242 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



red cedar (Juniperus virginiand) and holly (Ilex opacd) appear 

 as forerunners, the seeds of which have been dropped by passing 

 birds. The persimmon and sassafras, hardy oaks, and wild- 

 cherry (Prunus serotind] also spring np, and near the sites of 

 old dwellings are clumps of the tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus glan- 

 dulosus) growing with tropical rankness, root suckers from the 

 old trees which were once in favor for shade and ornament ; 

 now and then also an old sycamore with serpent-like limbs ; 

 here and there pines appear, the edges gradually close in 

 on the field, the solitary forerunners become surrounded by 

 their progeny, the gaps are slowly filled by whatever may 

 chance to fall by the many natural means of seed distribution. 

 Thus, in time, the whole becomes a mixed forest of many 

 species and of all age classes : here a thicket, there a pole-wood 

 consisting of softwood and hardwood, evergreen and deciduous 

 sorts, many sickly suppressed trees and many much branched, 

 rough and knotty trees which were the forerunners, holding 

 their own in the struggle for life even against their own 

 progeny. Soon come axe and fire ; the weaker kinds perish y 

 the best are used, and a few pines and a coppice of hardy oak 

 alone remain. Sometimes, if surrounded by pine, these old 

 fields come up in a growth .of pine as thick and green as a field 

 of grain.* 



The forests of the eastern United States are possessed of 

 marveloiis regenerative power. Among the hundreds of native 

 species there are many capable of great endurance, and, indeed, 

 in the regions east of the western prairies there are few spots so 

 sterile and inhospitable that one or more of these species cannot 

 survive. There is abundant material for the development of 

 new and elaborate systems of silvicultiire suited to the condi- 

 tions and needs which exist. 



A very large part of the Pine-Barren district is oak coppice. 

 The area in pine, however, is constantly decreasing, the area in 

 oak increasing. Oak of some kind almost invariably follows 



*One must not too hastily conclude that the majority of the Jersey pines are pitch or Indian pines 

 (P. rigida). A careful census of many districts will show, especially in the southern counties, that the 

 short-leaf pine predominates. Although the pitch-pine endures fire to a greater extent, the short-leaf 

 pine is more prolific. From a forestal standpoint, this is, in spite of everything, a hopeful condition of 

 affairs, because, as I shall endeavor to show later, there is no coniferous forest tree of the dry sandy por- 

 tions of the Carolinian zone which is silviculturally and commercially the equal of Pinus echinata, the 

 short-leaf or smooth-bark pine. 



