|
CONTENTS.
_______
Title
Page
NOTE
PRELIMINARIES
6 SECTIONS [1]
[2] [3]
[4] [5]
[6]
THE
EVOLUTION OF HORTICULTURE
IN NEW ENGLAND:
I.–
THE
EARLIEST COLONIES IN
NEW ENGLAND
II.–
THE COLONIES OF
MASSACHUSETTS BAY
through page 105 of 180
I have posted what I have finished typing on this
book but I am going to delay indefinitely the rest of the book because most of
the rest of the book is unopened (the pages have not been split apart) and I
would prefer not to open the pages as this is a good example of how books used
to be made. If I get enough requests to finish the book, I will try to find an
opened copy. So, if you want to know the ending,
e-mail me. |
|
|
II.
THE COLONIES OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.
he first emigration under the Massachusetts Bay Company
was made with Master Endicott as Governor. Arriving at
Naumkeag (Salem) in September, 1629, and
uniting his own men with those who were formerly here planted, a body of fifty
or sixty persons was thus made up. A second emigration, under the Reverend
Francis Higginson, increased the number to two hundred more.
In a letter to England,
Higginson says: “The
next morning the governor came on board our ship, and bade us kindly welcome,
and invited me and my wife to come ashore and take our lodging at his home. The
settlement, we are told, there consisted of about a half score of houses, with a
fair house newly built for the Governor. We found also abundance of corn planted
by them, very good and well-lining. . . . Our Governor hath already planned a
vineyard with great hopes of increase. Also mulberries, plums, raspberries,
currants, chestnuts, filberts, walnuts, small nuts,
hurtleberries, and haws of white thorn,
near as good as our cherries in England: they grow in plenty here. . . .
“It is a land of divers and sundry sorts all
about Masathulets Bay and at Charles
river is as fat black earth as can be seen anywhere: and in other places you
have a clay soil, in other gravel, in other sandy, as it is all about our
plantation at Salem, for so our town is now named. The fertility of the soil is
to be admired at, as appeareth in the
abundance of grass that groweth every
where, both very thick, very long, and very high in divers places. But it
groweth very wildly, with a great stalk, and a broad and ranker blade, because
it never had been eaten with cattle, nor mowed with a scythe, and seldom
trampled on by foot. It is scarce to be believed how our
kine and goats do thrive and prosper
here. They have tried out English corn at New Plymouth Plantation, so that all
our several grains will grow here very well, and have a fitting soil for their
nature. And as for fresh water, the country is full of dainty springs, and some
great rivers, and some leser brooks: and at
Masathulets Bay they
digged wells
and found water at three foot deep in most places: and near Salem they have as
fine clear water as we can desire, and we may dig wells and find water where we
list.”1
The planting of tobacco, to be considered rather as a
luxury than a necessity for the plantations, called forth the following advice
in Cradock’s letter to Endicott in 1629. “The course you have taken in giving
our countrymen their content in the point of planting tobacco there for the
present, (their necessity considered) is not disallowed: but we trust in God,
other means will be found to employ their time more comfortable and profitable
also in the end: and we cannot but generally approve and amend their good
resolution to desist from the planting thereof, when as they shall discern how
to employ their labors otherwise: which we hope they will be speedily induced
unto, by such precepts and examples as we shall give them”1
Again during the same year, in the Company’s
first general letter of instructions to Endicott and his Council, the following
words are found. “And as touching the old planters, their earnest desire for the
present to continue the planting of tobacco, (a trade by this whole Company
generally disavowed, and utterly disclaimed by some of the greatest
adventurests amongst us, who absolutely
declared themselves unwilling to have any hand in this Plantation if we intend
to cherish or permit the planting thereof, or any other kind, than for a man’s
private use, for mere necessity,) we are of opinion the old planters will have
small encouragement to that employment: for we find here, by late experience,
that it doth hardly produce the freight and custom: . . . Nevertheless, if the
old planters, (fore we exclude all others,) conceive that they cannot otherwise
provide for their livelihood, we leave it to the discretion of yourself and the
council there, to give way for the present to their planting of it in such
manner and with such restrictions as you and the said Council shall think
fitting: having an especial care, with as much
conveniency as may be, utterly to suppress the planting of it, except for
mere necessity. But, however, we absolutely forbid the sale of it, or the use of
it, by any of our own or particular men’s servants, unless upon urgent occasion,
for the benefit of health, and taken privately.”1
Among the articles “to provide to be sent to
New England” by the Massachusetts Company, in 1629, are the following:
“Vine-planters, wheat, rye, barley, oats, a hogshead of each in the ear: beans,
pease, stones of all sorts of fruits, as
peaches, plums, filberts, cherries: pear, apple, quince kernels: pomegranates,
woad seed, saffron heads,
liquorice seed, madder roots, potatoes,
hop-roots, hemp seed, flax seed, currant plants, and madder seeds.” These seeds
and roots were afterwards sent, and, according to accounts, sprung up and
flourished. The mode of cultivating and
manuring the soil by means of fish, was practiced at first as at
Plymouth. Owning, however, to the scarcity of certain kinds, such as cod and
bass, it was forbidden in 1639 to use these for that purpose.
William Wood who came to New England in 1629,
and returned to England in 1633, there published, in the following year, his
observations and experiences in a treatise entitled New England’s Prospect. In
speaking of the Massachusetts Plantations, he says: “The ground
affoards very good kitchin gardens for Turneps,
Parsnips, Carots, Radishes, and Pumpions, Muskmillions, Isquouterquashes,
Concumbers, Onyons, and whatsoever growes well in England, grows as well there,
many things being better and larger: there is likewise growing all manner of
hearbes for meate, and medicine, and that not onely in planted gardens, but in
the woods, without eyther the art of the helpe of man, as sweet Marjoran,
Purselane, sorrel, Peneriall, Yarrow, Mirtle, Saxisarilla, Bayes, &c. There is
likewise Strawberries in abundance, very large ones, some being two inches
about: one may gather halfe a bushel in a forenoone: In other seasons there bee
Gooseberries, Bilberries, Resberries, Treackleberries, Hurtleberries, Currents,
which being dryed in the Sunne are little inferiour to those that our Grocers
sell in England. This land likewise affoards Hempe and Flax, some naturally, and
some planted by the English, with Rapes if they bee well managed. . . . The next
commoditie the land affords, is good store of Woods, & that not onely such as
may be needful for fewel, but likewise for the building of ships, and houses,
and mills, and all manner of water worke about which Wood is needefull.” . . .
There be very few that have the experience of the ground that can condemne it of
barrenesse; although many deeme itt barren, because the English used to manure
their land with fish, which they doe, not because the land could not bring corne
without it, but because it brings more with it: the land likewise being kept in
hart the longer: besides, the plenty of fish which they have for little or
nothing, is better so used, than cast away: but to argue the goodnesse of the
ground, the Indians
[edited
for content] plant corne eight or ten
years in one place without it, having very good crops. Such is the rankenesse
of the ground that it must be sowne the first yeare with Indian Corne, which is
a soaking graine, before it will be fit for to receive English seede.” In
speaking of the varied employments of the Indian women, Woo adds: “An other work
is their planting of corne, wherein they exceede our English husband-men,
keeping it so cleare with their Clamme shell-hoes, as if it were a garden rather
than a corne field, not suffering a choaking weede to advance his audacious head
above their nfant corne, or an undermining worme to spoile his spurnes. Their
corne being ripe, they gather it, and drying it hard in the Sunne, conveigh it
to their barnes, which be great holes digged in the ground in forme of a brasse
pot, seeled with rinds of trees, wherein they put their corne, covering it from
the inquisitive search of their gurmandizing husbands, who would eate up both
their allowed portion, and reserved seede, if they know where to finde it.”1
Wood’s remarks upon the seasons of the year,
and the relation of these to the crops produced, are remarkably correct for an
observer who had spent only a short time in New England, scarcely four years.
“It hath been observed that English
Wheate and
Rye proves better which is winter
sowne, and is kept warm by the Snow, that that
which is sowne in the Spring. The summers are commonly hot and dry, there being
seldome any
raines: I have
knowne it
sixe or
seaven
weekes before one shower
hath moistened the Plowman’s labour, yet the harvest hath been very good, the
Indian Corne requiring more
heate than wet: for the
Engliah
Corne, it is
refreshed with the nighly
dewes,
tilll it grows up to shade his roots with his
owne substance from the parching
Sunne. . . .”
His observations upon the nature of the soil
are generally more accurate and trustworthy than those by contemporary writers:
“The Soyle is for the
generall a
warme
kinde of earth, there being little
cold-spewing land, no Morish
fennes, no Quagmires, the lowest grounds be the
Marshes, over which every full and change the Sea
flowes: these marshes be rich
ground and bring plenty of hay, of which the cattle feed & like, as if they were
fed with the best up-land Hay in New England: of which likewise there is great
store which growes commonly between the Marshes and the Woods. This
Medow ground
lies higher than the Marshes, whereby it is freed from the over-flowing of the
Seas: and besides this in many places where the trees grow
thinne, there is good
fodder to be got amongst the woods.”1
The third and “great” emigration under Governor
Winthrop consisted of many persons of good and competent estates. Some of these
had enjoyed, in their native land, the best of society. Their family connections
were honorable: their professions and occupations in life had been excellent,
and every comfort which the possession of “fruitful lands, stately buildings,
goodly orchards and gardens could afford, had been at their command.” It was
from these last, as would naturally be expected, that the advancement in the
various forms of horticulture, beyond the mere production of cereals for daily
bread, rapidly proceeded. While noticing, especially, the interest taken, and
the practical method pursued in the planting of orchards and the production of
various fruits by Endicott and Winthrop, the attempts made at Plymouth in the
same direction by the earlier settlers and by Governor Prince, vestiges of which
have survived to the present day, should not be overlooked. Among these may be
mentioned the well established record of the apple tree planted by Peregrine
White, the first child of the Pilgrims, at Marshfield, in 1648; the pear tree
imported by Governor Prince, in 1640, from England, and planted on his estate at
Eastham; another pear tree in Yarmouth, set out by Anthony
Thacher in 1640, and which was bearing
fruit in 1872.
In the Old Colony, trees still exist which were
planted by the first settlers or by their immediate descendants, in close
contiguity to their houses, and which have produced fruit that has sustained
reputation for qualities by no means inferior.
July, 1632, The Court of Assistants granted
Governor Endicott three hundred acres of land, called by the Indians Birchwood,
and afterwards known as his Orchard Farm. Its situation, north of Salem, was
very desirable. In front of this house, on a commanding eminence, he planted his
orchard. The trees were probably removed from his town residence in Salem. Among
these was a pear tree, which tradition affirms was brought from England with
Governor Winthrop in the Arbella, in 1630. It was situated near the
house, and evidently had never been grated, for the fruit which the tree
produced during nearly two hundred years, was a inferior quality. Governor
Endicott, generous, public spirited, vigorous, and useful to his
fellow-planters, was mjuch interested in horticultural pursuits, at first in the
production of cereals and vegetables for the daily sustenance of the settlement,
and later in the propagation of fruit trees, as is evident by his correspondence
with Winthrop and others, on this special subject.
Governor John Winthrop became much engaged in
assisting the humble gardening work of the first settlers, and, like Endicott,
turned his attention to orchard and vine planting. September 6, 1631: “The
General Court granted Governor Winthrop 600 acres of land near his house at
Mistick.” On this farm, to which he gave
the name of “Ten Hills,” he located his summer residence, and interested himself
in agriculture. Although there is no account extant in regard to the planting of
orchards at this place, it may be inferred from the following letters from
Endicott to Winthrop, and to his son John, that they were all thus occupied.
April 22, 1644: “I
humblie and heartily
thanck you for your last letter of
newes & for the trees you sent me. . . .
I haue not sent you any trees, because I
heard not from you, but I haue trees for
you if you please to accept of them
whensoever you shall send. I
thinck it is too late to
sett or
remoue. I could wish you to
remoue in the latter end of the
yeare your
trees, & I pray you send mee what you want * I will supply what I can.”
To John
Winthrop,Jun.,,at “Ten Hills,” March 19, 1645: Let
mee say
truelie I account not
myselfe to
be the lesse engaged
vnto you concerning what you wrote, for
any such small courtesie as a few trees.
What trees you want at any tyme send to
mee for them, & I will supply
youe as
longe as I
haue a tree.”1
Wood, in his description of the various
plantations of Massachusetts Bay, in 1633, says: “The next Towne is
Misticke,
which is three miles from Charles Towne by land, and a league and a
halfe by water: It is seated by the
waters side very pleasantly: there be not many house as yet. On the West side of
this River the Governour hath a
Farme, where he keeps most of his
Cattle, till he can store it with Deere.”2
April 2, 1632,
Conants Island in Boston Harbor was granted to Governor Winthrop, and the
name was thereafter changed to “The Governour’s
Garden.” He promised for this gift to plant an orchard and a vineyard here, and
engaged to pay yearly a fifth part of the fruits thereof forever to the
governor, whoever he might be. In 1634, the rent was changed by the General
Court to “a hogshead of the best wyne that shall grow there to be
paide yearly,
after the death of the said John Winthrop and
noething before.” A few years
afterwards, the rent was changed to “two bushels of apples every
yeare one bushel to the
Governour & another to the
Generall Court in winter, — the same to
bee of the best apples there growing.” The records of the General Court in 1640
show that “Mr. Winthrop, Senior, paid in his bushel of apples.”1
John
Josselyn, Gent., in his account of his departure
from New England, October 11, 1639, thus alludes to Winthrop’s orchards: “The
next day Mr. Luxon our Master having
been ashore upon the Governorrs Island
gave me half a score very fair Pippins which he brought from thence, there being
not one Apple tree, nor Pear planted yet in no part of the
Countrey, but upon
that Island.”1
As to the planting of vineyards, it is evident
that the process was not generally successful, notwithstanding the expectations
of the early settlers, incited thereto by the writings of those who had visited
New England. Thus Wood, who came in 1629, in describing the various woods and
fruits, says: “The Hornebound tree is a
tough kind of Wood, that requires so much
paines in riving as is almost incredible, being the best for to make
bottles and dishes, not being subject to cracks or
leake. This tree growing with broad
spread Armes, the vines
winde their curling branches about them:
which vines affoard great store of
grapes which are very big both for the grape and Cluster, sweet and good: These
be of two sorts, red and white, there is likewise smaller kind of grape which
groweth in the Islands which is sooner
ripe and more delectable so that there is no
knowne reason why as good wine may not be made in those parts, as well as
in Bordeaux in France: being under the same degree. It is a great
pittie no man sets upon such a venture,
whereby he might in small time inrich
himselfe, and benefit the
Countrey, I know nothing which doth
hinder but want of skilful men to manage such an
imployment: For the
countrey is hot enough, the ground good
enough, and many convenient hills which lye toward the south
Sunne, as if they were there placed for
the purpose.”1
This lack of success was
also evidently due to
their inexperience in the business and to the necessity of depending upon their
own exertions, and without proper advice. In the letter of instructions from the
Company to Endicott and his Council, in 1629, the matter in question is thus
mentioned. “We take notice that you desire to have Frenchmen sent you that might
be experienced in making of salt and planting of vines. We have inquired
diligently for such, but cannot meet with any of that nation. Nevertheless, God,
hath not left us altogether unprovided
of a man able to undertake that work; for that we have entertained Mr. Thomas
Graves, a man commended to us as well for his honesty, as skill in many things
very useful.”1
Mr. Graves proved a most valuable addition to
the plantations of New England, for which region he entertained the most exalted
ideas, as had been shown by his letters, from which quotations had been made. As
to his ability in the planting of vineyards, and the manufacture of wines, there
is no historical evidence.
Wood also describes other indigenous
productions: “The Wallnut tree is something different from the English
Wallnut, being a great deal more tough,
and more serviceable, and altogether as
heavie:
These trees beare a very good nut,
something smaller, but nothing inferiour
in sweetness and goodness to the English Nut, having no bitter pill. There is
likewise a tree in some part of the Countrey,
that beares a nut as
bigge as a small pear, . . . The Cherrie
trees yeeld great store of Cherries,
which grow on clusters like grapes: they be much smaller than our English
Cherrie, nothing neare so good if they
be not very ripe: they so furre the
mouth that the tongue will cleave to the
roofe,
and the throate was horse with
swallowing those red Bullies (as I may call them) being little better in taste.
English ordering may bring them to be an English Cherrie, but yet they are as
wilde as the Indians. The
Plummes of the
Countrey be better for
Plummes than the Cherries be for
cherries: they be blacke and yellow
about the bignesse of a Damson, of a
reasonable good taste. The white thorne
affords hawes as
bigge as an English Cherrie, which is
esteemed above a Cherrie for his goodnesse
and pleasantnesse to the taste.”1
In addition to “Misticke,” Wood thus describes
the plantations through which the Massachusetts settlers were scattered, during
his sojourn among them from 1629 to 1633: “Dorchester which is the greatest
Towne in New England: well wooded and watered: very good arable grounds, and
Hay-ground, faire Corne fields, and
pleasant gardens. . . . A mile from this Towne
lieth
Roxberry, which is a faire
and handsome Countrey-towne
the inhabitants of it being all very rich. . .
Vp westward from the Towne it is something rocky, whence it hath the name
of Roxberry: the inhabitants have faire
houses, store of Cattle, impaled Corne-fields,
and fruitful Gardens. Boston is two miles North-east from
Roxberry: its
situation is very pleasant. . . Their greatest wants be Wood and
Medow-ground, which were never in that
place being constrained to fetch their building-timber, and fire-wood from the
lands in Boates, and their Hay in
Loyters. . . This Towne although it be
neither the greatest nor the richest, yet it is the most noted and frequented,
being the Center of the Plantations where the monthly Courts are kept. Here
likewise dwells the Governour: This
place hath very good land, affording rich
Corne-fields, and
fruitefull Gardens: having likewise
sweete and pleasant springs.
“the inhabitants of this place for their
enlargement, have taken to themselves
Farme-houses,
in a place called Muddy-river, two miles from the Towne: where is good ground,
large timber, and store of Marsh-land and
Medow.
In this place they keepe their Swine and
other cattle in the Summer, whilst the
Corne
is on the ground at Boston, and bring them to the Towne in Winter. . . . On the
North-side of Charles River is Charles Towne. This Towne for all things, may be
well paralel’d with her
neighbour Boston, being in the same
fashion with her bare necke, and
constrained to borrow conveniences from the Maine, and to provide for themselves
Farmes in the
Countrey for their better subsistence. .
. . By the side of the River is built
Newtowne,
which is three miles by land from Charles Towne, and a league and a
halfe by water. The in habitants most of
them are very rich, and well stored with
Cattell of all sorts: having many hundred Acres of ground paled in with
one generall fence, which is about a
mile and a halfe long, which secures all
their weaker Cattle from the wilde
beasts. On the other side of the River
lieth
all their Medow and Marsh-ground for
Hay. Halfe a mile Westward of this
plantation, is Watertowne: a place
nothing inferiour for land, wood,
medow,
and water to Newtowne. . . . The last
towne in the still Bay, is
Winnisimet: a very sweet place for
situation, and stands very commodiously, being fit to
entertaine more planters than are yet
seated. The chief Ilands which
keepe out
the Winde and Sea from disturbing the
Harbours, are first
Deare
Iland and Long
Iland. . . . Divers
other Ilands be within these: viz.
Nodles
Ile, Round
Ile, the
Governours Garden,
where is planted an Orchard and a vineyard, with many other conveniences. . . .
These Iles abound with Woods, and Water, and
Medow-ground, and whatsoever the
spacious fertile Maine affords. The inhabitants use to put their Cattle in these
for safety, when their Corne is on the ground.
“The next plantation is Saugus, sixe miles
North-east from Winnesmet. This towne is pleasant for situation. It has a sandy
Beach two miles long at the end, whereon is a necke of land called Nahant. It is
sixe miles in circumference: well wooded with Oakes, Pines, and Cedars: It is
beside well watered. In this necke is store of good ground, fit for the Plow:
but for the present it is onely used for to put young cattle in, and weather-goates,
and Swine, to secure them from the Woolves: a few posts and rayles from low
water markes to the shore, keepes out the Woolves, and keepes in the Cattle. . .
. On the North side of the Bay (on which Sangus is seated) is two great Marshes,
which are made two by a pleasant River which runnes between them. At the mouth
of this river runnes up a great creeke into that great Marsh, which is called
Rumny Marsh, which is 4 miles long and 2 miles broad: halfe of it being Marsh
ground, and halfe upland grasse, without tree or bush. . . . For wood there is
no want, there being store of good Oakes, Wallnut, Cedar, Aspe, Elme. The ground
is very good, in many places without trees, fit for the plough. In this
plantation is more English tillage, than in all New-England, and Virginia
besides: which proved as well as could bee expected, the corne being very good
especially the Barly, Rye, and Oates.
“Foure miles North-east from Saugus
lyeth
Salem, which stands on the middle of a
necke of land very pleasantly: upon this
necke where most of the houses stand is very bad and
sandil ground, yet for
seaven
yeares together it hath brought forth exceeding good
corne, by being
fished but every third yeare: in some places is very good ground, and very good
timber, and divers springs hard by the seaside. Although their land be none of
the best, yet beyond those rivers is a very good
soyle, where they have taken
farmes, and get their Hay, and plant their
corne: there they
crosse these rivers
with small Cannowes, which are made of whole pine trees, being about two foot &
a half over, and 20 foote long.
“Agowamme is nine miles to the North from
Salem, which is one of the most spatious places for a plantation; being
neare
the sea, I aboundeth with fish, and flesh of
fowles and beasts, great Meads and
Marshes and plaine plowing grounds, many good rivers and
harbours and no
rattlesnakes. In a word, it is the best place but one, which is
Merrimacke, lying 8 miles beyond it,
where is river 20 leagues navigable; all along the river side is fresh marshes,
in some places 5 mile broad. To conclude, the
Countrie hath not that which this
place cannot yeeld. So that these two places may
containe twice as many people
as are yet in new England: there being
as yet scarce any inhabitants in these two spacious places. These be all the
Townes that were begun, when I came for England, which was the 15 of August
1633.”1
Wood, in his description of the plantation at
Boston, makes no allusion to William
Blaxton, the first settler and
horticulturist upon the peninsula, except to mention that “on the South side of
the river on a point of land called
Blaxtons Point, planted Mr. William
Blackstone.”
It has been affirmed that the early colonists
found this peninsula thinly wooded, most of the forest, except on the neck,
having been burned by the Indians for the purpose of clearing the land and
planting it with corn. Interesting as are the well-known incidents in the life
of Blaxton, we are here concerned only with those which are appropriate to his
horticultural work. Coming to Shawmut in 1625, he selected, as the most
desirable spot, the sunny southwestern slopes of
Trimountain. Here he erected
his cottage, and near it planted his orchard and garden. Theses last were well
established when Winthrop and other colonists moved over, at
Blaxton’s
invitation, from Charlestown, chiefly to obtain the pure water so abundantly
offered by delicious springs. The
Massachusetts Records, April, 1633,
contain the following item: “It is agreed that William Blackstone shall have
fifty acres set out for him near his house in Boston to enjoy forever.” In the
following year he sold all this territory upon which stood his swelling and
orchard. This orchard, the first in New England, is
poken of in a publication of
1765, as still producing fruit, and is mentioned in the deeds of subsequent
possessors. In 1635, for various reasons,
Blaxton removed to Rehoboth, where he
was the first settler within its original limits. Here he erected a house, and
planted an orchard upon the protected slopes of Sunny Hill, overlooking
Blackstone River, which ws the first that bore apples in the State of Rhode
Island, and also long continued noted for its excellent fruit. Until an advanced
age, he here quietly pursued his literary and horticultural tastes, which were
of the best, and for which his name should honored.
A few years after the settlement at Plymouth,
plantations had been commenced north of Massachusetts Bay, at Saco,
Agamenticus, and
Cocheco, as also at the mouth of the
Piscataqua. These were in a languishing
condition during several years. On the rivers more to the eastward plantations
had also been early attempted on the
Kennebec,
Androscoggin, and
Penobscot, almost entirely for the
purposes of fishing and trading, although “farming” was also sometimes included
among the incentives. Little or no horticultural efforts, however, were made
beyond raising corn for sustenance.
The first settlement near the mouth of the
Piscataqua was made in 1623, under Ambrose gibbons, the agent of
te Laconia, or
Mason and Gorges colony. The object in view as “to found a plantation on this
river to cultivate the vine, discover mines, carry o the fisheries, and trade
with the natives.” One of the favorite schemes of Mason was vine growing, and he
wrote to Gibbons, saying: “I pray you look well to the vines.” Gibbons answered:
“The vines that were planted will come to nothing. They prosper not in the
ground where they were set, but them that grow naturally are very good of divers
sorts.” This lovely valley was known as “The Vineyard.” And in the earlier part
of this century there were so many vines left, that they may have been a
survival of those planted by the hands of Europeans.
The barberries, other fruits, and various herbs
evidently brought from England, and that found a favorable soil and climate in
this natural garden, as well as the soft fine turf, which rarely grown expect
where man has dealt much with the ground, seem to mark the locality of a very
old settlement – “a settlement busy,
featless,
and well fed, when Plymouth colonists were defending themselves against Indians
and starvation.”1
No mention is made of the cultivation of
cereals, as the colony was well fostered by Mason and Gorges, who were men of
means, and spent freely in behalf of the early settlers, although actuated by
great expectations of amassing wealth for themselves.
Josselyn, in his account of his first voyage to
New England, says: “The Twelfth day of July, 1638, after I had taken my leave of
Mr. Maverick and some other Gentlemen, I took boat for the Eastern parts of the
Countrie, and arrived at Black point in the Province of Main, which is 150 miles
from Boston. . . . The Countrey all along as I sailed being no other than a
meer
wilderness, here and there by the Sea-side a few scattered plantations, with as
few houses.”1
In 1639, a settlement under Mr. Wheelwright was
begun on a tributary of the Piscataqua, and called Exeter. Eastward of this were
large marshes which produced a native grass that was used as a fodder before a
more nutritious one was raised upon the uplands. Two years previously, a
settlement under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts had been started at Hampton.
While the site of many of the early settlements was undoubtedly determined by
the good arable soil found in the valleys of the large rivers, and the
consequent better horticultural opportunities presented, there were other causes
that combined to promote the advance of the last mentioned, among which the
Antinomian dispersion may be included.
Almost simultaneously with the removal of
Blaxton to Rehoboth and Roger Williams to Seekonk, and afterwards to Providence,
there was an important movement towards the west. Even previous to this period,
Plymouth had sent emissaries to Connecticut River for discovery and trade, who
on return reported “a fine place for plantation and trade.” Later, among the
Massachusetts plantations, intelligence arrived of the fertility of that region,
which induced in many the wish to transplant themselves from the less productive
soil upon which they had settled at first. Especially was this plan entertained
by the inhabitants of Roxbury, Dorchester, Watertown, and Newtown. The principal
reasons given for removal were: “1. Their want of accommodation for their
cattle. . . . 2. The fruitfulness and commodiousness of Connecticut, and the
danger of having it possessed by others, Dutch or English. 3. The strong bent of
their spirits to remove thither.”1
There is little direct mention of horticultural
work in which the early settlements in the Connecticut valley were engaged. The
land for tillage was closely subdivided, the pasturage and forest lands were
held and used in common. In the first records of the various communities most
frequent allusion is made to the Indian corn, raise either by themselves, or
gathered by trading with the Indians. The mode of planting had been introduced
from the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies, although the fertile, alluvial
soil did not then require the application of dressing. In the settlement of
Agawam (Springfield) the town was to be limited to fifty families, each head of
a family to have “a house-lot and an allotment of planting grounds, pasture,
meadow, marsh, and timber land.” In 1645, it was voted “That if any
neighbour
shall desire to enclose his yard with a garden or an orchard, if his next
neighbour refuse to
joyne for ye one half of the said fence,
he may compel his neighbours on each side of his lot to
beare ye one
halfe of his fence, and in case his
neighbour shall refuse to doe his share of the said fence within three months
after demande, He shall be liable to pay
damages as two indifferent men shall award, which shall be chosen by the parties
in controversy.”1
In the same year the following vote was taken: “Whereas
the Plantinge of Indian
Corne in the
meddowe Swamp on ye other side of Agawam
river, hath occasioned a long stay after
moowinge tyme before men can put over
theyr Cattell thither:
Therefere
it is ordered that no more Indian
corne shall be planted, neither in the
meddowe nor in ye
Swampes, that so the
Cattell of all
those that have allotments there may be put over by ye 15th of
September.” The early settlers were often much annoyed in their agricultural and
horticultural affairs, by the trespassing of swine, consequently it was decreed
that “All swine that breake into any
man’s corne ground or
meddowe
yt it
sufficiently fenced against yoked hogge:
in case men let ye Swine run abroad unyoked if they
breake in and doe any many
Trespass, then master of the sayd Swine
shall be liable to pay all damages as two indifferent men shall Judge ye damage
to be: but if Swine shall be yoked and
runge
then they are free from damages.”1
The general planting of orchards did not engage
the attention of the eastern or Connecticut valley settlers at a very early
period. As in the Plymouth or Massachusetts Bay colonies, the cultivation of the
cereals and the requisite vegetables for sustenance was of course the first
horticultural matter which required their exertions. And yet the enactment
passed by the Court of Massachusetts in 1646, and the similar laws by authority
in other plantations, show the interest taken in all branches of horticulture
from the very first. This was that the person who should be known to rob any
orchard or garden, or who should injure or steal any graft or fruit tree, should
forfeit treble damages to the owner.2
Records are extant of the setting of orchards
in Saco, York, and in other plantations in Maine, dating almost from their
existence as centers of civilization. In Connecticut, there are also scattered
notices of fruit trees still lingering as relics of ancient orchards.
In this connection, the following
correspondence with Governor John Winthrop, Jr., is of interest. George
Penwick
of Saybrook, writes May 6, 1641: “I
haue
receaued the trees yow sent me, for
which I hartily
thanke yow. If I had any thing
heare that could pleasure yow yow
should freely command it. I am prettie well
storred with
chirrie & peach trees,
& did hope I had had a good nurserie of
aples, of the
aples yow sent me last
yeare, but the
wormes have in a manner destroyed them all as they came up.”
John Mason also writing from
Saybrook in 1654,
says to the Governor, “forget not to
prouide for the planting some trees at
spring.” In the following year he wrote to Mrs. Winthrop: “I
haue sent ten apple
trees by Goodman Stoylyon to your
selfe. I suppose they will, most of them, be
planted in the north end of your orchard. I would have sent more if I had
thought there were a place. I haue
alsoe sent Thomas
Bayley thirty grafted
trees, as hee desired
mee.”1
|
