326 Percy Wells Bidwell 



not given much attention except in the few favored regions in the 

 neighborhood of commercial towns, where a market for such pro- 

 duce was at hand.^ Gardening was much too intensive a process 

 for the farmer at that time. Kitchen vegetables were therefore 

 often lacking on his table, unless the women of the household could 

 spare time from their multifarious other occupations to plant and 

 care for a garden.^ The farmer had, however, learned the soothing 

 effects of nicotine and consequently often grew a small amount of 

 tobacco. Occasional instances of its export are found even at this 

 early date.' 



A few unsuccessful attempts at hemp-growing had been made 

 in the Connecticut Valley. Although there was a considerable 

 demand for this product at the shipyards in the commercial towns, 

 yet such intensive cultivation was required, and so much disagree- 

 able labor in preparing the fiber for market, that the domestic supply 

 was greatly inadequate.* The breweries in Boston offered a market 

 for hops, which was supplied by the farmers in the nearby towns. ^ 

 Hops were also grown in small amounts by some farmers for the 

 production of home-brewed beer. None of these smaller crops had 

 the importance to the self-sufficient farmer, nor occupied as much 

 of his land or attention, as the grain and grass crops. New England 

 was at this time a region in which grazing was of more importance 

 than the cultivation of fields, and hence the latter operations were 

 subsidiary to the former. 



The Rotation oj Crops. 



Very little progress had been made towards developing any sys- 

 tematic rotation of these crops. The simplest plan was a three- 



' Dickinson, for instance, speaks of the cultivation of beans to be sold for "ship 

 stores." Geographical and Statistical View, p. 9. 



* The editor of the Old Farmer's Almanack occasionally encouraged his readers 

 to pay more attention to their kitchen gardens and to introduce vegetables into 

 the bare menu of salt beef, turnip and stewed pumpkin. See Kittredge, The Old 

 Farmer and His Almanack, pp. 84-85. Dwight gives a long list of vegetables 

 grown in New England gardens, but fails to tell how many of them were regu- 

 larly grown in any one garden. Travels, I. 18-20. 



^ See Lees, John. Journal. New York. 1768. Also Memorial History of Hart- 

 ford County, Conn. (Trumbull, J. H., ed.) 2 vols. Boston. 1886. Vol. I. p. 215. 

 Also article, Tobacco, by Shamel, A. D., in Cyclopedia of American Agricul- 

 ture (Bailey, L. H., ed.), 4 vols. New York. 1910. Vol. II. p. 641. 



* Dickinson tells of experiments with this crop in Deerfield, Mass. Geographi- 

 cal and Statistical View, p. 10. See also American Husbandry, I. 54. 



'' Dwight found considerable hop-growing in Tewskbury, Mass., Travels, II. 189. 



