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 insuffi- 

 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 in 

 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. 



