REPORT ON FORESTS. 247 
The swamp lands* being moist, have naturally not suffered 
from fire as much as the uplands. ‘They often consist, therefore, 
not only of a great mixture of species, but are a semi-tropical 
tangle of wild grapes, and other vines and bushes. ‘The decid- 
uous or hardwood swamps usually contain a mixture of the 
following trees of more or less importance: Acer rubrum, red 
or swamp maple; Lzguzdamber styracifiua, sweet gum or 
bilsted; Nyssa sylvatica, black or sour gum, and Magnolia 
glauca, or brewster, are the commonest. In some swamps there 
are beeches (Fagus latifolia), tulip trees (Lirdodendron tulipt- 
Jera), swamp white oak (Quercus platanoides), willow oak (Q. 
Pphellos), holly (lex opaca), sassafras (.S. sassafras), and now and 
then a pitch-pine (Pzus rigida), a smooth-bark pine (Pinus 
echinata), a white cedar (Chemecyparis thyotdes) or even a white 
pine.t 
Fire and the axe have converted many of these swamps into 
sorry looking thickets and cripples,t which are little more than 
tangles of saplings, bushes andvines. It is easy to imagine how, 
in the course of time, fire, burning over land of heavy nature or 
land which is usually moist, will gradually kill even swamp trees 
and shrubs, until nothing remains but herbaceous plants among 
charred stumps. ‘These swamps often become very dry in sum- 
mer, and the natives, to improve the quality of the berries (or 
very rarely the pasturage), set fires. ‘This must be done, however, 
*It is in these swamps where the animals of the woods take refuge, especially the deer, which, at a 
certain time of the year when the law allows, are remorselessly chased by packs of hounds. The extinc- 
tion of this animal in New Jersey is only a matter of time unless the use of dogs is absolutely prohibited 
atallseasons, It is the prevailing opinion in the Adirondacks that the wisest move in the protection of 
deer was the prevention of hounding by law. The meat of a hounded animal is poor in quality, to say 
nothing of the cruelty which the nagging of dogs occasions. Hunting at best is an immoral sport, and in 
America is everybody’s privilege. In every backwoods town there are local social gypsies or pothunters 
who love sport and hate work, who spend their days wandering in the woods with dog and gun, and their 
evenings in the country store or tavern relating their experiences. Several animals in South Jersey are 
hunted not for their pelts or for food but for the bounty which the townships very foolishly pay for the 
heads of certain so-called “ depredatory animals,’ among the worst of which the fox is classed. 
+ The white pine was at one time quite abundant in Manahawken swamp. These pines towered high 
above the cedars of the swamp. This suggests the possibility of growing the white pine in such-districts 
either alone or mixed with white cedar. The choppers whom I consulted at the time of my visit called 
the white pine “ white wood.” 
{The term “cripple” is a localism used in South Jersey and on the Chesapeake peninsula. It is 
applied to a thicket or bushland. It is interesting to note that the Germans use the word in the same 
sense, For instance, a stand of trees which has been abused by careless cutting, etc., is called a ‘‘ Krup- 
pelbestand,’’ Underbrush is sometimes called ‘‘ Kruppelholz.’’ 
