24 REPORT OF THE FOREST COMMISSION. 



FIRE. 



This year for the first time no fire has touched any of the 

 state reserves, Mays Landing, Bass River and Moutit Laurel 

 have been kept free ever since they came into the possession of 

 the state. Penn also has escaped except for a burn of about 100 

 acres in 1912. Stokes has suffered two or three small fires, but 

 in the main has also been immune. That Lebanon, which here- 

 tofore has borne the brunt of the burnings, has escaped for two 

 successive years is a source of great relief. This general im- 

 munity is due in some measure to good fortune, as the spring 

 was very dry, but chiefly to the changed public attitude, to the 

 constant watchfulness of the wardens and to the system of 

 fire-lines which is maintained. See Fig. 37. Telephone connec- 

 tion has now been established with all the reserves except 

 Stokes a provision that adds much to their security. Fires in 

 the future are not -impossible ; they are unquestionably less 

 probable than on lands similarly situated which are not cared 

 for. 



IMPROVEMENT. 



On all the reserves the improvement in the forest due to 

 immunity from fire is noticeable. Pine trees which a few years 

 ago were little more than knee high now stand above the head 

 of a man. The vigorous growth, and in many cases the 

 density of the stand, indicate the value of these low grade soils 

 for timber production. Those portions of the reserves which 

 have been thinned or otherwise treated are responding to the 

 work of the ax in the way expected. 



MOUNT LAUREL. 



This little reserve deserves especial notice because it is serv- 

 ing so well the purpose of its acquisition, namely, the mainten- 

 ance of the forest and the coincident utilization of a large pro- 

 portion of the trees. See Figs. 5, 10, n. The people of the 

 neighborhood who secured the transfer of the property to the 

 Forest Commission because they feared that the Mount was to 

 be denuded are pleased with the improvemnet in the condition of 



