MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 391 



kelp, rockweed and seaweed, which is at times thrown upon 

 parts of the coast in large quantities. 



The whole extent of the island is 26,390 acres of farm 

 land, of which 4,740 are under cultivation, 5,736 in wood, 

 15,716 unimproved or pasture land, and 1,298 unim- 

 provable. 



There is a great amount of good wood, largely of oak, on 

 the northern and western parts of the island, and in the 

 lower, moister and less exposed localities I noticed many 

 grand oaks that would girt quite six feet. 



On the south-eastern part of the Vineyard some hundreds 

 of acres have been sown with the seed of the common pitch 

 pine, and carry trees thirty and forty feet high, showing well 

 what might be done with enterprise and patience. These 

 have not suffered from a fungoid growth, destroying the foli- 

 age and trees, as have the pines on the neighboring island of 

 Nantucket. Whether they were the same variety no one 

 could inform me. 



Remains of submarine forests have been found at Vine- 

 yard Haven and in other places, showing that the island was 

 once heavily Avooded, as also Gosnold, the first discoverer, 

 so states. 



A large part of the territory is good farming land, and 

 would compare favorably with that of almost any town in 

 eastern Massachusetts, or indeed with many of those on the 

 hard hills of Worcester West or Franklin, and is suscepti- 

 ble of producing much more than it now yields.* 



The Vineyarders have long been noted for their hospi- 

 table and cordial treatment of visitors ; they are a hardy 

 race and have sent over every sea on the globe their brave 

 sailors and skilled fishermen, who carry with them such a 

 devoted fondness for their island home, that it ultimately 

 brings back to their beloved Vineyard almost all who are 

 not " in the deep bosom of the ocean buried." 



* In " Letters from an American Farmer," printed in 1782, which attracted much 

 attention at the time, and after. Hector S". John, the author, says, — " Edgar is the 

 best seaport and the shire town. Chilmark has no good harbor, but the land is 

 excellent, and no way inferior to that on the continent. It contains excellent 

 pastures, convenient brooks for mills, stone for fencing, etc. Tisbury is remarkable 

 for the excellence of its timber, and has a harbor where the water is deep enough 

 for ships of the line. The stock of the island is 20,000 sheep, 2,000 neat cattle, 

 besides horses and goats. They have also some deer and abundance of sea fowl." 



