CLIMATE AND HORTICULTUEE OF NEW ENGLAND. 13 



attempt which, pursued with so much of suffering, destitution, and 

 misery, almost perished in the New England wilderness during 

 that first winter, but which did live to found a colon}' and a nation. 

 They took no thought of climate, — they lived but to die, — their 

 vision looked beyond the dreary shore of Plymouth to that peifect 

 climate, 



"Where everlasting spring abides, 

 And never withering flowers ; " 



and the}' bore without complaint, but with much liome-sickness, the 

 fierce extremes of their new home. There is no record b}' ther- 

 mometer of the first hundred years of the occupation of New Eng- 

 land, as this simple and necessary instrument was not made 

 practically available until the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 so that we have no knowledge of the degree of heat they experienced, 

 but we do know from their records that in one respect the climate 

 has changed but slightly since then, — that drought w as an ever- 

 present menace to the struggling colonists. The experience of 

 their earliest planting also shows that unaccliraated English plants 

 could not bear the fervor of our sun ; for, of the six acres of barlej- 

 and peas put in, not only with faith, hope, and prayer, after the 

 Christian manner, but, as a precautionary measure, well ihanured 

 with fish, after the heathen Indian style, the barlej' was indifferent 

 good, and the peas not worth gathering ; they came up well and 

 blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom, and the hope 

 of the Pilgrim husbandman was frustrated. Their first summer 

 was undoubtedly xevy earl}-, for the}- began tillage in March, and 

 it was very hot. 



Subsequent seasons were later, and the English garden seeds 

 yielded abundantly ; for we have the enthusiastic testimony of the 

 Rev. Francis Higginson, who, in 1629, wrote, " Our Governor 

 hath store of green pease growing in his garden, as good as I ever 

 eat in England. Our turnips, parsnips, and carrots are bigger and 

 sweeter than is ordinar}- to be found in England ; here are store 

 of pompions, cowcumbers and other things of that nature which 

 I know not." 



Probably there has been little change in the climate ; the forest 

 was not so all-pervading as writers have usually assumed, — there 

 ■was much clear land, and the Indians burned over great tracts, 

 the fires running until material was exhausted, or rains quenched 

 the flames. Now, as then, winter prevails the greater part of the 



