SOILS OF SOUTHERN' ISTEW JERSEY AND THEIR USES. 



n 



intensively for some form of crop production. Within that division 

 agriculture has been developed to a high degree of specialization, 

 with a certain amount of selection of particular soil conditions for 

 the growing of specific crops. Probably the two most important 

 natural factors determining the class of occupation of the land in 

 this region are the topographic features of land slope and the 

 natural drainage conditions of the upland soil types. 



Since the surface slope largely controls the mechanical efficiency 

 of farming operations, rough, sloping land may not be economically 

 occupied for the purposes even of staple crop production. Yet 

 where slopes are not too steep or the surface too broken the excellent 

 facilities for both air and soil drainage frequently render such 







Fig. 6. — Harvesting timothy hay on reclaimed Tide marsh, near Woodbury, N. J. 



situations desirable for certain forms of orcharding. In eastern 

 Monmouth County such areas occur with soil conditions otherwise 

 favorable to agriculture. Some of the finest orchards in the region 

 are located on these rolling to decidedly hilly lands. In other cases 

 where the land is too broken or danger from destructive erosion is 

 too great, the land is either in forest or occupied as pastures. 



A second class of lands within the dominant agricultural region 

 which has escaped the intensive occupation common to the region 

 comprises such soils as from their position or texture are commonly 

 waterlogged. 



Along many of the minor drainage ways the sluggish stream course 

 is bordered on one or both sides by lands subject to periodical over- 



