NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 67 
identifying the watermelon. This was known in the 
Netherlands through being brought from Portugal, 
whence West Indian traders had taken it, as they took 
the potato, sweet potato and tobacco. 
Of cucumbers and gourds there were plenty; the 
calabashes or gourds were raised for their hard shells, 
which were used to hold spices, seed and such things. 
The gourd indeed “is the common water pail of the 
natives and I have seen one so large it would contain 
more than a bushel”—that is, a Dutch bushel, which 
is a peck less than the English. Turnips, peas and 
beans he says are excellent, except the large Windsor 
bean; this never seemed to fill its pods, owing to the 
heat and dry climate, he reasons. Which was right; 
and even now this variety of bean is useful only in 
the northern sections, although it may do fairly well 
in a cool summer, if planted early. It is hardy 
enough to go into the ground about the time that peas 
are planted. 
A bit of practical information comes in here, in his 
account of the methods of planting adopted by the 
Colonists. Referring to the Indians he says: “They 
have a peculiar mode of planting them” (beans) 
“which our people have learned to practice:—when 
the Turkish wheat” (Indian corn) “or as it is called 
maize, is half a foot above the ground, they plant 
the beans around it, and let them gow together. The 
