vi PREFACE. 



of 1894. It provided for a survey, to be made under the direc- 

 tion of the Board of Managers of the Geological Survey, by 

 the State Geologist, assisted by a competent botanist and expert 

 in forestry. The leading objects of this survey of the wooded 

 lands of the State were to ascertain their extent, character and 

 location and " the advantages as regards timber-supply, water- 

 supply, scenery and climate of the State, which would accrue 

 from the conservation of existing forests " by the establishment 

 of a State forest reservation, and the preparation of a report 

 which should give "an outline of the policy and legislation of 

 other States and countries for the preservation of forests and 

 their regulation for public ends so far as the same may be 

 applicable to this State." The field work was begun in the 

 summer of 1894, and in the Annual Report of the Survey for 

 that year there were two papers ; one by Mr. Vermeule, " On 

 Forestry in the Northern Part of the State," and one by John 

 Gilford, entitled "A Preliminary Report on the Forest Condi- 

 tions of South Jersey." In 1895 the reports were entitled: 

 " Report on Forestry in Northern New Jersey," by C. C. Ver* 

 meule ; " Report on Forest Fires for Season of 1895," by John 

 Gilford, and " Notes on the Forests of New Jersey," by Gilford 

 Pinchot. In 1896 Mr. Gifford had a report : " Notes Collected 

 During a Visit to the Forests of Holland, Germany, Switzer- 

 land and France." In 1897 Mr. Gifford Pinchot, who had been 

 appointed botanist to the Survey (now Chief of the Division of 

 Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture), surveyed the south- 

 ern part of the State, and his report, entitled "A Study of 

 Forest Fires and Wood Production in Southern New Jersey," 

 was published as an appendix to the last Annual Report of the 

 State Geologist. Mr. Vermeule prepared a paper on " The Pine 

 Belt of Southern New Jersey and Water-Supply," for the same 

 annual. Professor Arthur HoUick, of Columbia University, 

 New York, was engaged in 1896 and 1897 to study the distribu- 

 tion of the tree species in the State and their relation to the 

 geological formations. A summary of the results of his studies 

 was incorporated in the administrative report for' 1898. 



The general report made at this time has four principal divi- 

 sions or parts. Part I, by C. C. Vermeule, gives a general 

 description of the forested area and the conditions of the timber 



