Pamphlets on Forestry in New Jersey Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 Excerpt: ...on reserves few, products increasing, tree planting unnecessary.--Tree pests. The Forest Commission's policy of giving fire control precedence over all other lines of effort is proving its own advocate. As the fires cease forest property becomes more secure and owners see some reason in undertaking forest management. Our effort is, and must be, directed chiefly towards inducing private owners to practice forestry because the State cannot expect to own or control more than a small fraction of the two million acres that comprise our total woodland. The map, Fig., indicates the magnitude of our interest, yet if we have forestry at all it must be forestry supported by the people who own the forests. The strongest inducement held out to forest owners who would look for good returns from their investment is found in the fact that in this country no lumber has yet been sold at the cost of production, except perhaps small quantities in strictly local markets. This means that lumber prices must advance until timber crops replace the virgin store upon which the country is now drawing. That an owner who gets a forest started while land values and forest values are low has an advantage needs no demonstration. New Jersey's forestry work concerns itself largely with the future, with such effort as shall convert our burned and battered forest remnants to highly productive forests. And this aim is helped, not hindered, by the interest of many owners in forest esthetics. It is as easy to make a woodland attractive, while developing it commercially, as it is to neglect either its utility or its inherent beauty. In a settled community a forest park is more normal than a wild woodland. Thus is it explained why estate owners are the first to take up forestry and why so much of ...