28 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



tiers did not learn to improve on the primitive Indian methods 

 of cultivation. Furthermore, most of them soon forgot the 

 knowledge of good land use which had been a part of their 

 traditions in Europe. The American soil seemed so abundant 

 that careful use appeared to the colonists to be a waste of time. 



With the exception of a few communities like those of the 

 Germans in Pennsylvania, the farming methods of the colonists 

 were ruinous. Frequently trees girdled to make way for crop 

 land were left standing until they fell down. Land was cropped 

 until it gave out and then a new piece was cleared. Cattle and 

 hogs were allowed to roam at will. 



Sarah Kemble Knight wrote this account of a New England 

 farmhouse which she passed on her journey to New York in 

 1704: "This little Hutt was one of the wretchedest I ever saw 

 a habitation for human creatures. It was suported with shores 

 enclosed with Clapboards, laid on Lengthways, and so much 

 asunder, that the Light comes throu' everywhere; the doore 

 tyed on with a cord in place of hinges; the floor the bear earth; 

 no windows but such as the thin covering afforded, nor any 

 furniture but a Bedd with a glass Bottle hanging at ye head 

 on't; an earthan cupp, a small pewter bason, A Bord with 

 sticks to stand on, instead of a table, and a block or two in ye 

 corner instead of chairs. The family were the old man, his 

 wife and two children; all and every part being the picture of 

 poverty. Notwithstanding both the Hutt and its Inhabitance 

 were very clean and tydee." 8 



In the southern rural sections conditions were not much 

 better. William Byrd, half in seriousness, half joking, wrote 

 this about what he saw in North Carolina: "Indian corn is of 

 so great increase, that a little Pains will Subsist a very large 

 Family with Bread, and then they may have meat without any 



6 Sarah Kemble Knight, The Private Journal \ept by Madam Knight on a 

 Journey from Boston to T^ew Tor\ in the Tear 1704, quoted from Parrington, 

 op. cit., Vol. I, p. 138. 



