62 REPORT OF THE FOREST COMMISSION. 



title was found so defective that nothing could be done. It was 

 necessary to cancel also a contract made in 1909 for the purchase 

 of another tract of 112 acres, again because a clear title could 

 not be given. 



LAND TITLES. 



It is apparent that our law is too stringent in respect to the 

 title of wild lands. Lax methods and defective records have 

 created such a general clouding of titles in some sections that it 

 is almost impossible to find a property that is entirely free of 

 some technical defect. That most of these defects can be ignored 

 is evidenced by the fact that properties rejected by the Forest Com- 

 mission are afterwards bought by individuals and that ordinary 

 transfers are constantly made. The State would run little real risk 

 if the law were so changed that the Attorney General could ap- 

 prove a title of ordinary commercial integrity. 



WHARTON TRACT. 



A project that promises to bring a great tract of forest into 

 the control of the State is that now being considered by the Water 

 Supply Commission to create a water reserve in South Jersey. 

 Though this scheme has for its prime object the utilization of the 

 potable waters of the region it necessarily involves the protection 

 and utilization of the forests. These forests, though of compar- 

 atively little present value, are easily capable of being so developed 

 that they will yield after thirty or forty years more than enough 

 to pay the interest on the cost of the property. If New Jersey 

 shall reserve to her people this dual resource, water and forest, 

 she will have gone further in true conservation than any other State. 



The forest lands now held by the State are as follows : 



LOCATION AND AREA OF FOREST RESERVES. 



Mays Landing Reserve, Atlantic County, see Map in Report, 1907. 373 acres 

 Bass River Reserve, Burlington County, see Map in Report, 1907 . . 1,633 acres 

 Lebanon Reserve, Burlington County, see Map in Report, 1907... 3,498 acres 

 Mount Laurel Reserve, Burlington County no Map published.... 20 acres 

 Penn Reserve, Burlington County. See Map in Report 1911.... 2,764 acres 

 Edward C. Stokes Reserve, Sussex County. See Map in Report 



1907 5,432 acres 



Total 13,720 acres 



