Secrets of the soil

A typical scene in the Pine Barrens where Downer soil is found. — Vilseskogen/Flickr

You probably knew that New Jersey has an official state bird (Eastern goldfinch), a state flower (the wild violet), a state bug (the honey bee), a state animal (the horse) and two state trees (the red oak and, for memorial purposes, the dogwood).

But I betcha didn’t know we also have an official state soil. Soils are named after the site where they first were identified, and ours, known as “Downer,” forever commemorates the investigatory digging in the dirt that went on 40 years ago in Downer, a section of Monroe Township in Gloucester County.

Although a New Jersey soil scientist (who shall remain nameless) once confided that he found Downer a “boring soil,” it is by far the most prevalent in the state. It occurs on 291,319 acres, and is found underfoot in the 11 counties of southern New Jersey.

Described as a coarse, loamy sand, Downer developed partly from deposits of marine sediments as Atlantic Ocean levels rose and fell with the retreat and advance of glaciers in ages long past. Other components were washed into the mix by erosion from points inland.

There’s a lot of this stuff, and not just in Jersey — it’s the chief coastal soil of Delaware and Maryland, too. But we hold it especially dear, since it is our candidate in the national array of state soils recognized by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and in some cases endorsed by individual state legislatures as well. (In New Jersey, alas, we have failed to bestow the official, legislative imprimatur.)

Downer is old and deep, more than 60 inches from surface to bedrock. Moderately fertile and strongly acid, it is the soil of the Pine Barrens, the South Jersey truck farms and the low-bush blueberry fields.

Soil profiles tell a story. This one is from Montana. — NRCS Montana/Flickr

The native plants that grow there are, as you would imagine, plants that favor a very acid soil — oaks, pines, holly and mountain laurel. Deep in the Pine Barrens, in the bogs and sloughs, also grow our native carnivorous plants, the sundew, the pitcher plant and the bladderwort, ceaselessly on the lurk for tasty prey items like insects and free-swimming larvae.

The American pantheon of soils includes one from every state, and honorees from Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well; when you’re on American soil, you may well be on one of these. Fifty-three soils may sound like a lot, but scientists have identified 70,000 different soils worldwide, each with its own unique profile.

A dozen American soils star each year in the USDA’s State Soil Planning Guide calendar, each represented by a photo of its constituent soil layers, a picture of a typical landscape where it occurs and brief notes on its characteristics. These are the Dewars profiles of the world of soil. Hey, it’s not pinups, it’s not beefcake, it’s not cute puppies or birds of North America, but it is kind of interesting.

If I were a plant root, I think I might want to move to the Harney soil of Kansas, described as an ideal prairie soil and deep, dark brown in its upper layer. Drummer, a rich soil of Illinois, is among the most productive in the world and looks quite delicious, from a plant’s point of view. Florida’s Myakka soil, on the other hand, might be good for dieting — it’s light and lean, being largely composed of pure, nearly white, sand.

Soils are vital to life on earth, since it is within their embrace that the entire land-based food chain begins. Similar to a living thing, soil has been described as a “natural body” that should be given, according to NRCS Chief Pearlie Reed, the respect it deserves.

Well, all right. Our soil might be less sexy than some of the prairie and volcanic types. It might be a tad boring, being common rather than rare. But remember it fondly the next time you eat South Jersey asparagus. The No. 1 soil of our own Garden State is a Downer, but not a bummer.