278 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 
large land-holders employ managers who are practical men but 
with little knowledge of forestry. The selection method is 
usually the best for a new country where the demands for wood 
are less than the supply, and where a system to be popular must 
yield enough constantly to pay all expenses, taxes, and a little 
besides. It is an excellent system for co-operative associations 
and corporations which have other objects in view, such as the 
protection of game or water supply. It is extensively practiced 
in India, where it is usually known by its French name, “jar- 
dinage.” It is not confined to new countries, however, and is 
even the favorite method of many European foresters of treating 
protection forests. 
To apply this system it requires more skill, experience and 
intelligence than the majority of land-holders or managers pos- 
sess. It is, however, an elastic system, and in its simplest form 
is practical for land on which there is any growth worthy of the 
name of forest. ' 
It is about the reverse of what is ordinarily practiced in 
America. In New Jersey one man may buy all the merchant- 
able oak on a certain piece of land, another all the cedar, etc. 
Any diseased trees or kinds without value are left standing, not 
for soil protection, but because they are not worth cutting. 
These are stimulated by the increase of space and light, produce 
large quantities of seed, and soon have complete possession of 
the soil. In other instances the land is bought with all that 
covers it and stripped of what is merchantable. Covered with 
slashings,* it is left to be swept by fire or abandoned to the 
weeds, or is sold to land-agents who divide it into many small 
* The first steps toward forestry in Germany were the removal of slash and the leaving of seed-trees 
here and there of a desirable species, 
+A weed is simply a plant out of place, Trees, under certain circumstances, may be weeds. In 
fact, the common custom of culling the best from the forest is similar in effect to harvesting the vege- 
tables and fruits of a garden without disturbing the weeds, 
In the swamps of South Jersey, clambering vines and worthless briars and bushes often have com- 
plete possession of the soil. The various species of grape which mingle with the branches of trees hinder, 
of course, their growth, but, owing to their beauty and the value of their fruit, their presence is not so 
odious, It is quite otherwise with the poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron) which firmly clasps the roots, 
trunks and branches of trees, and is poisonous to the touch. The swamp sumac (Rhus venenata), which 
is a shrub, and often almost a tree, is abundant, and is also poisonous, causing a distressing dermititis, 
which is often accompanied by serious illness, Another class of extremely disagreeable weeds are the 
climbing, prickly briars of the genus Smilax. The most provoking feature of these weeds is that when 
their rhizomes have once gained possession of the soil, it is well-nigh impossible to eradicate them. 
Clothing and skin are torn in handling them, burning only causes them to sprout with fresh vigor, and, if 
left alone, they soon reach the tops of trees, to which they become inextricably attached. The only way 
to get rid of them is to cut them down with a bush-hook or machete, and then with a grub-hoe dig up 
heir rhizomes, bit by bit and year after year, until their extermination is complete. 
