12 BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS 



authority, it was ordered 'that no person not having an allotment and 

 thereby a right, in the commons should cut timber in Easthampton.' It 

 now became necessary to provide against the frequent fires, which were 

 found more destructive than the trespasses of individuals, and in 1710, 

 the Trustees were authorized to call out the inhabitants to assist in extin- 

 guishing them. Upon the erection of the church a few years afterwards, 

 it was found necessary to resort to Gardiner's Island for timber of sufficient 

 size for the frame." 



Besides this unmistakable evidence of the presence of forest, the pro- 

 tection of which had already become a matter of concern, the village records 

 give us many hints of the importance of the grassland at Montauk. On 

 June 20, 1744, they authorized "Captain Baker to build a house for the 

 shepherds west of Fort Pond." And forty-three years later there appeared 

 in the town records the following, under date of January 22, 1787. (Re- 

 cords of the Town of Easthampton 6: 252. 1889.). 



" 1st. That all the hither end of Montauk west of the fort pond, shall 

 be improved, to keep sheep for the benefit of the proprietors, and that all 

 the cattle and horses shall be kept to the eastward of the said fort pond. 



2d. That sixty-four sheep shall be allowed to go on one whole share, 

 and in the same proportion for a greater or less right, and that four sheep 

 shall go on and be entered in lieu of one neat beast, and that the lambs 

 shall be entered on right, the same as grown sheep, by the first Wednesday 

 in November, or be liable to poundage as grown sheep, and that all sheep 

 that shall be found grazing on said land of Montauk not having right or 

 not being duly entered, shall be impounded, the owner or owners of all 

 such sheep so impounded paying two shillings for each sheep so impounded." 



During the Revolution we get a vivid picture of the amount of grazing 

 for on July 5, 1775, "The people of East and Southampton pray Congress 

 that Captain Hurloert's company, now raising for Schuyler's army, may 

 remain to guard the stock on the common lands of Montauk (2,000 cattle 

 and 3 or 4,000 sheep) from the ravages of the enemy." This was granted 

 bv Congress on July 31, 1775, tul in spite of it the British took the cattle 

 from Montauk on August 23, 1779. 



That there may have been forests at Montauk greater than those found 

 at the present time is indicated by Thompson in 1839, in the first volume 

 of his "History of Long Island ' (page 307) where he says: " [The] Peninsula 

 of Montauk, containing as it does more than 9,000 acres, constitutes a 

 considerable portion of the town (Easthampton). The timber once so 

 abundant has now greatly depreciated." Such records of Thompson, and 

 they have many times been repeated by Prime, Furman, Ross, Gabriel and 

 other historians of Longlsland, maybe more true than they realized. While 

 within historic times there is scarcely any evidence of great changes, as to 



