NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 73 
There’s wheat and rye; and barley, pea, and bean; 
Spelt, maize and buckwheat; all these kinds of grain 
Do nobly grow: for horses to sustain, 
Oats are awarded.” 
This horse sustenance is surely the most gratifying 
touch of all! Spelt , by the way, is a wheat that was 
very common once upon a time and is still used in 
some European countries, especially where the soil is 
poor. 
One cannot but wonder when they slept, these in¬ 
dustrious, tireless, sturdy women, when the amount 
which they accomplished is all taken into account. 
“Everyone in town and country had a garden,” ac¬ 
cording to a reminiscence of the early eighteenth cen¬ 
tury, “but all the more hardy plants grew in the field, 
in rows, amidst the hills, as they were called, of In¬ 
dian corn. These lofty plants sheltered them from 
the sun, while the same hoeing served for both: there 
cabbages, potatoes and other esculent roots, with 
variety of gourds, grew to a great size and were of an 
excellent quality. Kidney beans, asparagus, celery, 
great variety of sallads and sweet herbs, cucumbers 
&c. were only admitted into the garden, into which 
no foot of man intruded, after it was dug in spring. 
Here were no trees, those grew in the orchard in high 
perfection; strawberries and many high-flavoured 
wild fruits of the shrub kind abounded so much in 
