REPORT ON FORESTS. 301 
by the stems and roots of heather. It is acid or sour in nature 
and sufficient alkali to neutralize it is lacking in the soil. It is, 
in fact, antiseptic in nature. This kind of peat does not form 
in Southern countries except in mountainous regions.. The 
peat which is formed in the swamp-lands of New Jersey is of a 
very different nature, decomposing quickly, being comparatively 
mild or easily converted into a good fertile condition by drain- 
age and cultivation. This mucky land is one of the best forest 
soils in New Jersey, being the home of the white-cedar (Chame- 
cyparis thyoides), our choicest soft-wood. 
According to Smets the rdle of the pinery should be to pre- 
pare anew the soil which has been exhausted on the surface by 
agriculture or by the removal of humus. 
Smets concludes that if the heathlands of the Campine are 
cultivated for a time, enriched by lupines and lime, and then 
planted with pine, they will produce fair forests, provided the 
humus and litter are not removed. In Hungary the pineries 
are limed. ; 
In reading the government reports in reference to the Cam- 
pine I have concluded that what is accomplished in Belgium in 
this line is accomplished under difficulties. The struggles we 
are having in America are no greater than those of other coun- 
tries. There has been commission after commission, report 
after report, with all sorts of recommendations. In 1898 there 
were still 173,000 hectares of unreclaimed heathland in the 
Campine. 
As an illustration of the peculiar difficulties encountered. I 
shall mention ‘ bud-stealing,” which, although recent, is serious 
in its consequences. ‘These pine buds, which are used in liquors 
and medicinal preparations, are collected and sold by the 
peasants. Whole families work at this industry, silently in 
the night, in young forests, in the springtime. The tree, when 
robbed of its terminal bud, grows crooked, and if the process is 
repeated stops growing and finally dies. 
I shall conclude this section with the statements that with 
the exception of the Plains the whole of South Jersey is quite 
equal in timber-producing qualities to the better portions of the 
Campine. Some of the finest forests of the world, in fact, are 
on soil no worse than the Jersey sands. ‘The magnificent forest 
