The dead brush left from former thinnings, and allowed to rot and dry in the New Jersey forests, caught fire in April this year and hundreds of acres and thousands of dollars of valuable property were destroyed. And yet people are asking " how to preserve our forests ?"

In former times when a man died from apoplexy, heart disease, or any other sudden affliction, the verdict of the twelve men, honest and true, would be " died from the visitation of God." The modern verdict on these forest fires might be " fired by the hand of Providence," for all the steps the community takes to perceive and prevent the real cause, namely, the scandalous prevalence of dead underbrush.