322 THE PLANT LIFE OF MARYLAND 



Continental Army in the long struggle for independence. A diversi- 

 fied agriculture is of benefit to a community in that it raises the 

 standard of living, by making possible a variation, substitution, or 

 alternation, of food substances not available when there is no such 

 diversity in crops or produce. It manifests itself also in being able 

 to secure returns from some one crop in case another proves a fail- 

 ure in the same region. Thus the toleration of the authorities 

 toward the settlers was of benefit I" the Colony in broadening its 

 agricultural resources. 



In the region of the Monocacy where the German colonists began 

 to settle as early as 1710, and came in large numbers in 1735, the 

 local resources were developed early. The requirements of the. 

 neighborhood were supplied by the industry of the settlers of the 

 vicinity, if each one did not meet his own needs. Here forges were 

 associated with the smelting furnaces for iron, and the flax and wool 

 of the farms became the sheets and clothing of the homes and farmers. 



A difference between the farm unit in a new and in an old region, 

 which is very essential but. often overlooked, lies in the relation of 

 1 he natural resources of the locality to the cultivated ones. The 

 farm in the new country yields only the bread stuffs and essential 

 vegetables like potatoes, while the wilderness around supplies the 

 needed meats, and such fruits and berries as there may be oppor- 

 tunity for gathering. In the older region however, the farm must 

 not only produce the bread and vegetables of the daily fare, but the 

 meat also. And from its surplus must come the revenue to pur- 

 chase the needed accessories of better tools, of more clothing and the 

 other features of neighborhood life which differ from the frontier 

 conditions. There the game killed for food furnished in many 

 cases the clothing also, as in the case of buckskin, or was the revenue 

 of the pioneer, as in the case of beaver ami other skins. The de- 

 mands upon the land and the productivity of the soil, by which the 

 demands may be met, seem to be related, at least in time; and the 

 productivity is in turn related to the character of the demands which 

 must, be met. It is in the region of good crops that the different 

 accessories of life are to be found in home comforts and labor-saving 

 implements. Where the soil has the greatest demand laid upon it 

 the demand is met by the farmer through the intelligent application 



