64 GEOIvOGICAIv SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



than other wood of the same kind and similarly located, which 

 has been allowed to grow up in the usual way. His experience 

 is that wood will usually yield one cord per acre for each year 

 that it has been growing. He complains that the timber rots 

 more at the heart now than formerly, and says this applies only 

 to that which has sprouted up from the stump. The seedling 

 trees are much thriftier and straighter than the sprouts. Just 

 east of his home he has a tract of chestnut which has fine timber. 

 The trees are about 45 years old, from 8 to 18 inches in diameter 

 and 40 to 50 feet high. He says the seedling trees in this growth 

 can be picked out with no difficulty. He says the continued 

 cutting and lack of care is injuring the growth from the stump, 

 and believes that the timber will deteriorate from this cause. 

 He mentions a tract which was cut by his father, and which he 

 believes was original forest. Since then it has been cut once 

 more, about 20 years ago, and has never been more than brush 

 since that cutting. He also stated that Andrew Cobb, who owned 

 the forges at Split Rock, used to say that wood was most profit- 

 able for coaling when cut every 20 years. The opinion is general 

 hereabout, as elsewhere in the northern part of the State, that 

 the timber is better cut at from 30 to 35 years old than at 50 years, 

 being sounder, 



Mr. C. S. Dickerson, of Denville, who has much experience, 

 furnishes the following facts : He is now cutting a tract of 100 

 acres, for which he paid I50 per acre, including timber and land, 

 the timber being about 60 years old. So far as the young growth 

 is concerned, he thinks it makes no difference whether timber is 

 cut in February or August. He believes the forests in this sec- 

 tion are now in better condition than they were 25 or 30 years 

 ago, as they were then cut much younger, owing to the demand of 

 forges, railroads, lime-kilns, &c., and later the hoop-pole industr}-. 

 He says the second growth of timber is stronger, thriftier and 

 thicker than the original, and each succeeding growth appears 

 to improve. Timber ought to be cut at from 30 to 40 years old, 

 as after that it begins to rot at the heart, and the older stumps 

 do not send out so many or as thrifty sprouts as the younger. 

 He says, also, that cord-wood costs 60 cents to cut, $1.00 for cart- 

 age, $1.50 for freight, and, allowing 15 cents for waste, this 

 makes the total $3.25, whereas the market price ranges from I3.00 

 to I4.00 per cord. 



