294 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



Hollander love his muddy soil. This soil, although difficult 

 and expensive to reclaim, when once in shape is almost inex- 

 haustibly fertile. The fine sandy land of Holland has also been 

 carefully cultivated, and the dunes along the shore have been 

 carefully watched and patched here and there because they serve 

 as dykes along the sea. One of the most attractive regions of 

 the Low Countries is in the lee of the Dutch dunes, where there 

 are many beautiful villas and gardens. 



Although much has been done toward the reclamation of 

 waste-lands, the common notion that every inch of territory in 

 Europe is used to good advantage is a mistake. In fact, Euro- 

 peans could learn much in reference to land reclamation even in 

 the United States, where good land is still cheap and abundant. 

 Much has been done, for instance, in this line in the banked 

 lands of the Mississippi Valley and the irrigated deserts of the 

 Far West. There is little that one can learn in Southern Europe 

 outside of France and Italy, except the disastrous effects of 

 deforestation. Although much that has been done in Europe is 

 highly commendable and suited to the peculiar conditions which 

 exist there, it would be difficult to say just how much of it is 

 applicable to America. There is one important difference 

 between the New and Old Worlds which should not be over- 

 looked in all considerations and calculations. It is the fact that 

 in general in Europe labor is cheap and materials expensive ; in 

 America the reverse is the case. Much of the detailed and 

 extremely careful work which is devoted to small and unim- 

 portant things may pay in Europe but not in this country. 

 One cannot help admiring the pains and patience of these peo_ 

 pie, but at the same time in another country, under different 

 conditions, they would themselves do otherwise. Carefully 

 saving and binding together small sticks into bundles for fuel is 

 all right for the places where fuel is scarce and expensive, but 

 would be decidedly out of place in America. European sawyers 

 are horrified at the sight of a circular saw with wide kerf 

 buzzing at a rapid rate and wasting a large proportion of the log, 

 but it saves time, and time has been up to the present more 

 precious than wood. 



Europeans are generally conservative, especially the peasants, 

 preferring to do as their fathers did, working often to great dis- 



