FOEESTS OP SCHUYLER CO. : LONG ISLAND. 457 



Schuyler County. — In the autumn of 1804, Alexander Wilson, the 

 ornithologist, made a journey on foot from Philadelphia to ISTiagara, 

 passing up the Susquehanna Valley, and by the way of Seneca Lake to 

 Oswego. His adventures were related in a poem, entitled " The For- 

 esters," in which he described the magnificent white-pine forest then 

 growing in the summit valley that extends from the Chemung Eiver to 

 Seneca Lake. It is of historical interest, as showing the impressions 

 made by a forest apparently inexhaustible, but which did not long sur- 

 vive the completion of the Chemung Canal through the valley in 1832- 

 '33. The last vestige, as standing timber, disappeared about 1845. 



No-w dark before us, gulfs of pine are seen, 



That bear the name still of their Indian queen ; 



Great Catherine's swamps their deepening round extend, 



Down whose dun gloom we awefnlly descend ; 



Around us thick, the crowding pillars soar, 



Surpassing all we ever viewed before, 



So straight, so tall, so tow'ring side by side, 



Each, in itself, appears the forest's pride ; 



A thousand fleets, with twice ten thousand more, 



May here find masts in everlasting store; 



Here melancholy monks might moping dwell, 



Nor ray of sunshine ever reach their cell, 



Through the dread twilight reigning horrid here, 



In holy groans theic relics sad revere. 



Great solitary shades! so still and deep, 



Even passing sighs in hollow murmurs creep ! 



The silence deep, the solemn gloom profound, 



The venerable piles that lise around, 



Such awe inspire, thar, as we upward gaze, 



In whispers low, we murmur our amaze. 



Queens and Suffolk Counties. — General remarJcs relating to tJie 

 rcoodlands of Long Island. — The soil of the island diflters greatly in qual- 

 ity and material. The hilly region along the middle part is largely of 

 unmodified loamy drift. The north side next to the sound is of similar 

 material. The south side next to the bay and ocean is more sandy, and 

 is a plain, gently sloping to the ocean. That part of this plain in Suf- 

 folk County is largely covered with the pitch-pine {Finns rigida), hard 

 woods occurring in manj- places. 



In relative abundance, the trees may be arranged as follows: The oak 

 family is much the most numerous; then the hickories, chestnut, and 

 locust, which together form the bulk of the woodlands, and grow with 

 great vigor in all the loamy districts. The following trees are common, 

 but are not so abundant as to form a prominent feature in the forests: 

 Tulip, sweet-birch, sugar-maple, linden, white-elm, cherry, black-walnut, 

 beech, larch, and eminently the white-pine, balsam, poplar, and white 

 birch. Of the oaks, the white, red, and yellow-bark are about equally 

 common. Of the hickories, the white is most abundant. The sassafras 

 would, with a little protection, beaome very abundant, but is hunted for 

 its crooked branches and roots, and scarcely a farmer forbids it. 



The average height of our forests, when forty to fitty years old, is 

 about 70 feet. They are usually cut at that age, and on poor soils 

 would, at fifty years, be not over GO to 65 feet. The chestnut grows to a 

 great size ; sometimes 5 or G feet in diameter at 3 feet from the ground. 

 The white-oak also grows to a large size. The pitch-pine forests cover 

 thousands of acres of the sandy land of Suffolk County, growing slowly, 

 and almost to the edge of salt water. It is mostly sold as cord-wood, 

 only the large trees containing pitch in the heart wood. The white-pinej 

 once abundant, is now limited to one or two small forests, but would 



