236 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



seventy-five per cent, of which is woods.* It is slightly rolling 

 in nature, seldom exceeding two hundred feet above the- level of 

 the sea, and is traversed by several navigable rivers f besides 

 many small streams. 



The climate of this region, although close to the ocean, is, in 

 comparison with that of Western Europe and the Pacific coast, 

 dry. Our prevailing winds which come from the west are dry. 

 During the hot, dry days of midsummer even wild bushes often 

 die. On the other hand, the destructive effects of strong winds, 

 frost and snow press are very slight. 



The East American life zones, each characterized by certain 

 forms of life, extend westward with exceedingly irregular and 

 broken borders. There is a transition belt in which the North 

 and the South more or less overlap. This is the true agri- 

 cultural part of Eastern North America, where apples, white 

 potatoes, barley and oats attain their highest development. It 

 is where the oak, hickory, chestnut, liquidarnber, white cedar, 

 etc., of the south, meet the white pine, maple, beech, birch, hem- 

 lock, tamarack and arbor-vitae of the north. South of this 

 transition belt begins the first of the true Southern zones, the 

 Carolinian, to which the Coastal Plain of New Jersey belongs. J 



A very large percentage of the Carolinian life zone is forestal. 

 Owing to its immense size and to the nature of the agricultural 

 crops which it produces, and for which there is only a limited 

 demand, a large proportion of this zone is destined to remain in 

 forest for many years to come. The Boreal and Austral zones 

 are forestal, the Transition zone agricultural. The eastern part 

 of the Transition zone, from the Dakotas to the sea, although at 



*The term " forest " is seldom used by woodmen. Good or bad, big trees or bushes, it is all called 

 " woods," which is a good generic name for such nondescript lands. The word " forst," from which 

 comes " forest," is a pure Germanic word. From the earliest times it has been applied however to woods 

 which have been protected and regulated. 



t It is easy to secure an abundance of water in this region, which is a very important feature from a 

 cultural standpoint. In addition to many streams, a natural copious flow may be obtained from artesian 

 wells, so that in places irrigation is easy and practical. 



J The Coastal Plain of New Jersey is a northern extension of the Carolinian belt into the Transition 

 Zone. It is in reality a part of the South in the North, and as Prof. Merriam says : " When such farms 

 occupy suitable soils in thickly inhabited regions, so their products may be conveniently marketed, they 

 are of more than ordinary value, for the greater the distance from its area of principal production a crop 

 can be made to succeed, the higher price it will command. Hence, farms favorably situated in northern 

 prolongations or islands of southern zones, or vice versa, should be worth considerably more per acre 

 than those situated within normal parts of the same zones. The obvious reason is that by growing par- 

 ticular crops at points remote from the usual sources of supply, and at the same time conveniently near 

 a market, the cost of transportation is greatly reduced and the profit correspondingly increased " 



