68 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 
coarse stalk serves as a bean-prop and the beans run 
upon it. They increase together and thrive ex¬ 
tremely well, and thus two crops are gathered at the 
same time.” 
Thus we see how quick to adopt as their own the 
devices and methods of the red men, the Dutch were. 
And these, grafted upon their hereditary skill and 
knowledge, speedily developed a husbandry suited to 
the climate and conditions in which they were settled. 
It was not long before travelers who visited New 
Amsterdam and the outlying farmsteads which dotted 
the island of the Ma-na-atans—or the Manhates, or 
Manna-hatas; there is variety enough to choose from 
—exclaimed at the abundance on every side, and 
lamented the peaches lying in such quantities every¬ 
where upon the ground that even the hogs surfeited 
of them and could devour no more. 
As to the ancient name of the island, I must digress 
long enough to explain that I have adopted the form 
which appears to have the strongest claim to being 
correct, alhough it is the form least used. Many 
fanciful and far-fetched derivations for “Manhattan” 
have been advanced by scholars—and others—and re¬ 
pudiated by scholars. I must confess I cannot bring 
myself to agreement with the necessity which most 
of those who have studied the question seem to feel 
themselves under, of limiting their interpretation by 
