REPORT ON FORESTS. 241 
was referred to by early travelers, and appears to have changed 
very little in appearance in the course of time. 
The easiest way to visit the Plains is from Chatsworth, 
formerly Old Shamong,* on the New Jersey Southern Railroad, 
which traverses the pineries for many miles. 
Surrounding the Plains on all sides and extending far to the 
southward is an immense tract of land called the Pine Barrens. 
The term is usually applied to the sandy regions of New Jersey 
which are covered with a sparse growth of pine, under which, 
as a rule, there is a scrubby growth of oaks and ericaceous 
plants. The physiognomy of this region is mainly due to fires 
and careless cutting. Ina few places which have been protected 
there are magnificent forests of smooth-bark pine and even mer- 
chantable oak, in spite of the sandy nature of the soil. In a few 
of these forests affected only by surface fires, which burn quickly 
over the thin-covered soil, the ground is white and clean. In 
other instances where there have been no fires at all, although 
these spots are few and far between, there is a stand of tall, 
clean, smooth-bark pine (/ echznzata), with a good mixture of 
deciduous trees. 
In the spring, when there is a richness of bloom and beauty, 
and during the Indian summer, when the woods are gorgeous 
with autumnal tints and enlivened by the chatter of birds feed- 
ing upon the harvest of berries, fruits and seeds, the atmosphere 
of the Pine Barrens is balmy and fragrant. The winter also is 
pleasant, owing to the freshness of the evergreens and the dry- 
ness of the soil, but in summer the sand is hot and dry and the 
air is full of pestiferous flies and mosquitos and hazy with smoke 
from forest fires. 
In early times settlers cleared the land along certain thorough- 
fares, itrespective of its quality. Soon many of their farms 
became barren, and, with a change of industries, they changed 
their homes and abandoned their fields. When a sandy field in 
the Jersey pine land is abandoned to Nature, she clothes it at 
first with a sparse covering of lichens, Indian grass, briars and 
other pioneer herbaceous and shrubby plants. Soon scattered 
* The habit of changing the names of towns in Southern New Jersey simply because the old names 
sound inelegant is a great pity The word Shamong is an old Indian name. Good old-time names, 
especially those ot Indian origin and those with local color, should never be changed. Such names as 
Tar-Kiln-Neck, Blue Anchor, Double-Trouble, Long Coming, Penny Pot, Old Martha, Calico, etc., 
etc., are far more appropriate to the region than Cologne, Pasadena, Iona, Malaga, etc., etc. 
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