Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-10-09
Willow Crops for South Jersey.

| South Jersey landowners will be inter
ested in report just made to State Geol0-
gist Kimble by Prof. F. r. Meir, consult
ing forester of New Jersey. The report,
which contains much valuable information
on the forest resources and possibilities of
the State, makes these observations =
''There are thousands Of acres of land in
South Jersey unfit for agriculture on
which basket willows could be grown at
an enormous profit-at least S85 per acre
per year. This is safe investment and
owners of such lands should not lose time
in taking this matter up. The largest
portion of willow for baskets is now i'm
ported. Experiments have fully estab-
lished that the same kind and quality as
the imported ones can be grown and
marketed in this country at great profit
In France and Germany, where the culti-
walton of willows has reached the greatest
perfection, willow growers do not hesitate
| to plant the best of their wheat lands in
willows.
although willows will grow almost
anywhere, in order to get the best results it
is necessary to be careful in selection of the
ground for the plantation. The willow
grows on lowland and on the highest noun
tains, in marshes and in sand; it is found
in heavy clayey soils and again among the
rocks of the hills. The most suitable soil
for the growth is deep rich and moist
alluvial, but any good clay may be planted
if sufficiently moist. Water is desirable,
but not stagnant water.' The report then
gives detailed information in regard to
cultivation, maturing, treatment and
marketing.
1t is not generally known to farmers and
landowners in Jersey that the State is now
giving practical aid in treating forest land
according to the best approved system in
Europe, so as not only to preserve the
forest area Of South Jersey from going to
waste, but also to make it steadily pro-
ductive Upon application the Geological
Survey will send trained forester who has
had practical experience in the manage
ment of timber lands to examine the tract
and give practical advice for improved
treatment. Properly managed forest will
yield an annual crop, not only without
devastating and diminishing the area, but
positively increasing the vigor and beauty
of the growth.
The method heretofore almost invaribly
practiced in New Jersey has been to cut off
an area of forest, as the farmer would now
a field Of wheat, and then either leave it to
grow up anew as unaided nature might
provide or 'break it up'' for tillable land.
This plan is unscientifc and destructive.
There are thousands of acres through great
sections of the State that have fallen into
comparative barrenness as result of the
wholesale destruction of the forests. Scien-
tific forest cultivation would cure these and
other evils resulting from denuding the
State of its arboreal covering. 1t would
also give the owners of the tracts consid-
cradle source of revenue that would be
permanent-not less than five per cent.
upon the value of the tract-and at the
same time increase the annual rainfall,
moderate the temperature, break the force
of high winds and prevent destructive
freshets.
The present is the first year that the State
has given this aid and the results, while
not as large as were hoped for, are not by
any means discouraging. Applications
were received by the department for this
aid by the owners of forest lands in four or
five counties, and each one has been a
focus from which interest in the matter will
spread The Geological Survey expects the
work tn he greatly extended next wear