NK\V .1 KKSKY 



NKW .1! !>. I S. oenmuof l*.v had 



vi win ''""I"' inhabitants, ntnl thus 

 * ranked a the inn, i .-. In 



\,. ";.. there wen- re|.ort.-d ::74. nil chil- 



dren between .S and 18 yearn of ape ; 

 of the*e .'4.UW wen enrx.ll.il at schools, l.ut the 

 eboolf had actually accoonnodan n- tor LINI.IHMI only. 

 For this reason the com- 

 I >ul- try educational act of 

 i ! enforced. 

 There were M'.'i male te.i.-h 

 en with an average mont lily 

 !"> of$fi4. and:tl77 fe- 

 male teachers with average 

 Balarj- of $41. T)H> State 



/6S\ 



enrolment of 239, with an 

 average attendance of 206. 

 The school fund in 18X8 was 

 reported at $2,2f>7.4.V> ; in addition to which there are 

 riparian leases (for lands now under water) valued at 

 $1 .009.759, and an agricultural college fund of $1 14,000 

 (see RITOERS COLLEGE). The income from the 

 school fund for 1888 was $275.512. Hi -sides this there 

 were school taxes amounting to $1,511,820, of which 

 were expended. 



The State Insane asylum at Morristown had 1073 

 patients for the year 1887, of whom 873 remained at 

 the close. The asylum at Trenton had Ml'i patients 

 for the year. 707 remaining at the close. The expense 

 of these asylums in 1888 was $165,328.45. The ,x 

 pense of the county lunatic asylums lor that year was 

 -_' The State supported 89 feeble-minded chil- 

 dren in IssT. mostly at Klwvn, Pa., at an expense of 

 J. but in 1888 an asylum was opened at Vine- 

 land, N. J., for this class. The State school for the deaf 

 has over 100 scholars. Provision is made for the blind 

 at asylums in New York city and Philadelphia, there 

 being 31 at the former and 10 at the latter, for whom 

 the State appropriated $14,689. 



The State Soldiers' Home has 328 inmates, the total 

 since its establishment being 14,725. Its receipts for 

 1888 were $33,8 1 4, and its expenditures $33,593. In 

 1887 the Legislature appropriated $125,000 for a home 

 for disabled soldiers at Kearny, on the Passaic River. 

 The cost of this home was reported at the end of 1888 

 to be $1 13,305.55. The militia of the State comprises 

 53 companies of infantry, forming 7 regiments, 2 Cat- 

 ling gun companies and 1 of sea-coast artillery. 

 Tin \ have altogether :'> officers and ' :;i'.'.i.'i men. A 

 camp for practice has been formed at Sea Girt, con- 

 taining 119 acres. The annual expenditure for militia 

 in 1 888 was $11 4,968. 



The State prison contained in 1888 a total of 1380 

 prisoners, the average number being 877, of whom 857 

 were males. The receipts for the year were $65,617 

 and the expenses $162,859. Since Iss;, the pris- 

 oners have been employed on piece-work. This sys- 

 tem has not proved HO economical as that of hiring out 

 the labor by contract, the State having now the re- 

 sponsibility for both quality and quantity of work. 

 The governor has recommended the imposing of inde- 

 terminate sentences (see PRISON Disctl'I.INK) The 

 Reform School at Jamcsburg had 441 inmates during 

 the year, there being 269 at the close. The State In- 

 dustrial School for Girls had 67 inmates. 



In ! --islature passed an act to compel all 



corporations to pay on real estate the same tax as indi- 

 viduals, the rate being limited to 1 per cent., and the 

 main stem of railroads and the waterway of i-an.il.- 

 being exempted. Taxes were also allowed to be as- 

 sessed on the real estate of railroads and canals for 

 local pnr|*c*. The corporations resisting, the courts 

 decided most of the provisions of the act to IN- con- 

 stitutional. Under this act the State revenue derived 

 from railroads increased from $717.562 in Isst to 

 . 000 in IKW>, besides local taxation amounting to 

 $372.364- There were altogether V7 railroad and 



canal companies, whose property was valued at $192,- 



(In Nov. I, Is.vs. the receipt* of the State fund 

 for the year were reported at $I.5o4.l24. and the 

 Siati- held stocks. Ixinds, and other securities to the 

 amount of $l.n27, l>7. The amount of outstanding 

 loan mi tin- Slate war-lmnds was $1. iri'.i.::m. 



Ill ISM. a Stale Hoard of Health and Mureau of 

 Vital Statistics was formed, and local boards of 

 health were required to be lonm d in each city and 

 township. A State Board of Agriculture was also 

 established. 



< 'oiisidcrable interest attaches to the recent move- 

 ments looking toward the settlement and culti- 

 vation of the great tracts of waste and sandy plain 

 land which cover nearly one-third of the State's area. 

 principally towards the south-cast. The natural feat- 

 ures of this plain are much as follows: The sur- 

 face has not generally a dead level, luit is for t he- 

 most part marked by a succession of low ridges of 

 sand running parallel to the coast, and presenting 

 much the appearance of old. yd nm very old, sea- 

 j beaches. The whole region is well supplied with 

 flowing streams; and its lower depressions are gen- 

 erally swampy. The swamps are generally over- 

 grown with the white cedar ( < '/.(< .<.<. tliiin /</<> X which 

 affords valuahle timber, and after K-ing cleared the 

 swam p-lands are often profitably utilized in the cul- 

 ture of cranberries. Some of the swamps are under- 

 laid with well-preserved -tores of timber from conif- 

 erous trees. The extraction ami working of this long- 

 buried supply of sound and si ill very useful wood form 

 an important industry at certain places (as at |)enni.-- 

 villc). Another industry of this region was formerly 

 the extraction and working of the abundant, but 

 somewhat uncertain, supply of bog iron-ores or limon- 

 ites. These ores, though poor in iron, are easily 

 smelted and make excellent castings. The once nu- 

 merous iron-works of this region were all abandoned 

 on account of the failure of the local supply of char 

 coal, due to the cutting of the main part of the forest 

 growth. The ores, however, when worked out locally 

 are reputed to have the quality of self-restoration, due 

 largely to the growth in them of those species of di- 

 atoms which incorporate in their siliceous ihlslules a 

 large percentage of iron, which they extract from the 

 waters which How into the ore-beds. The abundance 

 and tractibility of these ores, and the excellent finish 

 assumed by the castings made from them, may yet re- 

 store to the old workings some of their former value. 

 There are locally found good supplies of peal, which 

 is a useful fertilizer and may yet Inx-ome valuable as 

 fuel. Certain of the peaty deposits are reputed to 

 make excellent brown mineral paints. preBOBMubiythaM 

 which combine iron with their peaty constituents. At 

 many points the sand of this ivi'ion is extensively util- 

 i/.ed in the manufactures of glass-ware. There are 

 large supplies of a dark and coarse brown sand stone 

 which is extensively used for foundations and occasion- 

 ally for general building purposes. This stone is 

 easily wrought and becomes very hard on exposure to 

 the weather. Several navigable streams penetrate the 

 region, and there arc not a few good water powers 

 already developed. The old stock of pine MMMged 

 chiefly to the dwarfish Jersey or scrub-pine (I'l'mm in- 

 on*) ; comparatively little of it is now found, since the 

 charcoal-burners have made great havoc with it. and 

 the largest trees have for many years been cut and 

 sawed into a coarse and strong description of lumber. 

 Great forest-fires prevail almost every spring and sum 

 mer; and the suppression of these is the first requisite 

 to the restoration of the old woodland growth. 



The soil of the so-called " pines " of New Jersey is 

 for the most part far better than a stranger would sup- 

 I -OM- from its appearance. Then- are large tracts 

 which arc sparsely settled, vet which are naturally 

 good grass-lands and are capable of supporting a large 

 agricultural population. Still, as a rule, considerable 



