312 GEOIvOGICAI. SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



of woods on upland or lowland it consists of Scotch-pine. Some- 

 times it is in straight and thrifty condition, but mostly crooked 

 and stunted in nature. There is lacking that variety which one 

 meets with even in the Jersey pine regions, and while there 

 exists a general resemblance between the two regions, closer 

 examination soon shows that in reality they are very unlike. 

 The soil, the climate, the flora, the political, social and economi- 

 cal conditions are all so different that it would be unfair to 

 place the Jersey pine-lands in the same category with these 

 immense tracts of heath and morass which exist throughout 

 Northern Europe. 



We should not always assume, however, that because a soil is 

 sandy vegetation will suffer from dryness more than on other 

 soils. This depends altogether on the capillarity * of the soil 

 and the proximity of the water-table to the surface. Owing to 

 the cold and a great abundance of moisture peat accumulates in 

 immense beds in Northern Europe. Just to the west of the Ems 

 is the Bourtanger Moor, over five hundred square miles in area, 

 on the boundary between Holland and Germany. Here and 

 there in this morass are firm patches on which the houses of the 

 natives are located, but the most of it is a quaking, treacherous 

 mass of semi-decomposed vegetable matter. The inhabitants 

 crossed this bog-land with leaping-poles. A board was attached 

 to the end of each pole and both people and horses wore wooden 

 "mud-shoes," such as are used on the oyster-beds of France and 

 on the salt marshes of New Jersey. These moors were often so 

 extensive that they served to separate tribes. 



The surface of these moorlands was burnt at certain times of 

 the year in order to render them fit for cultivation. The peat- 

 smoke or "moor-rauch," in May, 1857, drifted as far as Vienna, 

 and in July, 1863, to Geneva. In recent times more economical 

 methods have been practiced, and canals have been dug for both 

 drainage and transportation purposes. Wherever the land is 

 imperfectly drained in this region, immense masses of " torf " or 



* In the sand'hills of Nebraska and Kansas, even after long periods ol drought, only the few tnches- 

 of surface-soil become dry, A short distance under the surface the soil is moist to the touch, 



" In the dunes of Algeria water is so abundant that wells are constantly dug in them at high points 

 on their surface. They are sunk at a depth of three or four meters only, and the water rises in them to a 

 height of a meter," — Laurent, Memoire sur U Sahara, ''The Dunes of the Sahara in some places 

 supply pasturage for the caravans." — Pomel, L'Annee Geographic, 



The city of Amsterdam is supplied with water from the Coast Dunes of Holland, ^his is simply 

 rainwater, which soaks into the sand. The Hague also is similarly supplied. 



