4 6 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



It will be noted that the inquiries were of the most practical 

 kind, and it is believed that the information obtained will be of 

 value in reaching an understanding of the actual economic con- 

 dition of our forested areas. Thus far they have developed the 

 fact that there have been no important changes, either in the 

 limits of cultivated land or in the proportion of forested and 

 cultivated areas, since the topographical surveys were begun in 

 1877. There have been minor changes, and a few old clearings 

 of small area have been allowed to grow up, the areas thus added 

 to the forests being just about offset by that which has been 

 brought under cultivation, likewise in small scattered parcels. 



The topographical maps showed forested lands as distinguished 

 from those under cultivation. They made no attempt to indicate 

 the varieties, size or condition of the timber. There is very 

 little land in the northern part of the State which, if left uncul- 

 tivated, does not spontaneously produce, in a few years, a fairly 

 good growth of timber ; consequently, the land represented as 

 forest on the maps, for which the surveys were completed in 

 1887, ranges from brush to good timber of from forty to fifty 

 years growth, and for the most part every gradation of growth 

 is represented in due proportion. 



Like almost every other physical feature of the State, the 

 forests may be classed broadly into five divisions corresponding 

 with the geological formations, and each of the three northern 

 divisions must be subdivided into glaciated and unglaciated dis- 

 tricts. There is a marked difference in the proportion of forest 

 area, and also a less marked difference in the varieties of timber 

 north and south of the terminal moraine line. Consequently 

 we can most conveniently consider the forests by the several 

 topographical divisions adopted and followed in the "Physical 

 Description " of the State, published in 1888. (See also Physical 

 Geography of New Jersey, by R. D. Salisbury.) 



NORTHEASTERN HIGHLANDS. 



First, on the extreme northwest of this district we have 

 Pochuck mountain, a Highlands region lying detached from 

 the main plateau, like an island, at the eastern side of the great 

 Kittatinny valley. The forests of this region cover about two- 

 thirds of the area, and consist mainly of oak and chestnut, with 



