A HUNDRED YEARS' PROGRESS. 281 



early as lG29,w'as not recognized as a very important and indispensable 

 crop till al3ont the middle of tbelast century, when it bad come to be widely 

 known and esteemed as an article of food, for we know that in 1747 

 about seven hundred bushels were exported from South Carolina. It 

 was the sweet-potato that first came to be regarded as a delicacy in 

 England, and the allusions of some rather early English writers un- 

 doubtedly refer to this, rather than the common potato. 



Very little attention was paid to the raising of fruits previous 

 to the Kevolution, except for the manufacture of cider. The first 

 apples were raised upon Governor's Island, in the harbor of Bos- 

 ton, from which, on the 10th of October, 1C39, "ten fair pippens were 

 brought, there being not one apple or pear tree planted in any part of 

 the country but upon that island." The first nursery of young trees in 

 this country was that planted by Governor Endicott on his farm at 

 Salem, now Dan vers, in 1G40, and it is related that he sold five hundred 

 apple-trees for two hundred and fifty acres of land. The systematic 

 cultivation of fruit was not common in this country previous to the 

 Revolution, nor did it become so till within the last fifty years. Orchards 

 were set out upon many farms, but they were designed chiefly for cider. 

 ]Vruch greater care, however, was taken to raise good fruits in New York, 

 Xew Jersey, and Pennsylvania than in New England, and several noted 

 orchards and nurseries existed there in the latter part of the last cen- 

 tury and the early part of the present, but they were the exception to 

 the general rule even there. Choice varieties of apples, pears, peaches, 

 and cherries were known only to a few careful cultivators, and the num- 

 ber of varieties of these was quite limited as compared with the present 

 day. Cider was plenty, but its quality was much less regarded than its 

 quantity. It is stated that so late as 1825 there was not a nursery for 

 the sale of apple and pear trees in Kew England. Trees had to be 

 bought in New York or New Jersey, or imported from abroad. The 

 first horticultural society in the country was established in 1829. The 

 orchard products, according to the last census, have now risen to 

 $48,000,000, and the general culture of fruit is rapidly progressing. 



We are now prepared to appreciate the condition of our agriculture 

 at the time of the outbreak of the Revolution. We have seen that the 

 settlers had but ijoor and inefficient tools, poor and profitless cattle, 

 poor and meager crops, and poor and miserable ideas of farming. They 

 had no agricultural journals, no newspapers of any kind, and few books, 

 except the old family Bible. There were less than a dozen papers pub- 

 lished in the country at the middle of the last century. There was not 

 one in New England at the beginning of that century, but four in 1750, 

 and these had but a very limited circulation in the rural districts. There 

 was little communication from town to town. The facilities for travel 

 were extremely limited. It was before the days of stages even, and 

 the liberalizing influence which modern travel and social intercourse 

 exert. Everything was favorable to the growth of prejudice and of 

 narrow-minded views. 



Moreover, it is to be considered that throughout all the days of the 

 colonies, from the very outset, the policy of the home-government was 

 to make the provinces a source of profit to the mother-country. It was 

 a rigorous rule that all manufactured articles were to be procured of 

 England. The colonies were not allowed to produce such articles for 

 themselves, or to do anything which should come in conflict with the 

 industry of the old country. But if there were any articles that 

 England was in need of, the industry of the settlers was confined 

 to them, and they could sell them only to England and buy what 



