AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 47 



"In 1659, the town of Huntington, (where Mr. Wilson is,) by 

 a vote of the town meeting, resolved, that no timber should be cut 

 for sale within three miles of the settlement under a penalty of 

 five shillings for every tree." 



" In 1668, the magistrates, after stating their apprehensions that 

 the town was in danger of being l-uined by the destruction of its 

 timber, ordered that no timber should be cut for transportation, 

 (exportation,) within three miles of the settlement, under a penalty 

 of five shillings for every tree," &c. 



"In 1660, the to^vn of Oysterbay passed a similar resolution." 

 . "In 1664, Southampton voted that no timber should be made 

 into pipe staves there, under the penalty of twenty shillings a tree." 



" In 1668, the town of Newtown voted that no one should carry 

 any timber to the water side for transportation, (exportation,) 

 under the penalty of ten shillings a load." 



"The trees in the woods were so thin and sparse, that they 

 abounded in feed^ and the settlers depended on them for pas- 

 ture," &c. 



"In 1668, the town of Huntington, at town meeting, voted that 

 every male over sixteen should assemble when warned by the men 

 appointed for that purpose, to cut down brush or underwood, 

 when it should be thought a fit time to destroy it, under the 

 penalty of five shillings a day for neglect." 



" Seventh of October, 1672, the governor and court of assize, 

 by an order, after stating that the feed for horses and cattle in 

 the woods on Long Island had decayed by the increase of brush 

 and underwood, directed the inhabitants, from sixteen to sixty, to 

 turn out four days in every year, under the direction of the town 

 officers, to cut out the brush and underwood, under the penalty 

 of five shillings for every day's neglect,'' &c., &c. 



It appears that at the first settlement of the island, the pine 

 plains were in a great measure unincumbered with underbrush. 

 " This was of immense advantage to the first settlers. • Had they 

 been obliged to encounter thick forests of large timber, and to 

 wait the tardy returns of heavy clearings, the first emigrants 

 would probably have perished by famine. The openness of the 

 country, the quantity of land left unoccupied by the sparseness 

 of the Indian population, and the rapid growth and nutritive 

 quality of the corn, (sea maize,) found among the Indians, con- 

 tributed essentially to the preservation, growth and prosperity of 

 the first settlers on Long Island." 



