SOILS OF SOUTHERN" NEW JERSEY AISTD THEIR USES. 25 



where the Irish Cobbler or " round-stock " potato is chiefly grown. 

 Other things being equal, the Giant will normally outyield the Cob- 

 bler by 20 to 25 per cent. 



The relationship of the Sassafras loam to the production of Irish 

 potatoes as a main money crop can not be too strongly emphasized in 

 a consideration of the uses of the soils of southern New Jedsey. Thus 

 the business of growing potatoes has been developed to a high degree 

 of specialization in central Monmouth County. That this is due, at 

 least to some degree, to the presence of large areas of the Sassafras 

 loam is shown by the unusually large acreage borne by that soil type. 

 The special adaptation of this soil to potato production is well known 

 in the region and is specifically recorded by Jennings in the report 

 on the Soil Survey of the Freehold Area, New Jersey. He says: 



The soils on which the principal crops of potatoes are gro^Yn have been classed 

 as Sassafras loam, sandy loam, and fine sandy loam, and the Collington loam, 

 sandy loam, and fine sandy loam. Other types are used to some extent, but the 

 highest yields are secured on these soils, especially on the loam soils of the 

 different series. 



Jennings also makes the distinction in his report that the early crop 

 of potatoes is grown to a considerable extent on the Sassafras fine 

 sand, fine sandy loam, and sandy loam in conjunction with other truck 

 crops. He states with regard to the Sassafras loam that " it is with- 

 out exception the heaviest-yielding potato soil in the State." 



The personal investigations of the author in 1914 and 1915 would 

 indicate that this statement is generally true of the type wherever it 

 is found in southern New Jersey. An examination of the soil survey 

 maps of the Freehold, Trenton, Camden, and Salem areas will show 

 that all of the most important potato-shipping localities in southern 

 New Jersey are located on or in the immediate vicinity of extensive 

 areas of the Sassafras loam. This is true of Holmdel, Freehold, 

 Englishtown, Dayton, Hightstown, Mount Holly, Moorestown, Mul- 

 lica Hill, Elmer, Woodstown, Salem, and Shiloh. 



In the majority of these localities the potato crop, whether Amer- 

 ican Giant or Cobbler, is grown on the Sassafras loam with the Col- 

 lington sand}'' loam second in importance and the Sassafras sandy 

 loam and fine sandy loam contributing a large part of the remainder 

 of the crop. Upon these four soil types considerably more than one- 

 half of the total potato crop of the State is annually grown.^ 



SOIL AND CROP SURVEY OF HARTFORD AREA. 



In order to study the relationship existing between soils and crops 

 in an area of mixed general farming and special crop production in 



1 For detailed statements with regard to the methods employed in potato growing in 

 central New Jersey, the reader is referred to Farmers' Bulletin 472, of the TJ. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and to Bulletin 294, of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. 



