Liberty and Prosperity
New Jersey was the third state admitted to the Union, on this date in 1787. It was the first state to sign the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. It derives its name from the isle of Jersey, just off England’s shore (and also near Britain).
The official state bird of New Jersey is the American Goldfinch.
The state bug is the honey bee (apis mellifera).
The state tree is the red oak (Quercus borealis maxima). The state flower is the common meadow violet (Viola sororia). The state shell is the knobbed whelk, also known as the conch shell (Busycon carica gmelin). The state fish is the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), the state animal is the horse (Equus caballus),
and the state dinosaur is the Hadrosaurus (Hadrosaurus foulkii).
The eggplant is not the official vegetable of New Jersey because it’s not a vegetable. It’s a fruit – berry, actually – and New Jersey claims to produce two-thirds of all the eggplant in the world. (It’s a bogus claim, and one that leaves me wondering not so much about the world eggplant situation, but the mindset of whoever thought it would enhance New Jersey’s reputation if people thought it was the world’s leading producer of eggplant. I mean, eggplant?)
Blueberries became the official berry of New Jersey in 2004. Before that, many thought it was almost certainly the eggplant, which would predictably cause great confusion among persons accustomed to putting berries in their cereal.
New Jersey has a population of 8.48 million on 7,417 square miles of land. It’s the fifth smallest state in the country. With 1,134 people per square mile, it’s the densest state in the nation. The relative density of New Jersey should come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever driven behind a car with Jersey plates.
And we didn’t have to mention the president elect’s golf course.
And so it goes
The Haus of Dcaligari 