278 Percy Wells Bidwell 



engaged in commerce with Europe and the West Indies, as well as 

 with towns along the coast, and in a variety of manufactures. The 

 importance of the commerce may be seen from the fact that for the 

 years 1801-1810 the goods imported here had an average annual 

 value of about $10,000,000. About 100,000 tons of shipping were 

 owned in the city and the entries of foreign vessels alone amounted to 

 900 or 1 ,000 every year. Of the manufactures the distillation of rum 

 seems to have been most important, 30 plants being devoted to that 

 purpose. In 1796 rum was the principal export. Sugar was refined 

 in eight plants, cordage made in eleven rope walks. Other manu- 

 factures were hats, plate-glass, tobacco, chocolate, sail cloth and paper. 

 The shipbuilding business was active in Charlestown.^ 



The effect of this market for agricultural produce was evident 

 enough to create considerable comment. Travelers were impressed 

 with the density of population and with the evident prosperity of the 

 farming towns nearby. Rochefoucauld says that the road from 

 Marlborough to Boston (a distance of 27 miles) was almost a continu- 

 ous village of handsome houses." President D wight says: "From 

 Weymouth (11 miles) the country may be considered as one continual 

 village, raised up by the commerce of Boston and forming a kind of 

 suburb to the capital."^ Much evidence, also, is available concern- 

 ing the stimulus which was given to improved agriculture. Dickin- 

 son, writing in 1812, says: "A market for all varieties of fruit and 

 vegetables is found in Boston. Hence the surrounding country 

 although not especially fertile is highly cultivated."^ 



Besides the encouragement of market gardening, an increased 

 attention to cattle-raising was evident in one nearby town;^ a special- 

 ization in potatoes took place in another,*' and an increase in the price 

 of land in a third. ^ In general, however, it should be noticed that 



' These facts come from Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; Dwight, Travels, I. 462; 

 Kendall, Travels, II. 260; Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 479; Lambert, 

 Travels, II. 344. 



- Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 400. 



'Travels, III. 110. Other evidence of the same nature is found in Harriott, 

 Struggles Through Life, II. 33, 34, 36-37; Wansey, Journal, p. 48. American 

 Husbandry (Anonymous). 2 vols. London. 1775. I. 60. 



* Dickinson. Rodolphus. A Geographical and Statistical View of Massachu- 

 setts. Greenfield. 1813. p. 9. 



^ Abington, seventeen miles from Boston. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., II. 7:115. 



« Brookline, four miles distant. Papers of the Massachusetts Society for Pro- 

 moting Agriculture. Contained in the Agricultural Repository and Journal. 

 10 vols. Boston. 1796-1826. Vol. II. Papers for 1807, p. 21. 



' Hingham, twelve miles. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, I. 482. 



