12 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



from those very Cuttings, the Spring following. Add- 

 ing in the Conclusion, that they had not heard of the 

 like in any other Country:' Neither was this out of 

 the Way, for I have made the same Experiment both 

 of their natural Vine, and of the Plants sent thither 

 from England." There appears to be some anachro- 

 nism here, for there is no record of any Frenchmen 

 having arrived, save the two boys, in 1621. They 

 were expected to arrive "about the next spring." The 

 massacre occurred on the 22nd of March, 1622. It is 

 probable that Beverley is in error in attributing the 

 termination of the grape experiment to the massacre; 

 but it is enough for our purpose to know that noth- 

 ing of permanent value came of the enterprise. It is 

 said, however, that in 1651, premiums were offered 

 for wines of domestic manufacture. In Berkeley's 

 time "some Vineyards" had been attempted, "and one 

 is brought to perfection, of 750 Gallons a Year. The 

 Wine drinks at present greenish, but the Owner doubts 

 not of good Wine, in a Year or two more, and takes 

 great Delight that Way." 



We have already seen that John Winthrop, Gov- 

 ernor of the Massachusetts Bay, started a vineyard in 

 one of the islands in Boston Harbor. This island 

 came to be early known as "The Governour's Gar- 

 den." The rent fixed for this favored spot by the 

 General Court, in 1634, was "a hogshead of the best 

 wyne that shall grow there to be paide yearly" after 

 the death of Winthrop. The Massachusetts Com- 

 pany sent to the colony, in 1629, "vine -planters, 

 wheat, rye, barley, oats, a hogshead of each in the 

 ear: beans, pease, stones of all sorts of fruits, as 

 peaches, plums, filberts, cherries: pear, apple, quince 



