partly the fact that anthracite coal was not yet in 

 general use, and the use of wood and charcoal for domestic fuel, 

 and by the railroads and manufacturing establishments, was 

 general. Moreover, although the population of New York, 

 Philadelphia and the cities of New Jersey was much less than 

 now, these cities were more dependent upon the near-by fuel 

 and timber-supplies than at present, as facilities for transporta- 

 tion were very inferior. 



As for the use in iron-making we find that about 1855 it is 

 estimated that 100,000 tons of ore were used. A fair estimate 

 for the larger furnaces is 65 bushels of charcoal to one ton of 

 ore. No doubt the small forges used more than this, but even 

 at this rate 6,500,000 bushels would be required, which would 



