File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17538101734).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo17amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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252 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL the records of the United States Weather Bureau, the average date of the last killing frost is April 19, and the latest recorded date in the spring is May 13. The average date of the first killing frost in autumn is October 19, the earliest recorded date October 2. If we take the average dates, the season of growth is exactly six months, or 183 days, in length. The culmination of the flowering season of pine barren plants is in August, when a larger per- centage of plants is in bloom than at any other season of the year. An examination of the underground systems of pine barren plants brings out some important principles of plant growth. The rainfall is sufficient dur- ing the year for the superficially rooted annuals and perennials, but there are critical periods when no rain falls, and then certain marvelous leaf structures, which control loss of water, become ef- ficient. With the deep-rooted trees it is otherwise, for during the critical period of dry weather their deep root systems enable tliem to get a supply of water from the subsoil. These consider- ations indicate that most of the pine barren plants have methods of endur- ing drought, or of evading or escaping it.i Xo more inviting region in its almost primeval conditions lies so accessible to the busy dwellers in our large centers of population, such as New York and Philadelphia. The region, having a salubrious climate, should attract the health and pleasure seekers, and the state of New Jersey should preserve in- tact large stretches of the forest so that the healthy and the sick, the wealthy and the poor, can derive benefit from the life-giving air of the pines. ' The soils of the pine barren region are sandy with a gravelly subsoil, and the rate of percolation of water throvigh the layers of soil from different localities shows that water passes through beach or dune sand more quickly than through pine barren sand, and through pine barren sands more rapidly than through soils covered with a deciduous forest. Experiments on the water-holding capacity of these types of soils show that dune sand retains 33 per cent of water which falls as rain, the pine barren soils 45 per cent, and the deciduous forest soils 56 per cent. These matters are considered at some length in The Vegetation of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, by John W. Harshberger, published by Christopher Sower Company, Philadelphia, 1916.
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This colonial log schoolhouse at Speedwell shows the style of old pine barren architecture and construction. Photograph used through the courtesy of Professor Herbert N. Morse

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