246 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



swamps are warm and protected in winter, and harbor, there- 

 fore, many birds. They are cool in summer and fragrant with 

 the odor of clethra ( C. alnifolia) and magnolia (M. glauca). A 

 cedar-swamp bottom seldom freezes. This may be partly due to 

 the fact that cedar swamps are usually located in regions of 

 springs. 



The forest floor is usually covered with a thick mat of spongy 

 sphagnum moss. The streams in passing through the swamps 

 often separate into several streamlets, which meander through 

 the mass of moss and submerged tree trunks and roots. The 

 water of these in dark places is black as ink, but in the light 

 and in shallows is the color of mahogany or amber, owing to 

 impregnations from the humus. Nothing is more characteristic 

 of the Coastal Plain of New Jersey than these swamps of cedar. 

 Although practically the northern limit of this excellent species, 

 it is perfectly at home in South Jersey. Free from disease, and 

 always a fresh rich green, cedar swamps form the most striking 

 feature of the landscape. It is a common saying in South 

 Jersey that a cedar swamp attracts a shower. It seems to be 

 often the case that a thunder storm follows a branch or stream 

 until it reaches a mass of swamp, and there drops its rain. 



Owing to the excellence of the wood, these swamps are 

 devoured with avidity by lumbermen. The bottom when not 

 too difficult to clear, and when properly located, is in demand 

 for cranberry bogs.* When a cedar swamp is cut or burnt, if 

 certain conditions prevail, it may come again in cedar, usually, 

 however, deciduous swamp trees, inferior in nature, usurp its 

 place. 



* The cultivation of the large or American cranberry ( Oxycoccus tiiacrocarpon) is a very important 

 industry in South Jersey. The berry, the size of a cherry, grows in large quantities on a low creeping 

 vine, which forms a mat on the surface. The clearing and preparation of these bogs are expensive, but 

 the yields are often enormous, and the bog lasts for many years without perceptible deterioration. The 

 cultivation of this plant requires skill and experience. In times past fortunes have been lost as well as 

 won in the cranberry industry. The amount of fruit yielded year after year by a bog suitably located 

 and tended is often enormous A cedar-swamp bottom through which there is a running stream is 

 selected. This is banked and arranged so that the bog can be easily and quickly flooded, since it is desir- 

 able to keep it covered with water throughout the winter and for a short time at other seasons of the year, 

 to protect it from frost, to drown out undesirable weeds and insect pests or prevent a fungous disease called 

 " scald." A bog may be flooded at any time without injury to the vines, except when in blossom In 

 clearing a bog the stumps are usually removed, but not always. The whole is turfed with a cranberry or 

 bog-hoe, which has a wider blade than the ordinary grub-hoe. Ditches are dug throughout the whole 

 bog, and sometimes the surface is sanded. It is planted in a simple manner with a suitable variety of 

 wild-berry from the woods or from another bog. Usually the vines are mown down with a scythe. 

 These pieces are dropped over the area ready for planting and pushed into the soft soil with a wooden 

 dibble. They soon take root, and in the course of a couple of years their vigorous stolons have complete 

 possession of the soil. 



