REPORT ON FORESTS. 261 



woods of the E. Carolinian Zone, but rare in New Jersey, is the 

 witch-hazel (Hamamelis 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 ;t 

 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. 



t 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, 3^ pounds potash, 3^ pounds magnesia and less 

 than 3 pounds phosphoric acid. 



