and dense as wheat to forests fit for large size timber. There were 

 few signs of forest fires, which the natives say are always promptly 

 extinguished. 



The truth is, in fact, the inhabitants have a forestry system 

 of their own, which Americans can study to great advantage. 



The soil of this region is light and sandy, being dunelike in 

 nature along the shore. The pines grow close to the shore, al- 

 though a few have been killed by the shifting sand. The natives 

 recognize the value of the forest in holding the soil in place and in 

 protecting their truck patches from the force of wind, which would 

 naturally at times sweep furiously over this narrow peninsula. 



On entering one of these forests one observes at once that 

 although there are small trees of Sweet Gale and Holly, the ground 

 is free from litter and brush. If one happens to visit the region at 

 the proper season he will see men and women raking up the forest 

 litter. The pine ".chats," i( needles" or "brows" are valuable 

 for a fertilizer and are spread on the neighboring fields. They are 

 also used for bedding stock Accomac being famous for its blooded 

 horses. In fact, it is a land of plenty, with all the bay and sea 

 afford, besides wild game in abundance. The pine chats produce 

 a fine grade of sweet potatoes. The writer is unable to say whether 

 there is a peculiar manurial value in the pine leaves, or whether they 

 merely add to the porosity of the soil, acting, no doubt, at the same 

 time as a mulch, although they disintegrate and disappear in the 

 course of a single season.* About this season of the year one can 

 see field after field covered with pine chats to be ploughed under 

 just as soon as the weather permits. In fact, the fields are laid out 

 in squares by means of the plough, in order that the pine chats 

 can be easily measured, and thus evenly distributed. Just as soon 

 as a field becomes fallow the farmer leaves it to Nature. The 

 neighboring seed pines furnish the mast, the winds sow it, and 

 soon a fresh young green growth appears, as dense and level as a 

 field of grain. Here and there throughout the forest there are 

 avenues which, although constructed to facilitate the collection of 

 pine chats, serve at the same time the purpose of fire lanes. 



Now the great question is: Why don't they have fires? 

 Stranger still, their jails are often empty, a very suggestive and im- 

 portant concurrence of circumstances. Because of the value 

 of the pine chats the forest floor is free from inflammable 



* The German literature on fhis 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. 

 EDITOR. 



