86 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 
raise as much corne as they could, and obtain a beter 
crope than they had done, that they might not still 
thus languish in miserie. At length, after much de¬ 
bate of things, the Governour (with ye advise of ye 
chiefest among them) gave way that they should set 
corne, every man for his perticuler, and in that re¬ 
gard trust to themselves ... so assigned to 
every family a parcell of land, according to the pro¬ 
portion of their number for that end, only for pres¬ 
ent use. . . . This . . . made all hands 
very industrious, so as much more come was planted 
than other waise would have been by any means ye 
Governour or any other could use, and saved him a 
great deall of trouble and gave farr better contente.” 
Somewhat tartly he concludes the account with the 
mention of feminine help, saying, as earlier quoted, 
that they went willingly into the field, “which before 
would aledge weakness and inabilitie: whom to have 
compelled would have been thought great tiranie and 
oppression.” 
It is perhaps beside the question—but it is inter¬ 
esting—to note that Bradford comments on Plato’s 
projected communal life being proved impracticable 
by this experience. Great though the need and the 
stress of these God-fearing men and women was, in 
this wild land beset with the perils of wild men and 
untamed Nature, they yet quibbled when it came to 
