CHAPTER IV 



OTHER RESOURCES OF NEW YORK STATE 



Trees grow naturally throughout New York as 

 they do also in New England. They spring up freely 

 in every neglected field and fence corner, as grass 

 does on the western prairie or moss in the cool forest 

 shade. The farmer contends with brush — the young 

 trees — as he does with common weeds. Given a 

 chance they will make every fence-row a dense hedge 

 of vegetation, overgrown with vines. To the person 

 accustomed to the difficulty of growing trees in the 

 middle and western states, this ease with which trees 

 spring up in New York is a matter of wonder. Their 

 cool shade reaches into the villages and many of the 

 larger cities and gives them a cool and comfortable 

 aspect. 



Practically every part of the State was originally 



covered by forest, much of it very dense. About the 



only exception was the prairie area of Hempstead 



soils on western Long Island. Great forests of pine 



and hemlock mixed more or less with hardwood 



species covered all the lower and better lands and 



reached well up into the mountain regions. In the 



latter, spruce and hemlock were more common. 



The quality and variety of timber reflected the qual- 



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