ence, make their nests in the round tops of these diminutive trees. Near the 

 Point there is quite a thicket of underbrush, not scrub-oak, hard to pene- 

 trate. The nearest approach to a forest that now exists is found in Coskaty 

 Swamp. Mr. Wm. L. Foster of Hanover noted there, in 1885, white and red 

 oaks, the latter nearly a foot through, hickory, beech and tupelo. He was 

 told that holly grew there, but could find none. There is holly in the swamps 

 at the eastern end of the island large enough for fire-wood very sizable logs 

 may be seen in the 'Sconset wood-piles another melancholy sight. The whole 

 island is an example of what comes from cutting down the woods and mak- 

 ing no provision for their renewal. A few trees planted near dwellings for 

 shade or ornament, have spread somewhat by seed or suckers, but not 

 enough to be considered established. The common locust, the ailanthus, sil- 

 ver poplar and sycamore maple may be mentioned, but they make little 

 headway. The pines which make such a prominent feature in the landscape 

 are of late introduction, as it is well known. A stranger is surprised at the 

 straight lines in which they grow till he learns that they have come f vom 

 seed carefully sown by man. 



Some wood plants probably died out after the trees that sheltered them 

 were gone; but even now, Nantucket, though treeless, is not a flowerless 

 isle; according to tradition it was once a garden of flowers. Such it was 

 called by the Frenchman, Marsillac, who nearly a hundred years ago, re- 

 gardless of his silk stockings, plunged into the swamps for their floral 

 treasures, and such was the testimony of those who, in the childhood of 

 the writer, could tell her of its appearance in the early part of this cen- 

 tury, before the sheep ran at large. Sheep have been kept on the island 

 from early times, but formerly the commons were divided by fences into 

 pastures, occupied in turn by the whole flock in successive years, leaving 

 each pasture two or more years to recover from the close cropping. The 

 Newtown Gate, which stood at the end of Orange street near the first mile- 

 stone, opened, during the resting years of the pasture beyond, upon an ex- 

 panse of luxuriant vegetation where many kinds of flowers were common 

 which afterwards were rarely found. About the year 1822 this system was 

 given up for the sheep to range at will, and those who loved the flowers 

 never ceased to lament the great decrease in their quantity and variety. In 

 1849, another change in the town laws forbade the free run of the sheep ; 

 many people gave up their flocks, those who held them kept them enclosed, 

 and the flowers had another chance, which they improved, not unopposed, 

 however. Gunners are in the habit of burning the bushes in various parts 

 of the island during the yearly sporting season, and the fire burrows down 

 amongst the roots for some days, destroying forever much that grew on 

 those spots. 



