MODE OF RENOVATING APPLE-ORCHARDS.——LONG ISLAND LANDS.—NO. 1. 
319 
have given the height of the bam and carriage- 
house, which is eighteen feet posts. The expense 
of erecting one sheep-barn would be about $150. 
The expense of erecting all of the buildings would 
be about eight or ten hundred dollars, depending 
entirely upon the price of lumber, and of labor. 
MODE OF RENOVATING APPLE-ORCHARDS. 
I came in possession last spring of a bearing ap¬ 
ple-orchard, are just such as many parts of the face of 
New Jersey is blessed with. It bore the unerring 
marks of almost total neglect. The heads of the 
trees were a perfect mat of moss-covered, stunted 
branches, with an abundance of sprouts shooting up 
at the base of the trees, presenting the most un¬ 
sightly and slovenly appearance that it is possible 
to imagine. My first efforts were directed to prun¬ 
ing, which I did thoroughly and effectually, at least 
to my own satisfaction. My next object was to 
spade and dig away the tough, hide-bound sward 
for about six feet in diameter from around the body 
of each tree, and with saw and axe, to clear away all 
sprouts. With the spade, I scraped the old loose 
bark off the trunk of the trees, and then with a 
sharp-pointed knife and a piece of flexible, sharp- 
pointed wire, I dug out the great enemy of the ap¬ 
ple-tree, the borer. I then threw around each tree 
nearly half a bushel of unleached wood-ashes, 
and afterwards dug in around them a coat of 
good barn-yard manure, covered about six inches 
thick, and secured from the drying influence 
of the sun, with road-washings, which, by the by, 
is great stuff for trees. This is what I have already 
done, and I need not say my orchard looks vastly 
different. 
It is my intention to wash the trunks of the trees 
with strong soap-suds, plow up all the land, and 
lime it with oyster-shell lime. Then you may pos¬ 
sibly hear from me again, and probably yet taste 
the effects of my plan. W. D. 
Morristown, N. J., Aug., 1847. 
LONG ISLAND LANDS.—-No. 1. 
Long Island, which forms the southeastern por¬ 
tion of the State of New York, extends from Fort 
Hamilton, at the Narrows, to Montauk Point, a 
distance of about 140 miles. Its breadth, as far 
east as Greenport, a distance of about one hundred 
miles, varies from 12 to 20 miles, beyond which it 
is much less. The whole island embraces an area of 
960,000 acres, or 1,500 square miles. 
A ridge, or chain of hills, commonly known as the 
“ Green-Mountains,” or “ Back-bone” of the island, 
commences at New Utrecht, in the county of King’s, 
and extends with occasional interruptions and de¬ 
pressions, to Oyster-Pond Point, in the county of 
Suffolk. A branch of this ridge diverges from 
Smithtown, and continues along the south branch of 
the island to Montauk Point. Some of these hills, 
which are usually of a round-backed form, without 
any approximation to regularity, often present, 
within a short distance, elevations and depressions 
of one hundred feet, and in some instances approach 
an elevation of three or four hundred feet above the 
level of the sea. Among these hills there fre¬ 
quently occur bowl-shaped hollows, in which water 
collects, and for the want of a ready outlet, is form¬ 
ed into marshes, “ pond-holes,” or small crystalline 
lakes. 
The surface of the island north of the dividing 
ridge is generally rough and broken, with the ex¬ 
ception of the necks and points of land which stretch 
into the Sound. These, for the most part, are level 
or undulating in their surface, and comprise some 
of the best farms the island affords. Southward of 
the back-bone, or ridge, the surface is even, and 
slopes almost insensibly to the eye from the hills 
to the ocean. On both sides of the island are nu¬ 
merous streams, fed from springs emerging from the 
higher hills, which, after subserving the purposes 
of irrigating the soil, or turning mills, discharge 
themselves into the bays or Sound. 
Along the south side of the island is an inland 
bay, about 70 miles in length and from two to five 
miles wide, in and adjoining which are extensive 
tracts of salt-marsh and islands of meadow, that an¬ 
nually produce immense crops of grass. The 
beach that separates this bay from the ocean is 
composed almost entirely of sand, which in some 
places is drifted into hillocks of fantastic shapes, 
while in others it is low, flat, and scarcely rising 
above the level of the tide. This beach, at some 
points, is nearly half a mile in width ; and, like al¬ 
most the entire south shore of Long Island, produ¬ 
ces but little vegetation except here and there a few 
straggling cedars, or a clump of beach-plums 
(Prunus maritima), to diversify the scene. 
The northern part of the island, including the di¬ 
viding ridge, is well supplied with thrifty and grow¬ 
ing wood, identical with that of the adjacent forests 
on the main-land ; but in travelling from Jamaica 
to Farmingdale, on the railroad, we pass through a 
vast tract of land, estimated to contain 17,000 
acres, commonly known by the name of “ Hemp¬ 
stead Plains,” which, save now and then a cultivat¬ 
ed spot, presents neither shrub nor tree, with the 
exception of a few scrub-oaks, three or four feet 
high, and occasionally a patch of stagger-bush, or 
kill-calf ( Andromeda mariana ), to relieve the eye. 
The latter is so called, from a popular notion that 
it produces in lambs and calves which feed upon it, 
in the spring or early summer, the disease called the 
staggers ; but its injurious qualities are doubted by 
many, and even those who believe in its poison¬ 
ous effects in the spring, admit that it may be eaten 
with impunity later in the season. 
These plains, or prairies, it would seem, have re¬ 
mained in a similar condition as at present beyond 
the memory of man, and have ever attracted atten¬ 
tion as a great natural curiosity from the first dis¬ 
covery of the country. From an exceedingly rare 
work, published in 1670, entitled “A Brief De¬ 
scription of New York, formerly called New Neth¬ 
erlands, with the places thereunto adjoining,” by 
Daniel Denton, we extract the following :— 
“Towards the middle of Long-Island, lyeth a 
plain sixteen miles long and four broad, upon which 
plain grows very fine grass, that makes exceeding 
good Hay, and is very good pasture for sheep or 
other Cattel; where you shall find neither stick nor 
stone to hinder the Horse heels, or endanger them 
in their Races, and once a year the best Horses in 
the Island are brought hither to try their swiftness, 
and the swiftest rewarded with a silver Cup, two 
being Annually procured for that purpose. There 
