Davis : Do Not Burn the Woods 69 



pendent for March 31, 1910, Prof. Seligman shows very conclu- 

 sively that the adjustment between wages and commodities will 

 right itself as it has in the past, and that the real cause for con- 

 cern is the " lessening of the powers of man over nature, and the 

 failure of the same exertion to yield corresponding results." He 

 mentions the prodigal waste of natural resources and the butchery 

 of our soil, and there is no greater butcher of woodland and 

 meadow than the destroyer fire. 



Within the past few years several barns and many fences have 

 been consumed on our island by these wasteful woodland fires, 

 and since 1864 over forty kinds of wild plants have been exter- 

 minated ; that is to say, we have lost on an average one species of 

 plant every year. At present this destruction is going on faster 

 than in the past, and many other kinds of plants are nearly 

 exterminated. The ground where these plants once grew is not 

 used for any purpose ; it has simply been burned over and over 

 again until the plants have been killed. 



What would be thought of the result if the northern and more 

 wooded part of Central Park, Manhattan, were burned over, 

 annually destroying many of the small trees, bushes, and dry 

 leaves, and making the place a blackened ruin? How much less 

 attractive the park would be. Rightly enough great precautions 

 are taken to prevent this in the parks, and what is good for the 

 parks is also good for our island. 



We take it that many of the families who reside on Staten 

 Island and have homes in the country, have located with a view 

 to enjoying the natural surroundings, and will be most regretful 

 when these are a thing of the past. They will tell you that they 

 admire the wild flowers and are interested in the birds, but the 

 conditions that are being unnecessarily rushed upon us by a few 

 ignorant persons are fast destroying these things. 



It has always paid from a real estate point of view to have the 

 beauties of nature near at hand, as to witness the value of prop- 

 erty near to parks, and such real estate ventures as Laurence Park 

 at Bronxville. 



