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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
NEW JERSEY is rightly called "The Garden State." Its truck-farms,
extending from the northern mountains to the southern plain, are
mere garden patches when compared with the western prairies or southern
plantations. But these gardens produce a large proportion of the fruits
and vegetables consumed in New York and Philadelphia. For these millions as well as for its own, New Jersey has developed exceptionally prosperous small farms and some of the highest types of agricultural specialization.
The State has three main soil and topographical farm belts. Underlain largely with limestone and other glacial rock, the northern counties
:are hilly and in some places even mountainous. Here dairying and the
raising of grains and other field crops predominate, with scattered centers
for market gardening. Although found in all sections of the State, commercial poultry farms are concentrated in the northern and central areas.
In the middle counties are fertile loam lands, level or rolling, with a
rich subsoil of greensand marl. Of first rank in this section are truck
crops and potatoes. Grain, hay, fruits, and milk are secondary.
The southern counties of the level sandy coastal area contain, in addition
to a broad expanse of pine barrens, large fertile areas that yield excellent
apples, peaches, cranberries, and other small fruits and vegetables. Peach
blossoms in Burlington and Cumberland Counties make this section the
agricultural show-place of the State in spring.
When the early settlers arrived they found the Indians growing corn,
pumpkins, gourds, tobacco, and beans. Taking a lesson from the natives,
they cleared the lands, and with the help of seeds and livestock imported
from the old country, soon made New Jersey an important agricultural
colony.
Although its large wheat yield ranked New Jersey as one of the "bread
colonies" before the Revolution, the farmers were already anticipating the
present-day variety in products. Large farms had been established in the
south on which Negro slaves performed most of the work. This system
was readily adapted to flax-raising, a major pre-Revolutionary crop. Although white labor predominated in the north, Negroes were commonly
seen in the small fields and large orchards, which produced fruits, vegetables, and cider.
The hill country specialized in grazing, and about 1750
New Jersey was reckoned the leading sheep-raising Colony. By the time
the armies of Washington and the British were criss-crossing the State,
New Jersey offered a ready supply of horses and pork from the north,
flour and grain from the central part, and fruits and thread materials from
the south.
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