294 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 
Hollander love his muddy soil. This soil, although difficult 
and expensive to reclaim, when once in shape is almost inex- 
haustibly fertile. The fine sandy land of Holland has also been 
carefully cultivated, and the dunes along the shore have been 
carefully watched and patched here and there because they serve 
as dykes along the sea. One of the most attractive regions of 
the Low Countries is in the lee of the Dutch dunes, where there 
are many beautiful villas and gardens. 
Although much has been done toward the reclamation of 
waste-lands, the common notion that every inch of territory in 
Europe is used to good advantage is a mistake. In fact, Euro- 
peans could learn much in reference to land reclamation even in 
the United States, where good land is still cheap and abundant. 
Much has been done, for instance, in this line in the banked 
lands of the Mississippi Valley and the irrigated deserts of the 
Far West. There is little that one can learn in Southern Europe 
outside of France and Italy, except the disastrous effects of 
deforestation. Although much that has been done in Europe is 
highly commendable and suited to the peculiar conditions which 
exist there, it would be difficult to say just how much of it is 
applicable to America. There is one important difference 
between the New and Old Worlds which should not be over- 
looked in all considerations and calculations. It is the fact that 
in general in Europe labor is cheap and materials expensive ; in 
America the reverse is the case. Much of the detailed and 
extremely careful work which is devoted to small and unim- 
portant things may pay in Europe but not in this country. 
One cannot help admiring the pains and patience of these peo. 
ple, but at the same time in another country, under different 
conditions, they would themselves do otherwise. Carefully 
saving and binding together small sticks into bundles for fuel is 
all right for the places where fuel is scarce and expensive, but 
would be decidedly out of place in America. European sawyers 
are horrified at the sight of a circular saw with wide kerf 
buzzing at a rapid rate and wasting a large proportion of the log, 
but it saves time, and time has been up to the present more 
precious than wood. 
Europeans are generally conservative, especially the peasants, 
preferring to do as their fathers did, working often to great dis- 
