NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 73 



There's wheat and rye ; and barley, pea, and bean ; 

 Spelt, maize and buckwheat; all these kinds of grain 

 Do nobly grow : for horses to sustain, 



Oats are awarded." 



This horse sustenance is surely the most gratifying 

 touch of all ! Spelt, by the way, is a wheat that was 

 very common once upon a time and is still used in 

 some European countries, especially where the soil is 

 poor. 



One cannot but wonder when they slept, these in- 

 dustrious, tireless, sturdy women, when the amount 

 which they accomplished is all taken into account. 

 "Everyone in town and country had a garden," ac- 

 cording to a reminiscence of the early eighteenth cen- 

 tury, "but all the more hardy plants grew in the field, 

 in rows, amidst the hills, as they were called, of In- 

 dian corn. These lofty plants sheltered them from 

 the sun, while the same hoeing served for both: there 

 cabbages, potatoes and other esculent roots, with 

 variety of gourds, grew to a great size and were of an 

 excellent quality. Kidney beans, asparagus, celery, 

 great variety of sallads and sweet herbs, cucumbers 

 &c. were only admitted into the garden, into which 

 no foot of man intruded, after it was dug in spring. 

 Here were no trees, those grew in the orchard in high 

 perfection; strawberries and many high-flavoured 

 wild fruits of the shrub kind abounded so much in 



