18 WOODLOT FORESTRY. 



if allowed to grow. Any woodland owner who permits clear 

 cutting for fuel purposes in any of the ordinary New Jersey 

 woodlands does it to his own detriment. 



The market for cordwood is good only where the woodlands 

 are so located that a short haul is possible. If woodland owners 

 would merely thin their forests of poor material, holding the 

 better trees for more valuable products, they would take a great 

 deal of wood out of the fuel market, and thus extend the area 

 within which cordwood can be cut at a profit. Every woodland 

 owner whose forest is so located that there is a market for fire- 

 wood has an immediate forestry problem which he should con- 

 sider. By a little study and careful management, such a prop- 

 erty may be made to yield a continuous revenue. Simple protec- 

 tion will accomplish something, of course, for, when nature is 

 made forester, the fittest will surely survive. But her process 

 is slow and her ax dull. The case of Mount Laurel proves this. 



The composition of the New Jersey forests in the future will 

 be mainly of oak and pine. Chestnut, which up to the present 

 time has composed from 30 to 60 per cent, of the northern 

 forests, is rapidly being exterminated by the bark disease. Black 

 oak, red oak, white oak, chestnut oak, tulip and ash are the 

 species naturally adapted to the higher elevations. To them, 

 pines and other conifers may be added by planting. On the 

 level sands of South Jersey the native pitch pine is of greatest 

 value and deserves a higher esteem than is commonly accorded 

 it. The oaks found in association are comparatively slow grow- 

 ing and of less commercial value. 



FIRE AND GRAZING. 



Fire, uncontrolled, has no place in any forest Controlled, it 

 is often a helpful agent in cleaning up waste. The pine lands of 

 South Jersey have been brought to their present low estate by 

 repeated burnings, not by the use of the ax. Any tree up to ten 

 years of age is likely to be killed by even a very moderate fire, 

 and older trees, even the fire-resistent pitch pine, are often 

 seriously damaged. 



