246 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 
swamps are warm and protected in winter, and harbor, there-_ 
fore, many birds. They are cool in summer and fragrant withy, 
the odor of clethra (C. alnzfolzd) and magnolia (AZ glauca). A 
cedar-swamp bottom seldom freezes. This may be partly due to 
the fact that cedar swamps are usually located in regions: of 
springs. J 
The forest floor is usually covered with a thick mat of spongy 
sphagnum moss. The streams in passing through the swamps — 
often separate into several streamlets, which meander through 
the mass of moss and submerged tree trunks and roots. The# 
water of these in dark places is black as ink, but in the light 
and in shallows is the color of mahogany or amber, owing to 
impregnations from the humus. Nothing is more characteristic? 
of the Coastal Plain of New Jersey than these swamps of cedar. 
Although practically the northern limit of this excellent species, 
‘it is perfectly at home in-South Jersey. Free from disease, and 
always a fresh rich green, cedar swamps form the most striking 
feature of the landscape. It is a common saying in South 
Jersey that a cedar swamp attracts a shower. It seems to be 
often the case that a thunder storm follows a branch or stream 
until it reaches a mass of swamp, and there drops its rain. 
Owing to the excellence of the wood, these swamps are 
devoured with avidity by lumbermen. ‘The bottom when not 
too difficult to clear, and when properly located, is in demand 
for cranberry bogs.* When a cedar swamp is cut or burnt, if. 
certain conditions prevail, it may come again in cedar, usually, * 
however, deciduous swamp trees, inferior in nature, usurp its 
place. 
* The cultivation of the large or American cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarfon) is a very important 
industry in South Jersey. The berry, the size of a cherry, grows in large quantities on a low creeping 
vine, which forms a mat on the surface, The clearing and preparation of these bogs are expensive, but 
the yields are often enormous, and the bog lasts for many years without perceptible deterioration. The 
cultivation of this plant requires skill and experience. In times past fortunes have been lost as well as 
won in the cranberry industry. The amount of fruit yielded year after year by a bog suitably located 
and tended is often enormous A cedar-swamp bottom through which there is a running stream is 
selected. This is banked and arranged so that the bog can be easily and quickly flooded, since it is desir- 
able to keep it covered with water throughout the winter and for a short time at other seasons of the year, 
to protect it from frost, to drown out undesirable weeds and insect pests or prevent a fungotis disease called 
““scald.’? A bog may be flooded at any time without injury to the vines, except when in.blossom In 
clearing a bog the stumps are usually removed, but not always. The whole is turfed with a cranberry or 
bog-hoe, which has a wider blade than the ordinary grub-hoe. Ditches are dug throughout the whole 
bog, and sometimes the surface is sanded. It is planted in a simple manner with a suitable variety of 
wild-berry from the woods or from another bog. Usually the vines are mown down with a scytheid 
These pieces are dropped over the area ready for planting and pushed into the soft soil with a wooden : 
dibble, They soon take root, and in the course of a couple of years their vigorous stolons have complete 
possession of the soil, 
