982 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 313. 



ket has been secured, is a novel feature of 

 this logging, besides the care with which all 

 young growth is saved. Moreover, the di- 

 rector expects that no further appropria- 

 tions will be required, and that the experi- 

 ment will at once become self-supporting 

 through the profits from the logging opera- 

 tions. 



It is too early to form a judgment regard- 

 ing much of the practical work now in 

 progress. The methods of European for- 

 estry are for the most part inapplicable 

 here, and direct experiment becomes there- 

 fore the only means of determining the cor- 

 rect treatment of the forests. Mistakes 

 must inevitably occur in a field where all 

 is so new, and it is fortunate for other States 

 that New "York has organized such an ex- 

 periment on 80 liberal a scale. None the 

 less, it is certainly incumbent on the States 

 with great forest interests of their own to 

 provide for similar experimental study as 

 soon as may be. Conditions vary ; a method 

 applicable in the Adirondacks may fail on 

 the sandy tracts of Michigan or Wisconsin, 

 and men must be trained on the ground in 

 direct touch with the peculiar problems 

 and difficulties that each section of the 

 country presents. The New York College 

 of Forestry is now equipped for the train- 

 ing of young men in the principles of for- 

 estry and in their practical application in 

 that State, but their training must be sup- 

 plemented by long-continued study of local 

 conditions, and for this, as a least responsi- 

 bility, the States interested should provide. 



NEW JERSEY. 



In New Jersey a considerable body of law 

 has been enacted, especially with regard 

 to forest fires, but without making special 

 provision for its enforcement. As a result 

 of this and of other causes the State has 

 suffered greatly from fires. The coastal 

 plain, where the fires have been most fre- 

 quent, presents certain points of resem- 



blance to the ' plains ' of Michigan, and 

 the extended study of that region which 

 has been made in connection with the State 

 Geological Survey is both instructive and 

 suggestive.* 



The ' plains ' of New Jersey include ap- 

 proximately 20,000 acres of land lying in 

 the northern extremity of the Atlantic 

 coastal plain which extends from here to 

 southern Florida. These plains are cov- 

 ered with a low bushy growth, much of 

 it consisting of pitch-pine coppice {Pinus 

 rigida) mixed with various other species. 

 These plains are reported to have always 

 been treeless, but there is every reason to 

 suppose that this condition is due to re- 

 peated fires, since on the surrounding pine 

 barrens may be observed all gradations from 

 a healthy forest to scrubby plains. The 

 soil of the plains, as indicated .by chemical 

 analysis, is richer than that of much of the 

 surrounding region where good timber 

 grows. Fire, therefore, is the agency that 

 has rendered large tracts of land, as far as 

 its present state is concerned, unfit for the 

 raising of timber, and is even now convert- 

 ing other land into the same ruined condi- 

 tion. Just what course should be pursued 

 with regard to lands that have already 

 reached this condition is a problem in New 

 Jersey as well as in Michigan. Meantime, 

 the matter of immediate concern is to pre- 

 vent further extension of such areas. 



The means of suppressing these fires are 

 discussed by Dr. Gifford, from whom I have 

 alreadj' quoted. His most important sug- 

 gestion is with regard to the multiplication 

 of fire lanes, which experience has sliown 

 to be a successful barrier to ordinary fires. 

 The good-roads movement is very strong 

 in New Jersey, and every good road that is 

 kept properly cleared becomes an effective 

 fire lane. The same is true of railroads 



*Giflord, ' Forestal Conditions and Sylvicultural 

 Prospects of the Coastal Plain of New Jersey, ' Munich, 

 1899. 



