The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-12-07
Interesting Report as to the
Present Conditions of
4 Forest and Water.
To- PRESERVE YOUNG TREES
Request to Be Made to the Coming
Legislature fer Statutory Pro-
visions Northern Part
of the State.
r0 PRESERVE YOUNG TREES

The preservation Of the forest lands
OF New Jersey, both for the sake of the
values they represent in themselves and
for the preservation of the water supply,
has received a good deal ofattention of
late. At the session of the Legislature
of The spring of 1894, an act was passed
directing the State Geoiogist to make
an Investigation and detailed examina-
ton Of the forest and OF the State.
Among the poi:ts especially to be ex-
arnined were "the advantages as regards
the timber supply. water supply, seen
cry and climate OF the State, which
would accrue from the conservation Of
existing Forests by the establishment
OF a State forest reservation. The Leg
ton shall also include an examination
as to the presence or absence of forest
cover upon me slopes ana suinmlss od
State"
The. recent report Of State, Geolegist
Of the examination 81 the forests, In
legislature. The report is an interest
The report concludes with the general
recommendation that the State should
care for the forests on areas which sup
ply large cities with water" The report
Is encouraging. al to the present con-
dition of those forest areas In the north
sfn ts seu narrser nh Bart rsp of t Sg 5 stat %e0T IS IS
other general statements in the intro.
developed the fact that there have been
no important changes either in the linn
its Of cultivated land or in the proper
ton of forest and cultivated areas. since
in ls77.5
which, dhsas If sefRt nnelltivated. does not
spontaneously produce, IN q few years,
q 4 fairly gqpd grow rta,..' of tim nbern ~. !
wooded. much more so tina is generally
y Nafe9s ana f for : t Msdt rsa # 4 lime mil Of and Edgs 3
per cent. is timbered. The Hackensack
mates the land lying beoween the Pail
saaas ana a ahs Rsma not al fnd If 2ssans Is
90 per cent. Of its area is timbssrr land
81 9 GOO Co., a ere e Rer a tot ao,, Of 1sg &ss g acres res
) sAT per cent. and the Essex County por,
a 1soa' !, ,,r gsr es snEs Of tr 5nts rs tahst f sas rsi
land to heavy tfmer. Very little Of It
ting being selected trees, 50 that the CON
siderable amount of timber k out
each year is scarcely missed.
tailed 5 surveys have Covered the trap
ridges above Campgaw, Gofle and
Preakness mountains southwark to Cald-
generally inferior to that of the Hack
ensack Valley. The region has from
40 to 80 per cent. in timber. and there is
sale Valley region Is sparsely wooded.
In the Highlands section. the surveys
have covered the watersheds Of the Pc
sheds. This Is the most important, sec
ton of the forest areas. as It includes
fhs w St araaa f from ahe w horthe sne s saRRI5S
& fsro shs S 70 lie yeas pefaware p'pe Tha aas la9a
forests. Near Beaufort mountain Is a
large tract containing 80. per cent. in
timber Of an average. of forty years Old.
fitness apparent In cutting comes from
the tendency to out at too early an age,
and this practice seems To- be Just about
in demand for hoop poles and eerdwood,
50 that there is 3 likelihood The : Of nd future ure
. im~prooem Sn that F feefion. hr and are have not do one
considerable damage in years past, the
results of which are still apparent.
ar Gre MAINLY h0n eove ema Wiah a forty oa years'
growth Of oak and chestnut. Bowling
Green Mountain is largely covered with
inches in diameter and. forfy-fye in
height. The valley at Milton and Oak
Ridge is the cultivated section of this
tract, yet it has nearly one-third of its
area in woodland. The. Passaie rance
of this tract north Of the .Peauannock
forest. the central belt being almost UNI
broken by clearings.'
ut is evident" the report says that
the practice of cutting at twenty years
or younger has prevailed for several years
along the lower -Pequannock, and it would
appear that the forest has suffered injury
in consequence. This young timber seems
to have been cut mainly for charcoal. fire
wood and hoop-poles. 1t IS hardly neces-
sary to point out that injury to the for
ests on the water shed Injuries the water
supply which can be drawn from them"
ssRamapo Mountain is practically an
urbroken forest" Yet at the southern
end of the range in New Jersey THE more
accessible parts, of the timber land have
been injured by cuttings at the age of
twenty years or less.
The report concludes as to this whole
sectiona"Much of the forest now stand
ing, or which has been cut in recent years,
dates from about 1850. Up to about that
date there was a very large consumption
of timber for charcoal to supply fuel to
the FORCES and furnaces. Recently the
cutting OF timber less than twenty years
old appears to have been somewhat
checked. ; = A potent factor towards
the tendency now prevailing to acquire
large holdings of these northern high
lands. This movement will undoubtedly
result in a marked improvement in. the
forest during the next twenty years"
FLEUR DE LIS RECEPTION.
M-a Fs.rt ----- -n rFE