as common in Tompkins County as in other sections. As 
rapidly as the land could be cleared and burned over it 
was sown to wheat, planted to corn, or made into pastures. 
"after having cut away the smaller trees and underbrush, 
they trimmed some of the larger ones, girdled the pines, 
and rolled them into heaps to burn." In this way it 
is roughly estimated by men whose fathers settled in 
Tompkins County, that fully sixty per cent. of the forest 
growth was ruthlessly destroyed. In the thoughtless 
haste to get tillable land, and to obtain what little 
income they could from the forest, much rough, hilly 
land was denuded of its forest cover, and thus there were 
left, many steep, bare, unproductive hillsides that are 
by nature fitted to grow little else than forests. This 
condition of denuded hillsides is particularly evidenced 
in the townships of Caroline, Danby and Newfield. The 
other tionships are somewhat better fitted for agriculture, 
and yet, it is an evident fact that there is considerable 
rough waste land in any of the townships, from which the 
forest growth ought never to have been cut. Such areas 
are ordinarily of no great value for pastoral purposes 
as they are overrun with bushes or badly cut up by the 
elements of soil erosion and will never be fit for 
So 
cultivation. 
a a re 
1. History of Dryden. 
