History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

16G HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1664-1673.
criminate burning of the woods was forbidden by the General
Court, and the towns took charge of the matter, with-
in their own limits. The English, varying from the practice
of the aborigines,' established the time of the annual
burning between the 10"' of March and the 30"' of April.
These woodland pastures were of great value and were
highly prized. In Northampton the burnings were mainly
confined to the western section of the town, extending to
the hills of "Westhampton and Williamsburg. In 1664,
Joseph Parsons was ordered to burn the woods on the east-
erly and northerly sides of Mill River, two or three miles
above Broughton's Meadow, and Robert Bartlett had in-
structions to burn them on the westerly and southerly
sides of the same river. This practice of burning the
woods was continued for nearly one hundred years. The
sections included in this vote, were in the westerly portion
of the town, beyond the present village of Florence.
The First chirurg- The first chirurgeou (surgeon) mentioned
®°"- among the early settlers was George Fyler.
In 1664, the town voted to receive him as an
inhabitant, and gave him a home lot of six acres, and
thirty acres more on condition that he should settle here,
build upon his home lot, and remain in town four years.
The County Court, at its session in the following March,
granted him this license to practice : —
" George flfiler of Northampton being p'sented to this co''te as one
reasonably well fitted & quallifyed for a Chirurgion was allowed by
this co''te to such work service & employment."
His home lot, located at the upper end of Elm Street, he
sold to Jedediah Strong, in 1677. He did not long remain
in town, removing to Westfield in a year or two. In 1674,
he lived at Shelter Island, having in the meantime become
a Quaker. At the March term of the court in 1673 : —
" George ffiler of Westfeild being p'sented by the Jury for diverse
disorders & being examined firstly, for enterta}^ling Quakers last Sum-
1 "The salvage.? are accustomed to set Are to the counti-y in all places where they
come and to burn it twice a year, viz. at the spring and the fall of the leaf. The reason
that moves them to do so is because it would otherwise be so overgrown with
uuderweeds, that it would be all a coppice wood and the people not be able in any
wise to pass through the country out of a beaten path. This custom of firing the
country is the means to make it passable and by that means the trees grow here and
there as in our parks and makes the country very beautiful and commodious."—Mor-
ton's New England Canaan, pub. in 1632.