Dozun among the 'jFerseys. 69 



dollars. Besides this, he carries on ordinary grain -farming on the place 

 where he lives ; for only a small portion of the time is needed at the cran- 

 berry-swamp. His work there was done in the years that are past : he has 

 nothing to do now but gather in his crops, and count his profits. 



But, as I have long ago discovered, this oft-quoted Jersey sand raises 

 some other good things ; and I mention sweet-potatoes especially. Driving 

 along one day with one of my friends who owned a farm in that same 

 region, where the sand is pure and white, — apparently as barren a soil as 

 could be found, — he alighted with his basket, and, crossing the fence into 

 the potato-patch, scooped out the large yellow potatoes with his hands, and 

 filled his basket in a few minutes, without leaving a mark of soil upon the 

 flesh, so clear and dry was the hot sand where flourished his fine potato- 

 plants. Near by I saw the water-melons and citrons, which likewise did 

 well in the same kind of soil. The hotter the sun, the more juicy the 

 melons, as if the heat drew water from the earth instead of from the clouds ; 

 so that, the dryer the season, the better will always be the crop of melons. 

 Of course, this sandy land I describe had all been well manured and tilled ; 

 but there was no question about its being just the soil for every thing in 

 this line. 



If persons who are looking about for a chance for speculation would buy 

 up some of these unemployed acres at their present low value, and put 

 them under cultivation, how soon might they treble or quadruple their in- 

 vestments, especially when, after a few years, the additional railroads now 

 in prospect come into operation, bringing all these interior sections into 

 direct communication with both the great cities ! See what the Camden 

 and Amboy Railroad has done for the western portion of the State, and 

 the Camden and Atlantic, and Cape-May Roads, for the southern ; yet the 

 great eastern and central portions, that border for so many miles on the 

 ocean, are as yet almost without railroad accommodation. The Delaware 

 and Raritan-bay Road, from Camden to Keyport, has done much already 

 for Central New Jersey; and the new route from Hightstown, a point on the 

 Camden and Amboy Road to Pemberton, in the centre of Burlington County, 

 is one of the first of those inland extensions from the main highway, which 

 will, before many years, intersect every coimty, and mcrease the value of 

 every acre of Jersey soiL 



