A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE UNCULTIVATED LANDS ON 
DONG' ISLAND IN 1850. 
In answer to numerous inquiries relative to 
the uncultivated lands on Long Island, and for 
information concerning them, the attention of 
the public is directed to the following brief ac¬ 
count of their position, natural capabilities, and 
the facilities they offer the city mechanic, the 
market gardener, the fruit-grower, the dairyman, 
and all others who are in quest of a new home. 
These lands are mostly in the interior or mid¬ 
dle parts of the Island, and probably were at 
first neglected more from their remote situation, 
than anything else, being inland , as it is com¬ 
monly expressed by the inhabitants. 
In fact, there does not appear to be any other 
cause for the origin of the discredit in which 
this portion of the island has been long held, 
than that it was a few miles from the shores, 
and therefore not so desirable to the early set¬ 
tlers as the lands bordering on the beautiful 
bays and harbors that surround them. 
Indeed, all the first settlements were made 
near the shores; for the waters afford great priv- 
leges, added to the pleasures and comforts 
of life, as they abounded with fish and wild 
fowls in great variety; and which were a means 
of subsistence to the inhabitants then, as now. 
There is no other way to account for the strange 
and singular neglect of the middle regions of 
this Island. The eastern parts of it are highly 
cultivated, with a soil by nature no better than 
that now under consideration ; the northern and 
southern shores, nearly its whole length, have 
been settled and cultivated, as long as the west¬ 
ern part of it; more than 200 years. 
By reference to the old maps of Long Island, 
it will be seen that the settlements are as above 
described, and that the middle portion, for about 
forty miles long, and from six to eight miles 
broad, a^e entirely a blank. The Long-Island 
Railroad passes through nearly the centre, from 
east to west, of this unimproved tract, which 
commences at Farmingdale, distant thirty-one 
miles from the city, and extends to Riverhead, 
about forty miles. 
The “ Great Hempstead Plains” are nearer 
the city, being only about sixteen miles distant. 
There are in this tract about 17,000 acres of the 
most beautiful land, capable, in every respect, 
of the highest cultivation, and belongs to the 
town of Hempstead, in common. It cannot be 
sold without a popular vote of the inhabitants, 
a majority of whom have always opposed the 
sale of it; and it is probably for this reason, 
alone, that it is at present unimproved; for the 
soil is equal to any other part of the Island of 
like extent. It is, in truth, a prairie, and the 
only one east of the Alleghanies, and was, in 
the early history of the country, considered as a 
great curiosity, and as such, was visited by 
great numbers of people from the different colo¬ 
nies, and by the early European travellers, but 
was not then regarded as barren. 
It was more than 100 years ago that Long Is¬ 
land obtained its distinctive appellation of the 
“ Garden of America,” and was then considered 
as highly fertile and productive, and described 
as such by all those who wrote anything about 
it previous to the Revolutionary War. Had the 
middle parts of the Island, along the borders of 
the railroad, been cultivated as the other parts, 
the lands there would now present the seme ap¬ 
pearance that those under cultivation now do. 
Long Island was, in the early history of the 
country, regarded as highly fertile, as will ap¬ 
pear by the following extract, from the Annual 
Report of the American Institute, to the Legis¬ 
lature of the state of New York, for the year 
1847, from page 688. “ A work of 1670, proves 
this a rare and curious book* Denton’s History; 
or a Brief Description of New York, formerly 
called New Netherlands (this has been called 
one of the gems of American History, being the 
first printed description, in the English language 
of what is now the great, wealthy, and popu¬ 
lous State of New York). Long Island is not 
spoken of in this, nor any subsequent work for 
a great many years, as being of poor soil * 
* * it is everywhere spoken of as being 
exceedingly fruitful, with a pleasant and health¬ 
ful climate, and beautiful streams and bays, 
abounding in all kinds of fish and water fowl.” 
The Island was then, (1640,) settled on the 
eastern parts of the towns of East and South 
Hampton, and all the north shore, including the 
towns of Huntington and Smithtown, and the 
settlements in the north part of Brookhaven, 
so that the whole Island was at the time of this 
author well known; for he says, “ The Island is 
“ most of it, very good soyle, and very natural 
“ for all sorts of English grain, which theysowe, 
“ and have very good increase of, besides all 
“ other fruits and herbs, common in England. 
“ The fruits natural to the Island, are mulber- 
“ ries, posimons, grapes, huckelberries, cranber- 
“ ries, great and small plums of several sorts, 
“ and rasberries; of which last is such abun- 
“ dance, in June, that the fields are died red; 
“ which the country people perceiving, instantly 
“ arm themselves with bottles of wine, cream 
“ and sugar, and instead of a coat of male, every 
“ one takes a female upon his horse, behind him, 
“ and so rushing violently into the fields and 
“ never leave till they have disrobed them of 
“ their red colours, and turned them into the old 
“ habit. The greatest part of the Island is very 
“ full of timber, as oaks, white and red, walnut 
“ trees, chestnut trees, which yield stores of mast 
“ for swine; also, maples, cedars, saxifrage, 
“ beach, birch, holly, hazel, with many sorts 
“ more.” 
Then follows the enumeration of a variety of 
herbs and flowers which the country naturally 
“ affords, “ Yea, in May, you shall see the woods 
“ and fields so curiously bedecked with roses 
