Chap. nr. of the E N G L 1 S 
fhall be obliged to mention this Subject again mofe 
largely in another Place. 
We will now proceed from the Animal to the Vegeta- 
ble Kingdom, which is in full as flourifhing a Condition, 
and yields very little to any Country in America. There 
is Plenty of good Timber in the Woods and Swamps of 
New Engla-ad ; but that Plenty is fo much leffened within 
ten or twelve Miles from the Sea, tlaat, we are told, 
there is a Neceffity of a Law, to prevent the Wafte of 
Woods, which three or fourfcore Years ago the Planters 
would have been glad to have feen wafted. Oak, Elm, 
Firr, Afh, Cyprefs, fine Chefnut, Walnut, Cedar, 
Beech, Afpin, Saffafras, and Shumack, are common 
here ^ their Firr is of an extraordinary Growth for Mafts, 
Yards and Planks. The Shumack is of ufe for Dyers 
and Tanners j and, as there is no want of Hides or 
Skins, nor Bark, there muft be much Leather in New 
England.) if thofe Advantages are improved ; the Oak 
has fupplied the Shipwrights for Building ; the Firr pro- 
duces Pitch, Tar, Rofin, and Turpentine. All Sorts of 
Garden and Orchard Trees grow in Perfedtion, fo that it 
is no hard Thing for one Planter to make a hundred 
Hogfheads of Cyder in a Seafon, and the Export of Ap- 
ples to the Sugar Elands is one of the conftant Articles 
in the Trade of the Province. 
It is affirmed, their Apples are larger and fweeter than 
ours in England ; and the fame Obfervation extends to 
their Plumbs, Cherries, Peaches, Pears, ^c. All Sorts 
of Roots for the Table are in great Plenty here, as Tur- 
nips, Parfnips, Carrots, Radiflres, much larger and 
richer than in England, though originally tlieir Seeds 
came from hence. There are alfo Pompions and Onions, 
good ftore of W ater-Melons \ and Squafhes grow here, per- 
haps, from Seeds that were firft brought from Portugal ; 
whither theTraders here have long fent, andftill fend, their 
Fifti in great (^lantities. Flax and Hemp grow as natu- 
rally here as in any Country on the Baltic, and in as 
great Perfedlion ; Oats, Barley, Peas, Beans, and in- 
deed every thing of this Kind, fucceed as well as can be 
wifhed ; but amongft them all, there is nothing fo much 
planted as Indian Corn, of which Mr. Winthorp havino- 
given a large Account to the Royal Society, we fliall 
take as much as is necefiary for ours, or the Reader’s 
Purpofe, from thence, and infert it here. 
The Natives called it Weachin, and in fome fouthern 
Parts of America, it is known by the Name of Maiis or 
Maize ; the Ear is a Span long, compofed of eight Rows 
of Grain, or more, according to the Goodnefs of the 
Ground, about thirty Grains in a Row j ’tis of various 
Colours, as red, white, yellow, blue, olive, greenifh, 
black, fpeckled, ftriped, and fometimes in the fame 
Field, and in the fame Ear ; but the white and yellow 
is the moft common ; the Ear is defended from the 
Cold and Storms by ftrong thick Hufks, the Stalks 
grow fix or eight Feet high •, that of New England is not 
quite fo tall as that of Virginia, and at Canada it is fhorter 
than at New England •, ’tis jointed like a Cane, and full 
of fweet Juice, like the Bugar Cane, and a Syrup as 
fweet as Sugar may be made of it, as has been often 
tried ; at every Joint there are long Flags, and at the 
1 op a Branch of Flowers like Rye Bloflbms. 
It is geneially planted from the Middle of April to the 
Middle of May. In the northern Parts the Mohawk 
Corn is not planted till the Middle of June, and yet is 
ripe in Seafon. The Stalks of this Sort are Ifiort, and 
the Ears near the Bottom, and are of feveral Colours. 
The manner of planting Maize is in Rows, at equal Di- 
ftance every way, about five or fix Feet ; the Earth is 
opened with a Hoe four Inches deep, and four or five 
Grains are thrown into it, at a little Diftance from one 
another in the Breadth of a Hoe, then they are covered 
with Earth 5 if they grow the Crop will anfv/er. The 
Corn is v/eeded at a Hand’s length, and the Earth is 
loofened about it v/ith a Hoe. This Labour muft be 
repeated as the Weeds come up j when the Stalk bemns 
to grow high, a little Earth Ibould be drawn about it, 
u-11 forth the Ear fo much as to make a little 
Hill, hke a Hop-FIill. ’Tis ripe about the Middle of 
heptemocr ; it muft be ftripped as foon as gathered, un- 
lei.s tis laid thm, to prevent its growing mouldy, or 
VoL. II Numb. 85. 
H AMERICA. 237 
fprouting. The common way is to move the Ear toge- 
ther, in long Traces, by fome Part of the. tlufks left 
thereon, which is called tracing. Thefe Traces they hang 
upon Bearers, without Doors, and will keep fo all Winter 
good and fweet. The Indians thrafii it as they gather it. 
They dry it wnli on Matts in the Sun, and bury it in 
Fioles in the Ground, lined v/ith Mofs or Matts, which 
are their Barns. The Englijh of late plant it with the 
Fielp of the Plow ; they turn up fingle Furrows, fix 
Feet diftance ; then plow a-crofs, at the fame Diftance, 
throw in the Corn, where thefe meet, and cover it with 
a Hoe, or run another Furrow over it with the Plow. 
The Indians boil it till it becomes tender, and eat it 
with Fifh or Yenifon, inftead of Bread ; fometimes they 
bruife it in Mortars, and fo boil it. The moft ufua! 
way is to parch it in Afhes, ftirring it fo artificially as 
to be very tender, without burning ; this they fift and 
beat in Mortars into fine Meal, which they cat dry, or 
mixed with Water. The Englijh mix it into a ftiff Pafte, 
make Bread of it, which they bake ail Day or all Night. 
The beft Sort of Food which is made of it is called Samp 5 
to make it, the Corn is watered half an Hour, beaten in 
a Mortar to the Bignefs of Rice, fifted, boiled, and 
eaten with Milk, or Butter and Sugar, like Rice ; and 
this feems to be fo good and wholefome a Diet, that ’tis 
a ftrange Sort of Folly in fome that defpife it, becaufe 
’tis Indian Corn ; and the Indians have no other Corn 
to eat. The Englijh have alfo made good Beer 
of it, by malting it, or making it of Bread ; when they 
malt it, it muft chit both ways. Root and Blade ; to do 
which, they heap it up at a convenient Time, then take 
away the Top of the Earth of a Garden-Field, two or 
three Inches deep j after which they cover the Ground 
with the Corn and the Corn with the Earth j when the 
Plat is green all over with the Corn-Sprouts, v/hich it 
will be in about ten Days, it muft be taken up, the 
Earth fiiaken from it and dried, and then waftied and 
dried again on a Kiln •, this makes the Malt and that the 
Beer, which will be pleafant, wholefome, and of a brown 
Colour. The Beer made of Bread is more durable, and 
altogether as pleafant ; to make this, they cut the Bread 
into great Lumps, as big as a Man’s Fift, mafti and ma- 
nage it as they do Malt ; adding or omitting Flops, of 
which they have enough, and as good a Sort of' their own 
as is defired. No Ltdian Corn grows wild now but 
both that and Kidney Beans were found among the Na- 
tives. The Indians have a Tradition, that the firft Grain 
of Corn was brought thither by a Black-Bird, and the 
firft Bean by a Crow. 
We are now to proceed from the Defeription of the 
Country, and an Account of its Produce, in which we 
ought, by all Means, to include Iron Ore, of which 
there is in this Country great Plenty ; I fay, our Me- 
thod leads us to go on to the Political State and Condi- 
tion of this Colony, that the Situation of the Englijh 
therein may be rendered more obvious, and be the 
better apprehended. In order to do this as fuccindlly as 
polfible, we fhall obferve there are very few Countries, 
in which fo many different Forms of Government have, 
prevailed within fo narrow a Space of Time as in New 
England. At the firft going over of the People thither 
they framed a Government of their own, and afterwards 
procured, as themfelves boaft, or fome of their Writers 
have boafted for them, the Eftablifliment of a Republic, 
by Virtue of a Patent from King James L which, how- 
ever, they managed fo indifferently, and were guilty of 
fuch flagrant Oppreffions, on account of Differences in 
Religion, that their Charter was in the Reign of King 
Charles II. declared forfeited j and though it was re- 
nev/ed under the Reign of King William; yet it was un- 
der various Reftridtions, and with feveral material Al- 
terations ; fo that we may fafely affirm, that there are 
at prefent three kinds of Governments eftabliflied by 
Law in thofe four Colonies •, which, as we before ob- 
ferved, are eftablifhed within the Limits of Neiv England, 
The firft kind of Government I fiiali mention is, that 
old Form of Charter Government, which allows the People 
to chufe annpally their own Governors, Deputy-Govern- 
ors,^ Council and Affembly, with ail - their Officers^ 
Civil and Military, and to make fuch Laws as to them 
P P 
