REPORT ON FORESTS. 275 



industry which has shot across this country with meteoric fierce- 

 ness will have spent its power. It has been digging its own grave. 

 In the meantime the tide of feeling in reference to the estab- 

 lishment of more rational methods of forest treatment has been 

 steadily rising. This country, although so large, is so closely 

 knitted together by a network of railroads, which favor the dis- 

 tant parts by special long-distance freight rates, that a strin- 

 gency of even so important and bulky an article as lumber will 

 not be seriously felt until the crop is exhausted, even in the 

 remotest corners of this land, if not this continent. There is 

 nothing surprising in the fact that a man in New Jersey may 

 use in ihe construction of his house white-pine from the far 

 North, cypress and yellow-pine from the far South and red- 

 wood shingles from the far West, and buy it all from the stock 

 of one lumber dealer in Philadelphia or New York. 



Besides the development of the saw-mill industry in Southern 

 Jersey, when the woods are properly protected and managed 

 there will arise, no doubt, many other industries, such as box, 

 stave and market-basket manufacture. 



It is, of course, impossible to predict the many industries which 

 may be operated in a country where such a useful material as 

 even the poorest grade of wood is produced. 



In the Spessart, in Germany, for instance, years ago immense 

 quantities of beech were planted, to supply the glass factories 

 with fuel. The glass works have ceased to exist and the beech 

 is subjected to- a process of dry distillation which yields several 

 valuable products. Hardwoods, by this process, will yield char- 

 coal, pyroligneous acid, an inflammable gas which may be used 

 for illuminating purposes, besides other products. Some day we 

 may export charcoal to the tropical regions of the globe, where 

 it is the most satisfactory fuel because it emits no smoke, and 

 braziers can be used instead of stoves. 



Then there is the possibility of producing wood for pulp and 

 cellulose. Spruce is the principal source of supply at present, 

 but even if spruce cannot be produced successfully in South 

 Jersey, which is, however, a question, there are other trees which 

 are and no doubt many which may be used for that purpose. In 

 fact it would be impossible to predict the future of this industry, 

 which, although in its infancy, is already immense. 



