THE PRIMITIVE FOREST : ITS COMPOSITION. 9 



Schenectady, "the end of the pine plains," indicates that this species 

 was conspicuous in that region, although it seems that there it was 

 largely mixed with Pitch Pine. We are told that Pine street in New 

 York City took its name from the "many magnificent pines" that 

 adorned the farm of Jan Jansen Damen. a 



Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, who visited Albany in 1749, 

 writes: "The White Pine is found abundant here. The greater part 

 of the merchants have extensive estates in the country and a great deal 

 of wood. If their estates have a little brook, they do not fail to erect 

 a sawmill upon it for sawing boards and planks, with which commod- 

 ity many yachts go during the summer to New York, having scarce 

 any other lading than boards. They saw a vast quantity of deal from 

 the White Pine on this side of Albany, which is exported." 



The younger Michaux states that in 1801 "the shores of Lake Cham- 

 plain appeared to be most abundantly peopled with this species." 



Dr. Torrey wrote in 1843: "The White Pine is found in most parts 

 of the State;" and further, "Our chief extensive forests of this noble 

 and most valuable tree" are "on the headwaters of the Hudson and 

 on the rivers which empty into the St. Lawrence; on the Salmon and 

 Black rivers, which empty into Lake Ontario; on the headwaters of 

 the Delaware and Susquehanna, and on the headwaters of the Allegheny 

 and Genesee." This distribution includes substantially the entire 

 State except the lowlands, from which the White Pine had been taken 

 by the early settlers long before Torrey wrote. 



The Adirondack tourist of to-day can still see in the tall trees at 

 Paul Smith's, or in the noble colonnade of White Pine along the shores 

 of Forked Lake, further evidence of its extensive habitat. 



The Catskill region was also rich in White Pine, with a strong 

 admixture of Hemlock on its mountainous slopes. The Ulster County 

 Gazette contains an advertisement, dated November 13, 1799, which 

 reads as follows: 



For Sale. 



The one-half of a 



SAWMILL 



With a convenient place .for building, 

 lying in the town of Rochester. ,J By the 

 Mill is an inexhaustible quantity of Pine 

 W oon. 



Any person inclined to purchase may 

 know the particulars by applying to 



John Schoomaker, Jun. 



"New York Historic Trees. New York Times, May 12, 1901. 

 b Town of Rochester, Ulster County; not the city of that name. 



