258 GEOI.OGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



little intrinsic value.* It is merely a means to an end. It 

 pays, however, to convert the straight limbs and tops of trees,, 

 from which saw-logs have been cut, into cord-wood. South 

 Jersey has to compete in the production of cord-wood with the 

 woodland along the rivers of the neighboring States of Delaware,. 

 Maryland and Virginia, where a large negro population exists,, 

 which is skillful with the axe and willing to work for small 

 wages. 



The production of fuel-wood in South Jersey, however, will 

 always take care of itself Woods should be managed, therefore,, 

 with saw-stuff in view. Good lumber f is scarce and high in 

 price, while fuel-wood { has practically no value whatever. 



Much could be said of chopping in general, and the imple- 

 ments and methods in use of felling and converting trees. The 

 American axe, the most perfect and useful of ordinary imple- 

 ments, is worthy of a chapter in itself. Intelligent chopping 

 should be classed as skilled labor ; in fact, by a judicious use of 

 the axe in the hands of a person with an exact knowledge of the 

 conditions which obtain, it is often possible to bring order out 

 of chaos and correct the work of careless slashers, § 



It requires only a short space to describe the handling of tim- 

 ber in South Jersey. There is no rafting, no skidways, no lum- 

 ber camps. All this belongs to the past, when ship-building 



•A few years ago wood was sold in Philadelphia from South Jersey for the purpose of dry distillation. 

 There are several establishments of this kind in neighboring States. I fail to see why this industry could 

 not exist in South Jersey as well as elsewhere. It is an industry which would use the rough wood, for 

 which there is no market, and which rots in the forest. There are many dry distillation plants in New 

 York and Pennsylvania, and the demand for the product is constantly on the increase. 



t The terms " timber " and '* lumber " are used in a peculiar way in America. Lumber means sawn 

 stuff in merchantable form. It means also disused articles or discarded goods of any kind, and, according 

 to some authorities, it is a modiiication ot the word Lombard, the Lombards having been, in early times, 

 famous pawnbrokers. Although the word lumber only means sawn or dressed stuff, the term lumberman is 

 applied to a forest proprietor, a lumber merchant, or a worker of timber. Timber is applied to largesized 

 sawn or dressed stuff, and to the forest of trees large enough to produce such material. Such a forest is 

 designated " standing timber." " Timber-culture " is used instead of silviculture, and the term " stump- 

 age " means standing timber, considered with reference to its value for cutting, so called because the 

 amount cut is ascertained by counting and measuring the stumps. 



{A chopper should cut the tree close to the ground, leaving a clean-cut sloping or roof-shaped stump. 

 This lets the water off, prevents decay, and produces a vigorous coppice. The slashings should be piled 

 in open places and burnt where there is no danger of the Aames injuring neighboring trees. Always pro- 

 tect the young growth, favor the most useful kinds, and never forget that they are the materials from 

 which the future forest is formed. 



g It would be difficult to find an apter term for the common run of wood-choppers than " slashers " 

 and the lumbermen themselves have aptly applied the term " slashings " to the immense piles of rubbish 

 which they leave in their wake. It is this slash which brings disaster to the woods because of its great 

 combustibility. 



