46 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



sure at the prospect of new developement of its undoubted natu- 

 ral riches. 



Judge Greenwood observed that while agriculture was a 

 highly profitable employment, there was in it a much more 

 noble character, for the man employed in it was in co-operation 

 with the Deity, and he proposed the healths of the reverend 

 gentlemen who were on the committee. 



The Rev. Thomas L. Guyon said he was highly pleased with 

 the remarks of the worthy host, who has shown himself to be 

 not only an agriculturist, but a poet and a philanthropist. That 

 agriculture was man's earliest occupation, and that he was 

 placed in Paradise for that purpose, to cultivate and to keep it. 

 Mr. Wilson has made a paradise here, in the midst of these 

 miserable scrub oaks. Here his turnips, carrots, and pumpkins 

 speak for themselves, and the beets cannot be beat. 



Thanks were passed to the chairman and secretary, and to Mr. 

 Morris, the intelligent, prudent, and therefore safe ruler of the 

 railroad, and to the company for their greatly improved road. 



The rain fell fast during the whole day, but the enthusiasm of 

 committee at being witnesses, as it were, of the regeneration of 

 this really lovely, but neglected Island, kept the committee 

 wai-m although wet. 



HENRY MEIGS, Chairman. 



Henry S. Clubb, Secretary. 



Mew-York, JVovemher 3, 1855. 



HISTORICAL NOTES AS TO LONG ISLAND BY DR. PECK. 



Sketch of the First Settlement of Long Island; by the Hon. 

 Silas Wood, of the U. S. Congress. Published by Mr. Alden 

 Spooner, Brooklyn, in 1828. 



"At the iirst settlement of Long Island, it appears that the 

 western part of it, if not the whole of it, was in a great measure 

 bare of timhery 



Because, the Indians here, as every where else, when they set- 

 tled, annually burned over the woods, in order to clear the land, 

 to provide food for the deer and other game. 



" There are numerous facts to prove that at the time of the first 

 settlement of the island, the woods were destitute of underbrush, 

 and large trees so scarce that it was deemed necessary to take 

 measures for their preservation." 



