126 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



The Pine is chiefly of coppice growth, that is, it consists of 

 sprouts from the stumps or from the creeping branches of trees 

 which have been killed back by fire. If the small specimens 

 are carefully examined, however, it will be found that, although 

 they have tne appearance of sprouts, they are in many cases 

 really seedlings, with stems and branches creeping on the ground. 

 Sprouting stumps are found which have been killed back but 

 once, as well as old gnarled burls, veterans of many burnings, 

 covered with knobs from which protrude the charred stubs of 

 dead branches and the new living shoots. Sometimes these 

 burls are compact, almost globular, but more often they take the 

 form of numerous creeping stems, radiating from a common root 

 and sending out sprouts from the knobs of old scars at the end. 

 Dead stumps are common which, in times past, have sprouted 

 again and again, until at length they became exhausted and 

 dead. The age of the main root of a number of such stumps was 

 counted and found to be as much as forty, sixty, and in one case 

 at least one hundred years. 



Within the limits of the Plains there are individual specimens 

 of Pine which are erect and growing thriftily. On examination 

 they are found to be healthy seedlings, standing generally in 

 sheltered hollows. 



The roots of the Pine on the Plains are often short and poorly 

 developed. This is doubtless due to the lack of moisture and to 

 the hard subsoil, which the roots apparently find difficulty in 

 penetrating. 



AGE OF THE PINE. 



There is a prevailing opinion that the Pine coppice on the 

 Plains is very old. The Plains are said to have been in their 

 present condition since the country was first settled, and the 

 conclusion is drawn that the trees are nearly two hundred years 

 of age. It may be true that the barren stretches had much the 

 same appearance two centuries ago that they now present, but 

 the sprouts now on the ground are young. Fifty-five stems were 

 cut on the West Plains and their age was counted, and fifty- 

 three on the East Plains. These figures are given in the follow- 

 ing tables : 



