REPORT ON FORESTS. 39 



Short-leaf Pine. 



Winslovv 80 8.9 65 4,483 



80 8 6 65 4,339 



55 6.6 45 30 cords. 



Pitch Pine. 



Tuckerton . 50 9.8 47 48 cords. 



Whitings 35-6o 6.6 47 34 " 



Brown's Mills, 40 4.4 30 40 " 



At the same age the upland pine does not appear to average 

 over sixty per cent, of the yield in volume of the white cedar. 

 It seems probable that this difference is largely due to the 

 abundant supply of water in the cedar swamp. 



FOREST FIRES. 



While a general survey of the forests of the State fails to indi- 

 cate that, as a whole, they have deteriorated during the last 

 half century, but really does show a marked improvement, it is 

 none the less true that certain influences have been, and some 

 of them are still, working injury to the forest growth. The 

 chief of these is forest fires, which cause a large annual loss to 

 the owners of the forest, and in some parts of the pines what 

 appears to be a marked and permanent decrease in productive- 

 ness. 



Mr. Pinchot, after a careful study, estimates that owing to 

 fires the pine forest is now yielding only one-third as much 

 wood as it would yield if protected from fire, and this yield is of 

 a much less valuable kind, being only suitable for cord-wood. 

 These pine-forest fires sometimes burn over 100,000 acres in a 

 single season. In 1885, 128,000 acres were burned over. These 

 figures are sufficient to indicate that if unchecked the entire 

 area would be burned over in less than 25 years. But there are 

 some portions of the forest which have not been burned at all, 

 and a considerable portion is rarely visited by fire. Other parts, 

 usually the inferior timber, are repeatedly burned over. 



Mr. Pinchot has given figures which afford means for deter- 

 mining the money-return which would follow effective protec- 



