1504 



HORTICULTURE 



HORTICULTURE 



English and French. An English edition of 1577 was 

 entitled, "Joyfull Newes out of the newe founde worlde, 

 wherein is declared the rare and singular vertues of 

 diverse and sundrie Hearbes, Trees, Oyles, Plantes, and 

 Stones. . . . Also the portrature of the saied hearbes. 

 . . . Englished by J. Frampton." Monardes is now 

 remembered to us in the genus Monarda, one of the 

 mint tribes. He wrote of the medicinal and poisonous 

 plants of the West Indies, and gave pictures, some of 

 them fantastical. His picture of tobacco is not greatly 

 inaccurate, however; and it has the distinction of 

 being probably the first picture extant of the plant, if 

 not of any American plant. This picture is here repro- 

 duced (Fig. 1850) exact size, to show the style of illus- 

 tration of three and one-third centuries ago. Jacques 

 Cornutus is generally supposed to have been the first 

 writer on American plants. His work, "Canadensium 

 Plantarum . . . Historia," appeared in 1635, and it 

 also had pictures. 



One of the earliest writers on the general products 

 and conditions of the northern country was John 

 Josselyn, who, in 1672, published a book entitled "New 

 England's Rarities discovered in Birds, Beasts, Fishes, 

 Serpents, and Plants of that Country," and in 1674 a 

 second volume, "An Account of Two Voyages to New 

 England, made during the years 1638, 1663." The 

 "Rarities" gives specific accounts of many plants, 

 together with pictures of a few of them, as for example, 

 the pitcher plant. He mentions the plants which had 

 become naturalized from Europe. There is also a list 

 "Of such Garden Herbs (amongst us) as do thrive 

 there, and of such as do not." This list, perhaps the 

 earliest record of the kind, is here transcribed: 



Cabbidge growes there exceeding well. 



Lettice. 



Sorrel. 



Parsley. 



Marygold. 



French Mallowes. 



Chervel. 



Burnet. 



Winter Savory. 



Summer Savory. 



Time. 



Sage. 



Carrats. 



Parsnips of a prodigious size. 



Red Beetes. 



Radishes. 



Turnips. 



Purslain. 



Wheat. 



Rye. 



Barley, which commonly degenerates into Oats. 



Oats. 



Pease of all sorts, and the best in the World; I never heard 

 of, nor did see in eight Years time, one Worm eaten Pea. 



Garden Beans. 



Naked Oats, there called Silpee, an excellent grain used insteed 

 of Oat Meal, they dry it in an Oven, or in a Pan upon the fire, 

 then beat it small in a Morter. 



Spear Mint. 



Rew, will hardly grow. 



Fetherfew prospereth exceedingly. 



Southern Wood, is no Plant for this Country. Nor 



Rosemary. Nor 



Bayes. 



White Satten groweth pretty well, so doth 



Lavender Cotton. But 



Lavender is not for the climate. 



Penny Royal. 



Small edge. 



Ground Ivy, or Ale Hoof. 



Gilly Flowers will continue two Years. 



Fennel must be taken up, and kept in a warm Cellar all Winter. 



Houseleek prospereth notably. 



Holly hocks. 



Enula Campana, in two Years time the Roots rot. 



Comferie, with white Flowers. 



Coriander, and 



Dill, and 



Annis thrive exceedingly, but Annis Seed, as also the Seed of 

 Fennel, seldom comes to maturity; the Seed of Annis is com- 

 monly eaten with a fly. 



Clary never lasts but one Summer, the Roots rot with the 

 Frost. 



Sparagus thrives exceedingly, so does 



Garden Sorrel, and 



Sweet Bryer, or Eglantine. 



Bloodwort but sorrily, but 



Patience, and 



English Roses, very pleasantly. 



Celandine, by the West Country men called Kenning Wort, 

 grows but slowly. 



Muschata, as well as in England. 



Dittander, or Pepper Wort, flourisheth notably, and so doth 



Tansie. 



Musk Mellons are better than our English, and 



Cucumbers. 



Pompions, there be of several kinds, some proper to the Country, 

 they are dryer then our English Pompions, and better tasted; you 

 may eat them green. 



Tuckerman, who edited an edition of Josselyn in 

 1865, comments as follows on the foregoing lists: 

 "The earliest, almost the only account that we have of 

 the gardens of our fathers, after they had settled them- 

 selves in their New England, and had tamed its rugged 

 coasts to obedience to English husbandry. What with 

 their garden beans, and Indian beans, and pease ('as 

 good as ever I eat in England/ says Higginson in 1629); 

 then- beets, parsnips, turnips, and carrots ('our turnips, 

 parsnips, and carrots are both bigger and sweeter than 

 is ordinary to be found in England,' says the same rev- 

 erend writer); their cabbages and asparagus, both 

 thriving, we are told, exceedingly; their radishes and 

 lettuce; their sorrel, parsley, chervil, and marigold, for 

 pot-herbs; and their sage, thyme, savory of both kinds, 

 clary, anise, fennel, coriander, spearmint, and penny- 

 royal, for sweet herbs, not to mention the Indian 

 pompions and melons and squanter-squashes, 'and other 

 odde fruits of the country,' the first-named of which 

 had got to be so well approved among the settlers when 

 Josselyn wrote in 1672, that, what he calls 'the ancient 

 New England standing dish' (we may call it so now!) 

 was made of them; and, finally, their pleasant, familiar 

 flowers, lavender-cotton and hollyhocks and satin ('we 

 call this herbe, in Norfolke, sattin,' says Gerard; 'and, 

 among our women, it is called honestie') and gilly- 

 flowers, which meant pinks as well, and dear English 

 roses, and eglantine, yes, possibly, hedges of eglantine, 

 surely the gardens of New England fifty years after 

 the settlement of the country, were as well stocked as 

 they were a hundred and fifty years after. Nor were 

 the first planters long behindhand in fruit. Even at 

 his first visit, in 1639, our author was treated with 

 'half a score of very fair pippins,' from the Governor's 

 Island in Boston Harbor; though there was then, he 

 says, 'not one apple tree nor pear planted yet in no 

 part of the country but upon that island.' But he 

 has a much better account to give in 1671 : 'The quinces, 

 cherries, damsons, set the dames a work. Marmalad 

 and preserved damsons is to be met with in every 

 house. Our fruit trees prosper abundantly, apple 

 trees, pear trees, quince trees, cherry trees, plum trees, 

 barberry trees. I have observed, with admiration, that 

 the kernels sown, or the succors planted, produce as 

 fair and good fruit, without grafting, as the tree from 

 whence they were taken. The countrey is replenished 

 with fair and large orchards. It was affirmed by one 

 Mr. Woolcut (a magistrate in Connecticut Colony), at 

 the Captain's messe (of which I was), aboard the ship 

 I came home in, that he made five hundred hogsheads 

 of syder out of his own orchard in one year.' Voyages, 

 pp. 189, 190. Our barberry-bushes, now so familiar 

 inhabitants of the hedge-rows of eastern New England, 

 should seem from this to have come, with the eglan- 

 tines,from the gardens of the first settlers. Barberries 'are 

 planted in most of our English gardens,' says Gerard." 



The foregoing lists and comments show that the 

 colonists early brought their familiar home plants to 

 the new country; and there are many collateral evi- 

 dences of the same character. There was long and ardu- 

 ous experimenting with plants and methods. Several 

 things which were tried on a large scale failed so com- 

 pletely, either from uncongenial conditions or for 

 economic reasons, that they are now unknown to us as 

 commercial crops; amongst these are indigo, silk and the 

 wine grape. The histories of these things can be traced 



