iSDra; 
PHOTO 
VOL.  LI.  No  2188. 
NEW  YORK,  JANUARY  2,  1892. 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS. 
$2.00  PER  YEAR. 
Farming  on  Cape  Cod. 
Cultivating  Sand  and  Imported  Soil. 
Every  American  citizen  has  heard  of  Cape  Cod,  and 
all  who  have  seen  a  map  of  this  country  are  familiar 
with  its  peculiar  shape.  It  has  been  aptly  likened  to  a 
boxer’s  arm  stretched  out  to  defend  the  coast  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts — the  shoulder  at  Buzzard’s  Bay,  the  elbow  at 
Orleans,  the  wrist  at  Truro  and  the  fist  at  Province- 
town.  “It  bids  defiance  to  the  elements  and  beats 
back  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic  that  seek  to  dash  them¬ 
selves  against  the  rugged  shores  of  Massachusetts.” 
Almost  immediately  after  the  settlement  at  Plymouth 
the  Pilgrims  began  to  edge  along  with  their  farms 
towards  the  end  of  the  Cape.  It  was  down  towards 
Provincetown  that  they  found  the  first  buried  stores  of 
Indian  corn  before  they  selected  Plymouth  as  a  final 
place  f-or  settlement.  Late  in  the  seventeenth  century 
the  Cape  Cod  country  seems  to  have 
been  the  great  grain  growing  region 
for  the  Eastern  colonies — almost  as 
difficult  to  reach  from  Boston  as  Colorado 
is  to-day.  What  about  Cape  Cod  farm¬ 
ing  of  to-day  ?  Mr.  Edward  L.  Small, 
of  North  Truro,  sends  us  the  follow¬ 
ing  account  of  present  practices  : 
Cape  Cod  comprises  14  towns  form¬ 
ing  the  county  of  Barnstable.  As  one 
leaves  the  mainland,  little  variation  from 
much  of  the  Massachusetts  landscape 
is  observed.  As  he  progresses,  how¬ 
ever,  the  land  and  general  outlook  take 
on  a  distinctive  appearance.  The  stones 
diminish  in  size  and  the  sandy  fields 
that  have  given  Cape  Cod  its  reputation, 
become  more  marked  as  compared  with 
the  more  fertile  areas.  The  whole  Cape 
was  originally  covered  with  good  oak 
timber  and  the  ruined  mill  (see  Fig.  1) 
was  framed  of  native  oak  and  spars  of 
ship-wrecked  vessels. 
[This  old  mill  is  nearly  200  years  old 
and  is  situated  near  the  end  of  the  Cape. 
For  years  it  did  the  grinding  for  the 
neighborhood.  It  was  dismantled  long 
ago.  Within  recent  years  the  lower 
portion  had  been  fitted  up  to  serve  for 
a  candy  and  ice-cream  store,  open  dur¬ 
ing  the  summer  only  to  serve  summer 
visitors  and  sight-seers.  Even  this  has 
now  failed  and  the  old  building  is  left 
as  a  solitary  landmark  and  reminder 
of  a  strong  and  sturdy  race  of  men 
and  an  important  period  of  our  his¬ 
tory.  A  similar  mill  in  working  order 
is  shown  at  Fig.  2.  This  is  located  in  the  town 
of  Orleans,  where  there  are  two  others — it  is 
stated  in  mournful  evidence  of  the  decline  in  Cape 
Cod  grain  growing  that  “they  run  partly  on  Western 
grain.”  Experts  tell  us  that  these  old  mills,  with 
their  big  sails  and  wide  arms,  will  develop  more  power 
from  a  given  breeze  than  any  of  the  newer  devices. 
Progress  has  been  more  in  automatic  or  self -tending 
devices  than  in  increased  force.  These  old  mills  must 
be  watched  and  tended  like  the  sails  of  a  ship:  a  man 
must  keep  almost  constant  watch  of  the  long  pole  and 
wheel  at  the  rear  of  the  mill,  so  as  to  keep  the  sails 
“  before  the  wind.”  This  is  about  the  most  reason¬ 
able  device  for  sailor-farmers  to  adopt.  R.  N.-Y.] 
Markets  and  Early  Business  Changes. 
In  the  period  of  transition  during  war  times  grain 
growing  was  largely  abandoned,  especially  near  Prov¬ 
incetown,  where  a  local  market  early  developed.  My 
ancestors  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Truro,  and 
have  followed  farming  and  the  mechanical  trades 
rather  than  the  sea,  though  my  father  has  followed 
the  lines  of  ordinary  fishing  and  whaling  as  well  as 
home  and  foreign  trade.  In  fishing,  always  a  precarious 
calling  financially  and  in  other  ways,  the  poorest 
catches  have  often  occurred  in  periods  of  general  finan¬ 
cial  depression  throughout  the  country.  As  our  peo¬ 
ple  felt  the  pinch  of  poverty  incident  to  the  currency 
contraction  of  the  resumption  period  many  turned  to 
all  parts  of  the  world,  but  a  few  stuck  to  our  own  sandy 
soil.  At  an  early  day  the  place  became  famous  for 
cranberries,  and  later,  by  systematic  employment  of 
cheap  labor,  very  profitable  ;  and  large  areas  of  swamp 
have  been  yearly  turned  to  producing  the  black  and 
crimson  beauties.  Cape  Cod  vegetables,  as  a  whole, 
are  not  excelled,  and  our  turnips  fill  a  large  place  in  the 
Boston  market,  while  some  go  to  New  York  city  and 
Portland,  Me.  The  town  of  Eastham  shipped  above 
25,000  bushels  last  season.  The  crop  is  not  so  good 
as  last  year’s,  but  an  increased  acreage  may  compen¬ 
sate  for  the  deficiency.  The  price  is  about  35  cents  per 
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Ruins  of  an  Old  Capf.  Cod  Windmill,. 
bushel,  f.  o.  b.  Eastham  is  also  famous  for  eggs  and 
asparagus,  the  latter  having  been  introduced  in  the 
very  early  seventies.  Wellfleet  does  but  little  in  agri¬ 
culture,  but  has  the  only  greenhouse  in  this  vicinity, 
and  it  has  a  boom  for  summer  homes.  For  20  years 
mackerel  catching  in  summer,  with  freighting  fruit 
and  oysters  in  winter,  was  very  profitable ;  mack¬ 
erels  have  deserted  us,  oysters  are  opened  at  the  South 
and  sent  to  market  by  express,  freight  and  steamers, 
and  fruiters  now  take  that  trade.  As  a  result  there  is 
much  depression.  Prior  to  the  extension  of  the  Old 
Colony  Railroad  to  Provincetown  in  the  early  seven¬ 
ties,  Truro  enjoyed  a  practical  monopoly  of  the  Prov¬ 
incetown  market  in  milk  and  small  truck.  Now  we 
compete  with  the  rest  of  Cape  Cod  and  the  whole  State. 
From  a  point  three  miles  north  of  Cape  Cod  Light, 
(otherwise  called  Highland  Light)  the  Cape  is  com¬ 
posed  entirely  of  sea  sand  and  places  that  are  still  salt 
meadow  or  that  have  been  such  at  some  time.  These 
of  course  are  rich  in  vegetable  matter  with  saline  de¬ 
posits.  This  section  was  also  well  wooded,  and  much 
of  it  is  still  covered  with  fair-sized  brush.  Many  of  the 
swamps  have  been  reclaimed  for  garden  or  cranberry 
culture  and  some  for  hay.  No  article  on  Cape  Cod 
would  be  complete  without  allusion  to  the  old  “  salt 
works,”  which  are  nearly  if  not  quite  extinct.  Less 
than  10  years  ago  some  of  them  were  still  in  operation 
in  the  town  of  Damis.  The  shore  of  Provincetown  was 
lined  with  them  in  the  early  days. 
Old  Time  Grain  Growing. 
Prior  to  the  war  much  grain  (corn  and  rye)  was 
still  grown  ;  but  the  early  settlers  had  cleared  the 
land  and  “skinned”  it  until  the  crops  became  very 
small.  The  old  system,  generally  followed  in  our 
town,  and  I  suppose  on  the  Cape  generally,  was  simi¬ 
lar  to  that  described  by  The  Rural’s  Roumanian 
correspondent,  on  page  616. 
[This  system  was,  briefly,  as  follows  :  The  corn  was 
sown  broadcast,  like  wheat,  and  when  about  six 
inches  high,  chopped  out  with  hoes  so  that  it  stood 
with  single  stalks,  about  two  feet  apart, 
all  over  the  field.  In  the  latter  part 
of  August  wheat  is  sown  broadcast 
among  the  corn  stalks  and  worked 
into  the  soil  with  hoes.  Later  the  • 
stalks  are  cut  by  hand  and  taken  away 
and  the  wheat  isleft  to  grow. — R.  N.-Y.] 
Sod  land  was  chosen  and  sometimes 
manure  was  plowed  in.  Almost  all  labor 
was  done  by  hand,  and  planting  began 
May  10.  At  that  time  the  boys  were 
expected  to  appear  barefoot.  I  remem¬ 
ber  racing  to  extend  a  shovel  of  manure 
in  the  greatest  number  of  hills — a  shovel¬ 
ful  for  three  hills  was  about  the  rule, 
but  one  has  done  for  11.  [Such  racing 
must  have  had  a  demoralizing  effect 
for  the  crop. — R.  N.-Y.]  Our  entire 
town  formerly  used  no  hay  but  salt  hay 
from  the  marsh.  Acres  of  rank  sedge 
would  be  left  standing  to  be  cut  off  by 
ice  and  swept  ashore  by  the  tides  ;  loads 
of  this  would  be  put  in  the  cow  yard 
and  the  cows  would  trample  it  to  a  very 
fine  condition,  making  good  manure  for 
•  ~  hill  work. 
The  principal  implement  of  cultivation 
,//  Ih  I .  was  an  A  harrow  with  handles  and  filled 
with  spikes  from  wrecked  vessels.  The 
"  iff  corn  was  hoed  several  times  and  hilled 
I'-'K  B  to  such  an  -  extent  that  the  rows  can 
still  be  traced  on  fields  not  plowed  in 
over  30  years.  In  August  the  final  work¬ 
ing  was  given  to  seed  the  rye.  The 
corn  hills  were  4x4  feet  apart  with  two 
stalks  to  a  hill.  In  September  it  was 
topped  and  left  until  dead-ripe,  when 
it  was  cut  with  a  sickle  or  scythe  and  carted  to  the 
barn.  After  the  advent  of  cradles  the  rye  was  cut 
very  close  and  bound  into  double-band  bundles  (the 
heads  of  the  bands  being  tied  together)  and  when 
thrashed  it  was  bound  to  weigh  10  pounds.  These 
deserted  hills  afford  excellent  sites  for  poultry  and 
egg  farms,  with  very  good  shipping  facilities.  This 
industry  is  gradually  increasing. 
Ballast  Soil  and  Marsh  Land. 
The  oft  told  stories  that  Provincetown  garden  soil 
was  imported  as  ballast  are  substantially  true,  but  our 
people  are  learning  that  sand,  water  and  a  little  plant 
food  are  ample  to  produce  vegetation. 
[The  stories  are  that  Provincetown,  being  built 
directly  on  the  sand,  it  was  impossible  to  grow  vege¬ 
tables  or  make  gardens.  Consequently  whenever  a 
home-coming  vessel  was  in  need  of  ballast,  instead 
of  taking  stones  or  water  barrels,  the  captain  would 
load  his  ship  with  the  blackest  soil  he  could  find.  This 
was  readily  salable  at  Provincetown  where  the  people 
mixed  it  with  the  sand  and  were  thus  able,  by  means 
of  additions  of  cow  manure,  to  make  “body”  enough 
