Evolution of Ibotttcultute 



The first permanent European coloniza- 

 tion upon the sea coast of New England, 

 was established at Plymouth. " A re- 

 ligious impulse accomplished what com- 

 mercial enterprise, commanding money 

 and court favor, had attempted without 

 success. Civilized New England is the 

 child of English Puritanism. " 2 



This was soon followed by other planta- 

 tions, notably on Massachusetts Bay. It 

 is not to the purpose in this connection, 

 to enter upon the causes, either remote 

 or immediate, which led to this religious 

 impulse. A brief consideration, however, 

 of the condition of the country into which 

 the colonists had come, as also some 

 knowledge of the aboriginal inhabitants, 

 are necessary for the proper understand- 

 ing of important factors which were es- 

 sential to the early sustenance of the 

 plantations by means of horticulture. In 

 fact there is no evidence whatever that 

 there had been any European settlement 

 in New England previous to that at 



1 Palfrey, New England, vol. i., p. 101. 



4 3 



