72 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



The prostrate character of the trees reminds one strongly of 

 timber line vegetation on high mountains and is doubtless due to 

 the elevated, exposed and wind-swept nature of the region, con- 

 ditions congenial to the Arctostaphylos and Corema, which here 

 reach their southern limit. 



Add to this the constantly recurring fires which help to main- 

 tain the above conditions and the slow growth of all the trees m 

 the most arid parts of the Pine Barrens, and we probably have 

 all the factors necessary to explain the conditions found on the 

 plains. 



It seems likely that the Indians were in the habit of burning 

 off this region long before the advent of the whites, and early 

 intensified original conditions, a practice that the accidental fires 

 of later years have perpetuated. 



The term Pine Barrens has been used very loosely by those 

 who have written upon the plants of New Jersey. 



Rev. L- H. Lighthipe* refers all of southern New Jersey below 

 the triassic to the Pine Barrens. 



Dr. Arthur Hollickf limits it to the portion lying south of a 

 line from Long Branch to Salem. 



Mr. C. C. Vermuelet gives it as "practically all o^f that portion 

 of the State southeast of a line from Seabright to Glassboro and 

 thence through Bridgeton to Delaware Bay." Both of these 

 latter statements are based exclusively upon a study of forest 

 trees, and as a result of careful field studies on the same line Mr. 

 Vermeule (Ann. Rept. State Geol. N. J., 1898, p. 185) limits 

 the coniferous forest to the region east of a line beginning 

 at Asbury Park and passing through Farmingdale, Brindletown, 

 New Lisbon and Taunton, with a considerable indentation south 

 of Vincentown ; thence to Atco, Andrews, lona and south along 

 the Maurice river. The belt between this and the previous line, 

 he states, is composed of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest. 



My studies, based upon herbs and shrubs as well as trees, show 

 that the western border of the Pine Barren botanical region coin- 



* Torreya II, p. 79. 



t Report on Forests, Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Geologist for 1899, 182. 



X Do. p. 16. 



