"LUy Pond Lane" 



(A bit of Long Island Ecology) 

 Arabella McKee 



On the North Fork, near the end of Long Island there is a 

 sandy lane leading to the sea. The approach is through the oak 

 woods. Among the oaks are a few graceful birches and an occa- 

 sional beech; and here and there are scattered some big lichen 

 covered rocks, that rolled over from Connecticut in the glacial 

 ice, our very first "settlers'' from that state. 



As one descends to within a few feet of the sea level, and 

 approximately within 500 feet of the sea itself, the whole charac- 

 ter of the vegetation changes. There are no trees but various 

 bushes and shrubs and plants growing at the tension lines, this 

 is due to the character of the soil, which becomes more and more 

 sandy, and to the strong sea winds. 



A little path to the left leads to a fresh water pond now fed by 

 springs. It is not at all brakish although it was originally part 

 of a great cut off from the sea which occurred hundreds of years 

 ago. Possibly it was a small glacial kettle still earlier, as the few 

 rounded rocks on the steep slope of the south side of the pond 

 would seem to indicate There is a series of such ponds along our 

 shore — and some of them are true glacial kettles; — Fuller in the 

 U. S. Geol. Survey (p. 177) — accounts for such great stretches of 

 sand forming cut offs as follows. 



"Currents sweeping along any stretch of coast tend to move 

 in straight or gently curving lines just outside of the headlands, 

 rather than in lines conforming to the minor irregularities and 

 indentations of the shore. The material they transport is 

 deposited owing to the slacking of their progress when the deeper 

 water is reached, forming bars — more or less completely con- 

 necting the headlands, and at many points enclosing areas of 

 relatively deep water. The beach between Hortons point, and 

 Duck Pond Point, was formed in this way and a second bar is in 

 process of formation" — This precisely accounts for our Lily 

 Pond. 



Here in the early spring the air is spicy from millions of plum 

 blossoms. (Prunus Maritima) . There are no leaves so early in 

 the season, so there is only the white flower of Prunus, the yellow 

 sand and the deep blue of the sea. Later there is shad bush 

 (Amelanchier intermedia) and in turn creamy spikes of clethra, 



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