290 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 
with game, fish andjberries often constitute the whole food of 
the natives. 
If the one hundred acres referred to is perfectly square, a fire- 
lane two hundred feet wide around it would contain about 
thirty-five acres—as much as one man can comfortably till. 
There would be left in the center a forest containing about 
sixty-five acres to which the principles of silviculture I have 
already mentioned may be applied. 
If the whole area of woodland in Southern Jersey were treated 
in this way, sixty-five per cent. would be left in wood, and the 
whole would be cut up in such a way that extensive fires would 
be impossible. ‘The sixty-five acres of forest should be divided 
into about four blocks of fifteen acres each, by lanes or avenues. 
wide enough to permit a wagon to pass. ‘These lanes should be 
kept clear of litter during the fire season. If part of the land is 
swamp-bottom the owner is fortunate. He can easily have a 
white-cedar hurst, a cranberry-bog and an osier-holt, which will 
add materially to the profits of his farm. 
Owing to the fact that these swamp-lands shrink and become 
lower and damper on being tilled, unless assiduously drained it 
is better to plant crops which need little or no cultivation, such 
as forest crops, willows for baskets, the high-bush-blueberry and 
the cranberry. 
Willow culture is destined to’ become an important industry 
in this region. The first to begin it on damp pine-barren land 
was the Baron de Hirsch Colony of Russian refugees. The 
willow has been righty called the Cinderella of trees. It will 
grow on land which for other purposes is almost hopeless. Its 
pliant twigs are excellent for trunks, boxes, crates, etc., besides . 
baskets. It furnishes work at a season of the year when there 
is little else to do. It isa good plan, as is common in Europe, 
for one member of the family to learn the trade of basket- 
making. In this way a local industry is produced. 
In addition to these industries, if progressive, the owner of 
the “ forest-farm”’ could keep both bees and poultry with profit, 
even in the most. remote and barren part of this whole region.* 
* Every enterprising farmer should have in the corner of his garden a permanent seed-bed. It 
should be boxed on the sides and ends with wide strong boards and covered with fine poultry netting 
which should be nailed to a frame so that it can be easily removed, The soil of the bed should be a soft, 
rich, sifted loam, Whenever the farmer in his travels finds seeds of trees which are desirable he should 
sow them in this bed, While the trees are still small he should transplant them to his wood-lot, In this 
way, little by little, and with the expense of only a little labor, he can supply himself with seedlings and 
gradually improve the condition of his forest. 
