270 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 
ware are, that the forest-land there is cut into many small 
blocks, between which is farm-land, and that the proper senti- 
ment exists in the minds of the natives, a sentiment due to the 
value of the pine-chats. 
The division of large tracts of land into parcels is of advantage 
economically and socially, provided they are of a size sufficient. 
to support a family of ordinary intelligence. Such a farm should 
consist of at least thirty-five acres of cleared land and sixty-five 
acres of woodland. The sale of city lots in the woods, or even 
five or ten-acre plots, is rarely fruitful of good, and is, on the 
whole, detrimental in the end to the purchaser and community 
in general. ‘ 
Where fire constantly burns the litter from the surface and 
prevents the formation of young forests, the soil constantly 
deteriorates and finally becomes sterile and lifeless—literally 
lifeless—because the organisms in the soil which cause the 
decomposition of humus and the conservation of nitrogen are 
killed. The prevention of fire, therefore, is of course the first 
and most important step. 
Further discussion in reference to the prevention of fire on 
lands owned by private parties seems like threshing old straw, 
but since it is hardly likely under the circumstances that the 
State would buy and properly care for this vast tract of sandy 
land, or would force private parties to institute efficient meas- 
ures in this line, as is common in Europe, it is necessary to 
devise other schemes which might accomplish this end and 
which fit the peculiar conditions, political, social and economi- 
cal, which exist. 
It is generally recognized throughout Europe that the con- 
struction of suitable fire-lanes throughout the forest conduces 
more to the prevention of great conflagrations than any other 
institution. The recent fires in the Landes of France were due, 
it is claimed, to the neglect of fire-lanes. These serve as van- 
tage points in the fighting of fire, and often in themselves are 
sufficient to prevent its spread. By means of fire-lanes the 
country is cut into parcels and the danger of great conflagrations 
very materially reduced. These fire-lanes, in order to be 
efficient, must be wide, clean and well cared for, for otherwise 
they are of little use. Now the great question is, how to estab- 
