244 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



landicd)^ and scarlet oak {Q. coccined). Hybrids and irregular 

 forms are common. The coppice is usually cut as pole-wood for 

 fuel, and has little value. Owing to careless cutting the stumps 

 are apt to be partly decayed. This decay spreads to the tree. 

 It also invites the inroads of insects, the number of which 

 injurious to these oaks is legion. 



The wonderful rapidity of tree growth in this sandy soil is 

 often remarked with surprise. Bleached white as snow, and, 

 apparently, absolutely destitute of plant food, it is nevertheless 

 capable of supporting a thrifty arboreal growth. The young tree 

 starts with the greatest difficulty and languishes throughout the 

 early part of its life, but as soon as its roots have reached the 

 deeper and richer layers of the soil it starts afresh and grows 

 thenceforth with astonishing rapidity. The soil is porous, and 

 although well drained, is moist a short distance below the surface. 

 The lay of the land and the nature of the soil is such that the 

 roots of trees can in the majority of cases penetrate to where 

 there is constantly sufficient moisture. From the Plains, the 

 highest part of the Coastal Plain, there are naturally all- degrees 

 of soil-moisture conditions, through the Pine Barrens to the 

 swamp lands. 



A swamp is usually defined as a tract of land with or without 

 trees, lower than the surrounding country, and so saturated with 

 water as to be unfit for cultivation. 



This definition, however, is insufficient. When one speaks 'of 

 a swamp in Southern New Jersey, or in any part of the South- 

 eastern States, a wooded region is usually meant. A swamp, 

 also, is not always unfit for cultivation. Some of the best farm 

 land in America is on swamp bottom. Neither is it always lower 

 than the surrounding country. Elevated swamps are common, 

 and the Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina, which 

 is like a Jersey swamp in many respects, is several feet higher 

 than the surrounding country, with a lake in the center from 

 which water runs in all directions. 



The amount of water in a swamp is an important matter, also 

 the temperature of the water. It varies in amount from a degree 

 of mere moistness to the condition of the Cypress swamps of the 

 south, which are at times navigable for canoes, bateaux and often 

 good-sized scows. Along the Mississippi river there is a vast 



