Un mew England 



valley were engaged. The land for tillage 

 was closely subdivided, the pasturage and 

 forest lands were held and used in com- 

 mon. In the first records of the various 

 communities most frequent allusion is 

 made to the Indian corn, raised either 

 by themselves, or gathered by trading 

 with the Indians. The mode of planting 

 had been introduced from the Plymouth 

 and Massachusetts colonies, although the 

 fertile, alluvial soil did not then require 

 the application of dressing. In the set- 

 tlement of Agawam (Springfield) the town 

 was to be limited to fifty families, each 

 head of a family to have " a house-lot 

 and an allotment of planting grounds, 

 pasture, meadow, marsh, and timber 

 land." In 1645, it was voted " That if 

 any neighbour shall desire to enclose his 

 yard with a garden or an orchard, if his 

 next neighbour refuse to joyne for ye 

 one half of the said fence, he may com- 

 pel his neighbours on each side of his lot 

 to beare ye one halfe of his fence, and in 

 case his neighbour shall refuse to doe his 



