REPORT ON FORESTS. 67 



in the lessened demand or lower prices for these products. The 

 evidence which we have collected seems to indicate that the 

 best results are obtained by cutting at an age of 30 or 35 years. 

 Chestnut, particularly, does not grow so thriftily after this age. 

 A potent factor in checking this cutting of young timber is the 

 tendency now prevailing to acquire large holdings of these 

 northern Highlands. This movement is rapidly under way, 

 and will undoubtedly result in a marked improvement in the 

 condition of the forests during the next 20 years. At Wawa- 

 yanda lake one owner holds 3,000 acres, and on Bearfort moun- 

 tain an iron company holds 2,000 acres. At Cedar lake a club 

 holds a large tract as a game preserve. At Ringwood the prop- 

 erty of Cooper & Hewitt embraces a large extent of territory. 

 At Stickle pond a private owner has acquired an extensive pre- 

 serve. Thus private enterprise seems to promise the solution of 

 the forest question in this portion of the State. As most of this 

 land is entirely unfit for cultivation, and should always remain 

 in forest in order to maintain the steady flow of the streams, as 

 well as for other economic reasons, not to speak of the aesthetic, 

 it is a matter for congratulation that such a movement has set in. 



FORESTS OF THE SOUTHWESTERN HIGHLANDS. 



The line of the terminal moraine, which subdivides the High- 

 lands, crosses from Denville through Dover, Drakesville, the 

 north end of Budd's lake, a point about one mile north of Hack- 

 ettstown, through Townsbury to the Delaware at Belvidere. 

 The unglaciated portion southwest of the moraine is, as we 

 remarked, much better adapted to agriculture, so that generally 

 speaking the Archaean plateaus and ridges have fully half their 

 surfaces cleared and under cultivation, while the rather broad 

 intervening valleys, which are on the slate and limestone, are 

 almost entirely deforested and under a high state of cultivation. 



Beginning at the northwest side as before, we have first the 

 upper Pohatcong mountain lying between the Musconetcong 

 and Pequest valleys. We have previously considered the glaci- 

 ated portion northwest of the Hackettstown and Vienna high- 

 way. South westward the mountain is about half forested, the 

 slopes especially being well covered, while the head of Pohat- 



