yi We 
first enclosed as farms.” ‘* The grass formerly grew to the height 
of five or six feet, but the earliest variety—Secretary grass 

was 
short and fine, making a very thick, tough sod, which required 
two vokes of oxen in breaking it up.” For a long time these 
plains were common pasturage, and they became not only the cen- 
ter of the wool-raising industry on Long Island, but also, from 
the earliest times, due to their level stoneless expanse, they were 
a meeting-ground for horse-racing. Daniel M. Tredwell (Remu- 
niscences of Long Island, p. 91. Brooklyn. 1912) describes the 
plains as a “territory reserved by the original, or in the original 
grants or patents, to the inhabitants of the town for pasturage of 
cattle and sheep, and in the early days of the colony thousands of 
cattle and sheep were pastured there. The further privilege was 
eranted to every freeholder of cutting grass on said plains. The 
commissioners of highways were required to keep open the means 
of access to the public watering places, and for the purpose of 
looking after the interest of freeholders who patronized the public 
lands. " 
These plains are to the present day covered by an exceedingly 
hard turf of beard grass (Andropogon scopartus), the firmness of 
which has probably been to a large extent instrumental in pre- 
venting the growth of trees. Where this turf has been broken 
through, young black cherries and poplars often put in their ap- 
pearance. In the spring great areas of these plains have a blue 
tinge due to the flowers of Itola pedata; with ae are often asso- 
ciated the pink polygala (Polygala polygama), blue-eyed-grass 
eee and the basal rosettes of Aletris oe Clumps 
of wild indigo (Paptisia tinctoria) and the dwarf willow (Salix 
tristis), stand out as knob-like projections on these plains. ‘These 
jen 
species have been discussed in some detail in the study of the 
Hempstead Plains by Henry Hicks,t who states (p. 9) that the 
erass was probably very much taller originally than at present, 
this contention being expressed by such phrases as “a man might 
miss his way in the tall grass ” and “ cattle lving down in the grass 
were lost to sight.” Vertical sections of the plains (p. 6) show 
“first a thick and firm turf in black soil over a layer of yellow 
1 Ms. copy: “ The Flora of the Hempstead Plains ” (1892), in the library 
of the eck lyn Botanic Garden, 
