UPLAND SHOOTING. 
53 
son, he shall be deemed guilty of the offence and suffer the 
penalty. But it is provided that no defendant shall be convicted 
unless the action shall be brought within three months after the 
violation of the law.” 
u 4 The country selected by these exquisite birds requires a more 
particular description. You already understand it to be the 
midland and interior district of the island. The soil of this 
island is, generally speaking, a sandy or gravelly loam. In the 
parts less adapted to tillage, it is more of an unmixed sand. 
This is so much the case, that the shore of the beaches beaten 
by the ocean affords a material from which glass has been pre¬ 
pared. Silicious grains and particles predominate in the region 
chosen by the Heath-Hens or Grouse ; and here there are no 
rocks, and very few stones of any kind. This sandy tract ap¬ 
pears to be a dereliction of the ocean, but is nevertheless not 
doomed to total sterility. Many thousand acres have been re¬ 
claimed from the wild state and rendered very productive to 
man; and within the towns frequented by these birds, there are 
numerous inhabitants, and among them some of our most 
wealthy farmers. But within the same limits there are also 
tracts of great extent, where men have no settlements, and others 
where the population is spare and scanty. These are, however, 
by no means naked deserts; they are, on the contrary, covered 
with trees, shrubs and smaller plants. The trees are mostly 
pitch-pine, of inferior size, and white-oaks of a small growth. 
They are of a quality very fit for burning. Thousands of cords 
of both sorts of fire-wood are annually exported from these 
barrens. Vast quantities are occasionally destroyed by the fires 
which, through carelessness or accident, spread far and wide 
through the woods. The city of New York will probably for 
ages derive fuel from these grounds. The land, after being well 
cleared, yields to the cultivator poor crops. Unless, therefore, 
he can help it by manure, the best disposition is to let it grow 
up to forest again. 
u 1 Experience has proved that in a term of forty or fifty years, 
the new growth of timber will be fit for the axe. Hence it may 
