THE OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN 163 
or nineteen years later than this—that is, in 1629, the 
year in which we learn that Governor Endicott was 
raising some excellent peas at Salem, and that he had 
planted a vineyard. The next year William Black- 
stone emerges from the obscurity of the wilderness to 
demonstrate to Governor Winthrop the advantages 
of the peninsula of Shawmut, where his garden is 
flourishing. 
This garden of Blackstone’s was almost certainly 
older than Endicott’s garden at Salem, for Black- 
stone had retired to Shawmut soon after his arrival in 
1626, while Endicott did not come to America for an¬ 
other two years. So his garden could hardly have 
been started until later than Blackstone’s. Neither of 
them, however, is likely to have been the first garden 
made here, for the Virginia Colony had declared for 
private ownership of land in 1619—always the first 
step toward the making of real gardens—and had is¬ 
sued its decree against the too general fencing in of 
land in 1626, by which time great numbers of its 
planters had acquired and cleared large tracts. New 
Amsterdam can hardly claim anything earlier than 
this, although her demure and orderly little garden 
patches were beginning to set a style in town garden¬ 
ing about this time. 
But there was no garden anywhere here as yet, of 
the nature we are seeking; one could hardly suppose 
