REPORT ON FORESTS. 241 



was referred to by early travelers, and appears to have changed 

 very little in appearance in the course of time. 



The easiest way to visit the Plains is from Chatsworth, 

 formerly Old Shamong,* on the New Jersey Southern Railroad, 

 which traverses the pineries for many miles. 



Surrounding the Plains on all sides and extending far to the 

 southward is an immense tract of land called the Pine Barrens. 

 The term is usually applied to the sandy regions of New Jersey 

 which are covered with a sparse growth of pine, under which, 

 as a rule, there is a scrubby growth of oaks and ericaceous 

 plants. The physiognomy of this region is mainly due to fires 

 and careless cutting. In a few places which have been protected 

 there are magnificent forests of smooth-bark pine and even mer- 

 chantable oak, in spite of the sandy nature of the soil. In a few 

 of these forests affected only by surface fires, which burn quickly 

 over the thin-covered soil, the ground is white and clean. In 

 other instances where there have been no fires at all, although 

 these spots are few and far between, there is a stand of tall, 

 clean, smooth-bark pine (P. echinata), with a good mixture of 

 deciduous trees. 



In the spring, when there is a richness of bloom and beauty, 

 and during the Indian summer, when the woods are gorgeous 

 with autumnal tints and enlivened by the chatter of birds feed- 

 ing upon the harvest of berries, fruits and seeds, the atmosphere 

 of the Pine Barrens is balmy and fragrant. The winter also is 

 pleasant, owing to the freshness of the evergreens and the dry- 

 ness of the soil, but in summer the sand is hot and dry and the 

 air is full of pestiferous flies and mosquitos and hazy with smoke 

 from forest fires. 



In early times settlers cleared the land along certain thorough- 

 fares, irrespective of its quality. Soon many of their farms 

 became barren, and, with a change of industries, they changed 

 their homes and abandoned their fields. When a sandy field in 

 the Jersey pine land is abandoned to Nature, she clothes it at 

 first with a sparse covering of lichens, Indian grass, briars and 

 other pioneer herbaceous and shrubby plants. Soon scattered 



* The habit of changing the names of towns in Southern New Jersey simply because the old names 

 sound inelegant is a great pity The word Shamong is an old Indian name. Good old-time names, 

 especially those ot Indian origin and those with local color, should never be changed. Such names as 

 Tar-Kiln-Neck, Blue Anchor, Double-Trouble, Long Coming, Penny Pot, Old Martha, Calico, etc., 

 etc., are far more appropriate to the region than Cologne, Pasadena, lona, Malaga, etc., etc. 



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