PLAiNTS OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. 6i 



It is impossible to compute the percentage of the northern 

 element in the flora for the reason that accurate data are lacking 

 on the actual southern boundary of the range of the species listed 

 above as "Wide Ranging." The only fact given in the manuals 

 as a rule is the southernmost State touched by this boundary. 

 It is known that a large number of the 628 species of the Middle 

 District barely touch the coastal plain on its western or northern 

 edge, and really find the southern limit of their range all the way 

 from New Jersey to Florida, and thus belong distinctly to the 

 northern element of our flora. Other species, on the contrary, are 

 found pretty generally over the coastal plain, and are truly wide 

 ranging, but accurate data for the proper disposition of all the 

 species in one class or the other are not at present available. 

 Figures based entirely upon the character of their occurrence in 

 New Jersey (p. 43) would indicate that at least three-quarters of 

 these wide-ranging species reach their southern limit at the 

 coastal plain, but a study of their distribution to the southward 

 might not uphold this estimate. 



A further analysis is given in the consideration of the flora of 

 each of the several districts which follows. 



THE PINE BARRENS. 



The Pine Barrens are of especial interest from the fact that 

 the region is one of the largest in the Middle States in which 

 anything like primeval conditions remain. Always sandy and 

 thickly covered with more or less scrubby vegetation, interspersed 

 with swamps and infested by hordes of mosquitoes, settlers 

 have been in no hurry to clear it so long as more valuable land 

 was available to the westward. Even to-day one may travel for 

 ten or fifteen miles in some parts of the Barrens without seeing 

 a habitation of any sort, and this within fifty and thirty miles 

 respectively of New York and Philadelphia. Wagon roads lead 

 across the white sand to the sea at infrequent intervals, and ill- 

 defined trails branch off to former charcoal clearings, all of these 

 highways largely fallen into disuse since the establishment of 

 railroads and the abandonment of the old iron forges. The 

 oldest towns in the district are those located on navigable tide- 



