NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 61 
cious disregard alike of the settlers’ advice and en¬ 
treaty—and wished to live under the protecting wing 
of the Fort. These houses in particular must have 
had very tiny gardens indeed, for the Fort was close 
at hand, and there was very little space between its 
sides and their rear walls. 
But, however tiny the space, we may be sure it 
was well cultivated; and because order is essential 
in cramped quarters, whatever they are devoted to, 
we may infer that it was orderly: even if order were 
not almost a Dutch obsession—which it is—we should 
know that these plots must be orderly, if anything at 
all was to grow in them. 
And what did grow in them? What could they 
raise in these toy gardens? “A patch of cabbages, a 
bit of tulips,” one writer credits to every Dutch home— 
with accommodations for a horse, a cow, a couple of 
pigs and a flock of “barn door fowls,” in addition. 
But this is a flight of fancy rather than an authentic 
enumeration, for no garden was limited to cabbage, 
small though many were. All had their bed of tulips, 
however, no doubt—or border of them—and certain 
other flowers inseparable from the Dutch and their 
flat, toylike land. 
Extended lists, indeed, under carefully arranged 
heads, are given in that priceless “Description of New 
Netherland ”—Beschryvinge Van Nieuw-Nederlant — 
