USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 4
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Nor is this solely an industrial question, but one which pertains also to politics and morals. Physical geographers long ago, and with great plausibility, ascribed in large measure the decay of certain nations to the annihilation of their forests. Nor are we without warning nearer home. Even thus early after the opening of the country to settlement, in the wonderfully well watered and fertile Mississippi valley, within the memory of men now living, considerable streams have shrunken into mere brooks, and others have absolutely dried up, and accompanying these changes has been noted a certain diminution of rainfall and impoverishment of agri- cultural lands.
Even so near the coast as is New Jersey, conditions have so changed as to make the question of moisture one of growing importance. In this region the need for irrigation is not apparent when the average annual rainfall is considered. It varies from 44.09 inches in the northwest, to 49.70 inches on the seacoast, though the annual percipitation sinks as low as 31.05 inches in localities, which is as low as the annual rainfall on the border
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
of the sub-humid regions of the West, and drouths which result in a very considerable loss occur more frequently than is popularly supposed during the growing months, April to August, inclusive. In other words, the average rainfall, while sufficient to meet the needs if properly distributed, is found to be very unevenly distributed. Besides, much of the rain that falls during the summer months proves of less service than is possible from the amount received. The dashing showers so common in summer do not penetrate the soil as do the early spring and late fall rains and a large proportion runs off from the surface.
It was noted by a reporter of the State Agricultural Experiment Station that in the season of 1899 there was such lack of moisture in May and early June that the yield of hay, an important crop, was very light, the shortage being estimated at more than one-half, which at a low estimate averaged fifty dollars per farm, or a loss of more than $1,500,000 for the State. In the dairy regions the deficiency of rainfall also materially reduced the yield of the pastures and early forage crops, thus affecting the returns from this branch of farming. The rain deficiency also resulted in very serious injury to early garden crops, particularly asparagus and early beets, strawberries and other small fruits.
These conditions have led to propositions looking toward storage reservoirs and a system of irrigation, and the mere fact suggests the wis- dom of utilizing the provisions of nature through the preservation of for- ests by constant reproduction.
CHAPTER III.
ALONG THE STRAND.
We can not know the wealth the deep withholds ; But on its shores are cast such wondrous forms,
Their beauty dazzles as the eye beholds
The splendor of the aftermath of storms- The spoils laid bare by the recurring tides.
A wealth of ocean life is continually coming up on the strand. From the highest and most gigantic forms, on down through the lower orders, arousing our admiration at every step, in the auroral tints upon the curved scroll of the shell; the delicate carving of the sea urchin; the prismatic lights of the medusae; still down to those lower forms that mark the con- fines of the two great divisions of organic life, animal and plant, appar- ently having so little in common with each other, though always min- gling with the former-are specimens cast from sub-aqueous forests in a wonder of profusion. Twice in every twenty-four hours the tide traces long lines upon the beach in shells and seaweed. During some months of the year in the brilliant but delicate greens and scarlets, browns and purples of sea algae, these blend with the quiet hues of other varieties of sea- weed and mosses into an elusive tint that evades the sense of color, and in these lines sparkling here and there with jeweled shells, we read the poems of the sea.
' Here, too, the ocean has recorded its tragedies in the unmistakable characters of broken spars, twisted cordage and dismantled hulls of ves- sels. What the mission of these wrecks may have been or whither bound can seldom be determined. In many cases the plot has been revealed to the actors alone; the crew and passengers. So broad is the ocean high- way, that even of its immense traffic no passing vessel has constituted an audience when the curtain was rung down to the roar of the tempest upon the last act, in which mute white faces were covered over, unshriven by priest or unhallowed by prayer, in a cemetery where no separate plot is retained for their burial and no gravestone marks the place of their sepul-
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
ture; and only after many years, perhaps, have these tangible records been cast up for us to decipher what best we may. These ruins are usually clothed with an infinite variety of ocean life gathered in the deep. Those that are still partly submerged retain much of these stores, and we are enabled to learn the growth and manner of attaching to deep sea moorings much better than from those specimens which have been cast up by the tide. Over battered mast and prow and useless helm trail lichens and al- gae, while groups of mussels and barnacles, firnily secured to the wood, or waving by long threads to the motion of the water, search for food with open mouths as nature has ordained.
The spring months are productive of the greatest variety of speci- mens of marine life. It would be useless to attempt classification in a short space that would exhaust volumes, and only those that arrest the attention of the casual observer may be mentioned.
Of crustaceans, the crab family is the most numerous and the habits of these animals are intensely interesting and amusing. The king crab (limolus polyphemus) the largest existing along the Jersey coast, reaching an average diameter of ten inches and a length of nearly two feet, includ- ing the file-like horny tail, sustains the dignity of the numerous members. The high dome-like shell of a rich chestnut color covers the body and ex- tends beyond the claws, so that the means of locomotion are not visible . as the huge form moves slowly and majestically along the sand or burrows silently beneath. In sharp contrast to the king crab is the small pale gray and freckled lady crab (platonichus ocellatus) which scurries away from the water line, where it has been indulging its omnivorous appetite, to a deep hole in the dry sandhills with a rapidity that requires a quick eye to follow the direction it has taken. The ungainly, sprawling spider crab (libinia emarginata) is covered with a thorny shell, and upon these thorns- or hooks it hangs fine seaweed, which it cuts from the parent stalk with its sharp claws, thus transforming itself into a waving mass of beauty to betray unsuspecting prey.
The hermit crab (eupagurus bernhardus) is without a home or char- acter of its own. The anterior portion of the body somewhat resembles the crawfish; the posterior, fleshy and soft, serving as a dainty morsel for its many foes, is without any natural shell covering, and any kind of a de- serted univalve shell, snail, winkle or conch, is appropriated and becomes the protection and home of this nomad.
The defiant fiddler crab (gelasimus minax) is a native of New Eng- land shores, but has become happily acclimated and flourishes as well as in its original home It takes its name from the huge lone claw which the male crab carries aloft in a manner that is in flat contradiction to all known
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
laws of gravitation. The claw, more than an inch in length, is as great as the diameter of the crab. Its habitat is the mud-flats and shores of the in- lets and bays. Fierce in conquest, jealous in domestic life and a pugilist at all times, the stamping ground of the fiddler crab is constantly strewn with remnants of its foes.
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SEA SHELLS.
1. Ilyanassa obsoleta and Nassa trivitatta-Drills.
2. Urosalpinx cinera-Drills.
3. Littorina littorea.
4. Siliqua costata.
5. Crepidula convexa or fornicata-Boatshell.
6.
Crepidula ungiformus-Boatshell.
7. Solens ensis-Sailors razor.
8. Siliquaria gibba.
9. Mytilus edulus.
10. Petricola pholadiformus-burrowing shellfish.
11. Modiola plicatula.
The blue or edible crab (callinectes hastatus) is found in very large numbers in the bays and inlets. It is eagerly sought for its food quali- ties, and at the time it sheds its shell, when it is known as the soft-shell crab, it is most highly prized.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
The tiny pea crab, appropriately named as to size (pinnotheres os- treum) inhabits the oyster, which it does not seem in any way to annoy. It constitutes a delicacy that is a favorite but costly article of commerce on account of its size.
The tiny anomura (trippa talpcidea), a white crustacean in the form of a beetle, from a half to three-quarters of an inch in length, is carried up by the waves in myriads and thrown on the beach at certain seasons of the year. Scarcely do they alight on the sand before the burrowing be- comes fast and furious, and they sink out of sight in an instant. The par- . ent anomura; is sometimes covered with progeny, clinging to the back, abdomen and sides, and in the mad scramble to reach cover some of them are thrown off, but no sooner do they touch the sand than they begin the same energetic operation and are lost to sight as quickly.
More than seventy-five varieties of shell-fish inhabit the Jersey waters. Some of these are carried by the Gulf Stream from the tropics and sur- vive the colder waters of thte temperate regions for a long time, but do not propagate, and their numbers are reinforced only in the above manner. Of the univalve shells of this character the cowry (cyprodea ) which is the ornament, jewel and currency of savage tribes, and the keyhole limpet or fissurilla (listeri) are among the number.
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The small destructive "drill," a native, of two varieties, (ilyanassa obsoleta and nassa trivitata) is very abundant. They are spiral or conch- shaped, dark brown and green in color, and about three-quarters of an inch in length. Very rapid in their movements, covering an incredible space in a short time, they are the inveterate foe and exterminator of other mollusks. The "drill" will secure a foothold on its intended victim, and using for a tool its long file-like tongue will saw a hole through the hard- est or most delicate shell with equal ease, and suck up the unfortunate crea- ture, which seems incapable of offering but little defense against a foe, that strews the beach with victims. They are also scavengers, and will not refuse dead crabs and mollusks.
Another little conch-shaped shell-fish is the urosalpinx cinera, found in the quiet waters of the bays and inlets, clinging to piling and submerged wood of any character. It is very slow in its movements, but is exceed- ingly pretty and graceful in shape, and the most destructive of "drills."
Two of the most delicately colored shells are the large snails (natica heros and natica duplicata). They are cast up on the strand in the infinite- simal specks of newly hatched young, up to the adult shell, the size of an orange. They move rapidly and feed upon mussels and tender shells, which they perforate. The eggs of this shell-fish are deposited in a nest known as the "Nidas," or sand saucer; this is composed of a glutinous
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
substance mixed with sand, in form and size not unlike a saucer; when held up to the light the eggs are revealed in tiny amber specks.
The littorina littorea is of foreign ancestry, but thrives well on this coast. It is a vegetarian, and is growing in favor with fishermen who cultivate it on the oyster beds to free them from certain kinds of injurious seaweed. It is an edible shell-fish but is not much valued for its food qualities in this country.
Two of the largest shells, resembling each other in size and shape but different in the character of the whorls, are the winkles ( fulgar carica and fulgar canaliculata). This pear-shaped minivalve inhabits deep waters and was at one time very abundant, but is now growing scarce. It is much sought for to decorate flower beds and lawns, and was used by the Indians to make wampum. The inside of the shell is a beautiful deep orange shad- ing to white. It is very destructive to the oyster, perforating and breaking the shell to feed upon the soft body within. The spawn of the winkle is formed of strings (over a foot long) of cases which contain the eggs. These cases are a little larger than a penny (slightly flattened) when fully developed, and like parchment in texture and color; there are nearly a hundred cases on a string and about forty eggs in a case. The young winkles are the size of a grain of rice when hatched, and are perfectly formed. The eggs are eagerly eaten by fish, and comparatively few arrive at maturity. There is usually found in the same masses of seaweed that contain these strings the "sailor's purse," the egg of the skate. This curi- osity is horny in texture, oblong in shape, and of a deep amber color, with a long tendril on each corner. It contains a yolk and albumen like the egg of the barnyard fowl. The "boat shell" (crepidula convexa) so named from its form and small inferior deck, is a small bowl-shaped univalve that adheres to deserted shells and rocks. It occupies the interior of old shells, an'd piles up one upon the other until seven or eight form a solid group. It attaches itself to a smooth or irregular surface with equal ease, the shell conforming to the shape of the object, and fastening by a strong muscle that has the power of suction. There are several varieties, all of which feed on seaweed. ?
Of the bivalve class, the oyster (ostrea virginiana ) is the best known on account of its numbers and commercial value. It has a rapid growth, and is found adhering to rocks or any fixed object in shallow water. On a sandy bottom the old shells of the oyster are the favorite objects. It has many foes-"drills," "winkles" and "starfish" destroy it in great numbers, and some kinds of seaweed are detrimental to its growth. The foe most dreaded on the Jersey coast is a coarse sponge that honeycombs the shells.
In a careful test made by the Oyster Commissioners of New Jersey 3
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
in Great Egg Harbor and other inlets, the following result was obtained : Oysters planted August 15, 1899, reached an average size of three-fourths of an inch in length, by one-half inch in width by April 1, 1900. By June 8, of the same year, they were one and one-half by three-fourth inches ; October 6, three by one and three-fourths; and by May 15, 1901, four inches by two inches, and in a fine marketable condition.
The anomia glabra, a mollusk closely allied to the oyster, is plentiful, but very small, and of little commercial value in consequence. Its valves are of unequal size. It adheres to fixed objects by a tiny but powerful mus- cle that protrudes through a perforation in the lower shell.
The clam is a native, and of many varieties. The "quahog" (venus mercenaria) is found buried in the sand and mud of the bays and inlets. The shell is very thick and hard. It was used by the Indians to make wampum, and for ornamental purposes. The animal itself, when dried and strung, formed a staple article of food for the Indians and early white settlers along the coast. The demand for Jersey clams, which seem, to have a flavor all their own, is constantly growing, and large quantities are being shipped even to the far west. The "manose" (mya arenaria) is found on the mud flats; it burrows very rapidly but remains in the hole it has once made for its home in a locality overflowed by the tide. The shell is very soft, and can be easily crushed with the fingers. The "manose" is the aristocrat of the clam family on account of its delicate flavor. It is growing too scarce to be an article of commerce to any great extent.
The sand clam (spisula solidissima) comes up in great numbers on the ocean strand after a storm or some special condition of the sea. It is the largest of all the varieties that inhabit the Jersey waters, is very active, and can burrow out of sight rapidly. The coarse, stringy flesh is a favorite food of starfish and drills. The young clams are devoured by sea gulls, which carry them in their bills to a great height and let them fall and break upon the ground, when they descend with lightning-like rapidity and eat them. The chief commercial use of the sand clam is for bait for codfish, and they are gathered and shipped to the fisheries in large quan- tities.
The most curious of clams is the "sailor's razor" (solens ensis) re- sembling the blade of a razor in shape and size. It inhabits deep, sandy bottoms, and is seldom found alive on the sea beach; the tender shell can not withstand the action of the waves. It is noted for its swift movements, jumping rather than swimming in the water. On the same grounds in- habited by the "manose" it also finds a home. Here it assumes a per- pendicular position halfway out of the hole which it has burrowed, and
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
where a number are congregated the ground resembles a forest of smail sticks. At the slightest intimation of danger it disappears, burrowing so rapidly that it is impossible to find it after it has once been alarmed. A careful approach, noiselessly and without jarring the sand by the foot- steps, may reward the hunter with a chance to grasp the shell, but even then the work of withdrawing it from the ground must be done with
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SEA SHELLS.
12. Natica heros-Snails.
13. Natica duplicata-Snails.
14. Pholas bakeri-Burrowing Shellfish.
15. Mya arenaria-Manose Clam.
great skill, for so tenaciously does it retain its hold that the empty shell is often all that remains in the hand, the powerful suction of the animal sepa- rating it from the shell and the body remaining in the ground. It is an edible shell-fish, but not greatly in demand.
Closely allied to the razor and inhabiting deep waters, is the "sili- quaria gibba." This avoids mud-flats or marshy grounds and is quite rare. Its frail shell is usually broken when carried up by the waves, and a perfect specimen is seldom seen.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
The common mussel, of three varieties, is very numerous. All of these propagate in deep water, where they remain a year, when they seek shallow water and attach themselves to rocks, submerged wrecks and seaweed by a thread or bysus which the animal spins. The mytillus edulus is the smallest. All have an elongated shell tapering to a point at the hinge. The modiola plicatula is about two inches long and an inch wide. The outside is corrugated and black or very dark, and the inside of the shell is an exquisite deep blue. It is unfit for manufacturing purposes of any kind, as it is very soft. It is an edible mussel, and the animal, of a deep yellow color, presents a peculiar appearance resting on the deep blue shell. The "horse mussel" (modiola modiolus) remains in. deep water longer than the other kinds. It is larger, but not so much sought for as a delicacy.
The pholas bakeri is a burrowing shell-fish, seldom found in a per- fect condition on the beach except when it has been carried up in the object in which it is burrowing; a block of wood, for instance, may contain a dozen fine specimens that have burrowed circular tunnels through it, and not in any case does one shell encroach upon its neighbor or pierce the tun- nel made by another. Fine lateral lines radiate from the hinge, and the beautiful white shell adds to its other charms a phosphorescent character that gives it a peculiarity seldom found in other shells. The petricola pholadiformus resembles the pholas bakeri closely in form and habits, but is much smaller and more abundant.
The scallop (pectens irradians) is very abundant. It is almost cir- cular in form, about an inch and a half in diameter, and has a ribbed shell. Its chief characteristic is the rapidity with which it moves about in search of food. It is edible, but the larger varieties elsewhere along the coast are more sought for.
The green sea urchin (strongylocentrotus drobachiensis) when living, is covered with long movable spines protruding from the slightly flattened globe-like shell, but when dead and divested of the spines the naked shell discloses a delicate tracery exceeding the sculptor's art in execution and de- sign. In size it seldom exceeds that of a walnut in temperate waters.
The "sand dollar," another sea urchin ( echinarachnius parma) is very numerous. It is flat and smooth on one side and slightly convex on the other, and a perfect star is carved in the center of the convex side, the rays extending almost to the edge of the shell. It grows about an inch and a half in diameter and is perfect in its disc-like proportions.
Very common are the acorn and goose barnacles (balanus eburneus and lepus fascicularis) found adhering to submerged wood. They are the scourge of large vessels from their habit of adhering to the part of the
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
hull in the water; so deeply as to sometimes impede the progress of the vessel. The latter takes its name from the feathery-like threads that issue from the shell. As if to atone for the disrepute in which it is held, a beautiful legend is told every time it is seen or mentioned, the world over, that "when it reaches maturity a tiny white goose emerges from the shell, and spreading its wings flies away to become a messenger for the sea gnomes and fairies."
Nature is constantly at, work. When one shell dies it serves as a foundation for smaller ones, and for the innumerable varieties of bryozoa or inferior coral to build upon, and on these, in turn, a thousand kinds of seaweed fasten their roots and flourish. An old shell may constitute a valuable zoological and botanical garden of the sea, which years of study would not exhaust.
Unlike the land, the sea is largely protected from the ravages of man, and nature asserts her voluptuous sway undisturbed and unmolested, withholding her wonders from curious eyes on nether rocks and deep sea foundations, and revealing to us only what the storms may wrest from her unwilling hands, or those forms which she herself may cast up when their mission is fulfilled and their span of life completed.
Plant life upon land has its wonderful orchids, its gorgeous or sombre blossoms of stately stalk and trailing vine, found in the soil to which they are indigenous, or transplanted and cultivated by skillful hands to different climes and greater perfection; but plant life of the ocean remains un- touched by art and untrammelled in its growth by forced migration. No florist trains the marvelous length of the chorda filum over trellised ar- bors, or confines the waving tangle of kelp and grasses to hanging baskets or beds of prescribed geometric lines. More than six thousand marine species riot over the rocks and valleys beneath the sea or float upon its surface in fitful or prolonged life. The shallow, green waters of the shores and in- lets, and the blue waters of the deep sea, each yields its own flora-as far removed in structure and habits as land plants of the tropics are removed from those of the temperate regions.
The favorable location of the New Jersey coast presents many ad- vantages for the growth of different varieties of ocean flora. Lying mid- way between the extremes of vegetation which affect alike both land and sea plants, together with the shoal waters extending far out and the deep sea beyond, it yields not only the growth of each condition of the waters, but the Gulf Stream, at an average distance of but sixty miles, sweeps up from the tropics, losing here and there portions of its flotsam which the tide catches and carries up on the beach, laying at our feet specimens that belong to far distant waters.
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SEA ALGAE.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
The best time to gather seaweed is in the early morning, before the sun has withered its dainty crispness or bleached its delicate coloring. It may be found about eight months of the year, from February to October. No place along the Jersey coast, perhaps, offers greater facilities for this fascinating pursuit than the point of land at the northern part of the island upon which Ocean City is located, bounded by the ocean, Great Egg Har- bor Inlet and Great Egg Harbor Bay. The long line of seawrack left by the ebb-tide curves around the prolific harbor, bends sharply to the Inlet. and then sweeps down the shining sands of the sea-beach as far as the eye can reach. Nature in her primeval condition is here revealed as the rising sun casts long quivering beans of red light over the broken swirl of waters on Great Egg Harbor Bar, changing the banks of vapor in the eastern sky to gold and purple and crimson, which slowly vanish to give place to the clear blue ether as the sun mounts higher in the heavens. The wash of the waves upon the strand and the low cry of an occasional gull are the only sounds that break the silence.
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