278 GEOIvOGICAIv SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



large land-holders employ managers 'who are practical men but 

 with little knowledge of forestry. The selection method is 

 usually the best for a new country where the demands for wood 

 are less than the supply, and where a system to be popular must 

 yield enough constantly to pay all expenses, taxes, and a little 

 besides. It is an excellent system for co-operative associations 

 and corporations which have other objects in view, such as the 

 protection of game or water supply. It is extensively practiced 

 in India, where it is usually known by its French name, "jar- 

 dinage." It is not confined to new countries, however, and is 

 even the favorite method of many European foresters of treating 

 protection forests. 



To apply this system it requires more skill, experience and 

 intelligence than the majority of land-holders or managers pos- 

 sess. It is, however, an elastic system, and in its simplest form 

 is practical for land on which there is any growth worthy of the 

 name of forest. 



It is about the reverse of what is ordinarily practiced in 

 America. In New Jersey one man may buy all the merchant- 

 able oak on a certain piece of land, another all the cedar, etc. 

 Any diseased trees or kinds without value are left standing, not 

 for soil protection, but because they are not worth cutting. 

 These are stimulated by the increase of space and light, produce 

 large quantities of seed, and soon have complete possession of 

 the soil. In other instances the land is bought with all that 

 covers it and stripped of what is merchantable. Covered with 

 slashings,* it is left to be swept by fire or abandoned to the 

 weeds,! or is sold to laiid-agents who divide it into many small 



* The first steps toward forestry in Germany were the removal of slash and the leaving of seed-trees 

 here and there of a desirable species. 



t A weed is simply a plant out of place. Trees, under certain circumstances, maybe weeds. In 

 fact, the common custom of culling the best from the forest is similar in effect to harvesting the vege- 

 tables and fruits of a garden without disturbing the weeds. 



In the swamps of South Jersey, clambering vines and worthless briars and bushes often have com- 

 plete possession of the soil. The various species of grape which mingle with the branches of trees hinder, 

 of course, their growth, but. owing to their beauty and the value of their fruit, their presence is not so 

 odious. It is quite otherwise with the poison ivy {Rhus toxicodendron) which lirmly clasps the roots, 

 trunks and branches of trees, and is poisonous to the touch. The swamp sumac {^Rhus venenata)^ which 

 is a shrub, and often almost a tree, is abundant, and is also poisonous, causing a distressing dermititis, 

 which is often accompanied by serious illness. Another class of extremely disagreeable weeds are the 

 climbing, prickly briars of the genus Smilax, The most provoking feature of these weeds is that when 

 their rhizomes have once gained possession of the soil, it is well-nigh impossible to eradicate them. 

 Clothing and skin are torn in handling them, burning only causes them to sprout with fresh vigor, and, if 

 left alone, they soon reach the tops of trees, to which they become inextricably attached. The only way 

 to get rid of them is to cut them down with a bush-hook or machete, and then with a grub-hoe dig up 

 heir rhizomes, bit by bit and year after year, until their extermination is complete. 



