SOILS OP SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY AND THEIR USES. 55 



FREEHOLD AND SWEDESBORO AREAS CONTRASTED. 



The Freehold and Swedesboro areas show sharp contrasts in crop- 

 ping. The two areas illustrate the extremes in development which 

 may be attained in this region as a result of the selection of specific 

 crops suitable to different soils. 



The areas included in the two surveys are very nearly the equal 

 in extent. The Freehold area comprises 2,507.1 acres of crops, the 

 Sweedesboro area 2,490.9 acres. 



In the Freehold area 93.2 per cent of the area is made up of loam 

 soils or heavier. The Sassafras loam alone occupies 83.T per cent of 

 the total. In the Swedesboro area practically the entire extent of 

 the area is made up of sandy loam and sandy soils. 



I;i the Freehold area the general farm crops occupy 50.7 of the 

 total area and Irish potatoes cover 39.7 per cent. In the Swedesboro 

 area truck crops cover 52.6 per cent of the area, while tlie general 

 farm crops drop to 37.1 per cent. The areas in fruit crops are 

 nearly the same for the two areas. The area not planted to crops 

 is slightly higher in the Swedesboro area but in both areas it is 

 practically negligible. 



Irish potatoes lead all other crops in acreage in the Freehold area. 

 They are the chief cash crop and they are the special crop most 

 successfully grown on a loamy soil. Moreover, it is known that the 

 dominant soil of the area, the Sassafras loam, is there and elsewhere 

 the preferred potato soil of all New Jersey. 



In the Swedesboro area, sweet potatoes occupy the greatest acreage, 

 covering 22.5 per cent of all cropped land. They are grown on the 

 more sandy soils to an extent somewhat greater than upon the sandy 

 loams of that area. Corn is second in importance and then tomatoes 

 follow with a relative extent of 14.7 per cent of the area. In all, 

 13 truck crops are grown to some extent. Practically no small grains 

 are grown except as cover crops. 



The Freehold area is located a little farther from the New York 

 market than Swedesboro is from the Philadelphia market. In 

 both cases access to either market is easy. In both cases a large part 

 of the special crops grown is marketed in other localities than these 

 two cities. 



Consequently, the differences in cropping that have been shown to 

 exist in these two cases must be ascribed to the demonstrated differ- 

 ences in soil conditions, possibly modified to a slight degree by the 

 traditions of agriculture in the two localities. 



Stated more specifically, the loam soils of the area around Free- 

 hold are naturally better adapted to the growing of corn, hay, small 

 grains, and Irish potatoes than to any other products of the soil 

 suited to the prevailing climate. The sandy loam and sandy soils of 

 the area around Swedesboro are inherently better suited to the produc- 



