AFFORESTATION OF CATCHMENT AREAS 77 
Newark (New Jersey) has adopted the policy of buying 
its water catchment area, with remarkable results, according 
to the engineer, Mr. R. Sherrerd. Of the total area of the 
watershed—64 square miles—Newark City now owns 43 
square miles, and the population on the watershed has been 
reduced trom 35 or 40 per square mile to 16 per square 
mile. Other measures taken have been demolition of 
houses, locking lavatories of trains in transit through the 
watershed, and patrol inspection. The bacteria per cubic 
em. of water diminished from 1100 in 1902 to 690 in 
1910 and 510 in 1915. The number of typhoid cases 
also decreased rapidly. In 1900, when 93 per cent of 
the watershed was privately owned, there were 130 cases 
of typhoid per 100,000 inhabitants. In 1905, when 80 
per cent of the watershed was privately owned, the typhoid 
cases sank to 80 per 100,000. In 1910, with 56 per 
cent private ownership, the typhoid rate was 52 per 
100,000 ; and in 1915, with 35 per cent private owner- 
ship, the typhoid rate was only 28 per 100,000. The 
example of Newark in obtaining ownership of its water 
catchment area is likely to lead to similar action by other 
towns in the United States. Mr Sherrerd says: “The ulti- 
mate object of the city of Newark is not only to protect 
the consumers of water, but also to convert this part of 
New Jersey into a great municipal park.” 
In this connection it will be of interest to quote a very 
careful statement, made in Journal of Forestry, December 
1917, p. 958, by Mr. Philip T. Coolidge, on the protection 
of water supplies in the United States. 
“The acquisition of forest lands to protect water supplies 
is not clearly exemplified in any particular State, although 
the need of such protection is one of the arguments most 
frequently urged as a reason for public ownership. It is a 
fact that both municipal water supply corporations and 
municipalities themselves have generally found that actual 
ownership rather than regulation is necessary to prevent 
contamination of water supplies used for domestic purposes. 
It has been found that satisfactory policing of the water- 
