PLAiNTS OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. 71 



Mr. Gifford Pinchot publis'hed an account of the Plains in 

 the Annual Report of the State Geologist of New Jersey for 

 1898, and from this I have taken most of the following figures. 

 Mr. Pinchot's conclusions agree entirely with my own observa- 

 tions in this interesting region. 



The Plains occupy the highest part oi the central Pine Barrens, 

 ranging from 100 to 200 feet above sea level. They stretch from 

 a point three miles east of Woodmansie south nearly to Munyon 

 Field, varying from two to four miles wide, and are bisected by 

 the Oswego river and its adjoining swamps. The upper section 

 lying west of Cedar Bridge constitutes the West Plains, the 

 lower the East Plains, the location of the former on the U. S. 

 Geological Survey Maps being entirely wrong. 



The West or Upper Plains comprise 7,737 acres and the East 

 or Lower Plains 6,662, though with outlying tracts of similar 

 character this region of stunted vegetation probably covers an 

 area of nearly 20,000 acres. 



The soil is exceedingly poor, consisting largely of white sand 

 and coarse white pebbles, but it is no different in composition or 

 in aridity from that of other dry sections of the Pine Barrens. 

 Mr. Pinchot found that the Pine trees, such as had developed 

 trunks with sufficiently well miarked rings for counting, averaged 

 about thirteen years in age, though one three feet high was thirty- 

 one years old. 



Most of the Pines, however, consist of sprout growth from 

 old stumps which have been burned back by countless fires, some 

 being almost globular burls with slender radiating stems. There 

 are also numerous seedlings with prostrate stems. Occasionally 

 a tree will approach a normal height of six to fifteen feet, but 

 they are rare and usually killed by fire. 



Jersey Pine woods in the middle district of the region here considered or 

 the various cedar swamps of the Pine Barrens. By a comparison of results it 

 will be possible to determine what species really do occur in close association 

 in all such similar locations. The establishment of such associations upon a 

 few days' study seems utterly unwarranted, and when, as is usually the case, 

 the same author proposes a different lot of "associations" for every area he 

 studies, the utility of the whole method is called into question. 



Furthermore, some writers on "ecology" are so careless in the systematic 

 side of their work that their papers abound in misidentifications which, of 

 course, render them practically worthless. 



