38 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



sandstone, where the soil is more compact and more retentive 

 of water. It is also common over the higher gravelly ridges of 

 the clay and marl region, where the soil is good but also well 

 drained. The absence of chestnut on the southwestern red 

 sandstone may be partially due to other soil condition than 

 drainage, however, for the white oak reaches a large size and is 

 prevalent there, as well as in the portion of the State where 

 chestnut flourishes, and it, too, usually prefers well-drained soil. 



The species which seems to most persistently seek dry, barren 

 soils is the pitch pine (P. rigida), and it is usually accompanied 

 by scrub oak. They are found together along the rocky crests 

 of Kittatinny mountain and Bearfort, Green Pond and Copperas 

 mountains, as well as all over the highest sandy ground of the 

 pine region of southern New Jersey. The volume of timber 

 per acre is invariably small and its quality inferior in these com- 

 paratively sterile regions. 



On the other hand, some of the very wet swamps of northern 

 New Jersey are occupied by the larch or tamarack, and nearly all 

 of those of southern New Jersey by the white cedar, almost to 

 the exclusion of all other species. 



The swamp white-oak is one of the most valuable of our trees 

 which prefer wet localities. The pin oak and hickory grow on 

 river bottoms where it is less wet, and the soft maple, birch, wil- 

 low, gum, buttonwood and generally the softer and inferior 

 woods are found in the wettest swamps. The size of the low- 

 land timber of northern New Jersey is almost everywhere greater 

 than that of the upland forest. 



The white cedar, growing in the wettest swamps, and the 

 pitch pine and short-leaf pine on the driest uplands of southern 

 New Jersey, each seem naturally perfectly adapted to their 

 environment and may perhaps be legitimately compared. The 

 following figures are from Mr. Pinchot's papers already referred 

 to: 



White Cedar. 



Age, Diameter, Height, Volume 



Locality. years. inches. feet. cu. feet 



Whitings, 80 9.2 65 8,910 



. . . , 79 6.9 60 7,624 



New Gretna, 66 7.2 60 7,448 



Whitings 62 54 48 5,868 



49 4-6 -42 5 286 



