182 History of Hingham. 



CROPS GROWN. 



The first settlers, copying from the Indians, planted as their 

 principal crop, Indian corn. Wood says, " The first planters, for 

 want of oxen, were compelled to dig up the land with the hoe." 

 At a very early period it was found necessary to grow other crops 

 besides Indian corn. Pumpkins were among the first of garden 

 crops; these were followed by the parsnip, carrot, turnip, onion, 

 beet, and cabbage. Potatoes were not introduced into New Eng- 

 land until 171!;); so the early settlers had to eat their meat and 

 make their clam chowders without potatoes. It was not until a 

 trifle more than a hundred years ago that the potato came into 

 general use. Indian corn was the leading crop until the early 

 part of the present century. In 1749 the number of bushels of 

 corn grown in town was 11,69-3. One farmer raised 225 bushels, 

 another 2<J0, and there were twenty-six farmers that produced a 

 hundred bushels or more each. 



Other field crops grown were wheat, rye, oats, barley, beans,, 

 flax, and hemp. The two last named were grown and used for 

 making clothing for the familv for nearly two hundred years. 



Apples were introduced at a very early period ; large orchards 

 existed as early as 1675. This fruit was not grown for the table, 

 but for cider, which for more than a century and a half appears, 

 to have been the favorite beverage of all classes, — a single family 

 often consuming a dozen barrels of cider in a year. Pear-trees 

 were introduced soon after the town was settled ; but most of 

 the fruit was unfit to eat, and it was carried to the cider-mill, 

 where the juice was pressed out, and permitted to ferment. This 

 made a drink that many preferred to the best of cider. 



Early in the present century peaches were grown in conside- 

 rable quantities and quite successfully ; the trees being grown 

 from the seed, and not budded, became quite hardy. But when 

 the practice of budding from choice fruit became general, the 

 trees became less hardy, the blossom-buds were winter-killed, and 

 many of the trees died of the yellows. During the past twenty- 

 five years it has been very difficult to grow the peach in this 

 town, except under the most favorable conditions. 



The cultivation of improved varieties of the grape was not com- 

 menced until the beginning of the second quarter of the present 

 century ; but our ancestors found the native grape growing in 

 great abundance, some varieties of which were very palatable. 



The cultivation of the strawberry was commenced nearly a 

 hundred years ago; but for a period of fifty years it found its 

 wav in but verv few wardens, and in those few to onlv a limited 

 extent. Since that period it has been more generally cultivated ; 

 a few cultivators have grown it for the market, but, with the ex- 

 ception of one or two years, not to an extent sufficient to supply 

 the home market. 



