1036 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Scattered all over the country around 
Plymouth, ?.Iass., are reminders of old- 
time farming. Some of the old farm¬ 
houses are well preserved, and we can see 
how the farms were usually located. The 
earlier settlers seemed to prefer a hillside 
sloping down to marsh or low spot. The 
old houses now standing are not usually 
built on hilltops. In the earliest days I 
think they were, so as to give protection 
from Indians. We must remember, how¬ 
ever, that the early settlers at Plymouth 
had little or no trouble with the Indians. 
There was a battle on Cape Cod before 
the Mayflower sailed up to Plymouth, but 
later the trouble was adjusted and for 40 
years and more, until King Philip’s War, 
there was much less danger than occurred 
at Jamestown and other settlements. 
When Indian warfare did come it was 
wild and bloody. When King Philip was 
finally killed his head was cut off and 
hung up on Plymouth green—you can 
see the place today—and his son was sold 
into slavery. John Fiske says that the 
war debt contracted by Plymouth during 
King Philip’s War was greater than the 
total amount of personal property in the 
entire colony, yet it was paid to the last 
penny. There was no thought of repudia¬ 
tion. for these men and women considered 
their homes and their country were worth 
all they cost. One reason why we brought 
the children down into this county for the 
celebration is that they may soak that 
idea fully into mind—as well as the bull¬ 
dog determination which compelled the 
Pilgrims to hang on after that first ter¬ 
rible Winter. 
$ $ * * * 
And you must remember that all this 
was done by a comparatively small group 
of farmers aud fishermen. There were no 
great manufacturers or rich men. Farm¬ 
ing was then the chief industry, and New 
England at that time not only fed herself, 
but had considerable food for export! 
Compare that condition with what was 
found at the outbreak of the great World 
War, when New England produced less 
than 20 per cent of her own bread and 
meat. You must remember, too, that 
these earlier settlers were, for the most 
part, back-to-the-landers. There were very- 
few of them who had ever had any experi¬ 
ence at farming. In the earlier years 
they were taught by the Indians to plant 
and care for corn, beans and squash. 
Many a modern back-to-tlie-lander could 
tell a story of how the old farmers in his 
neighborhood "taught” him how to buy 
a horse or cow or how to get a crop 
started. The Indians gave, these Pilgrims 
honest advice, though later they regretted 
doing so. For the white men, with su¬ 
perior brain and reasoning powers, and 
greater thrift and self-restraint, were able 
to apply the crude knowledge which the 
Indians had gained through years of un¬ 
thinking work. I have no doubt that 
after the white people gained in numbers 
and power the Indians regretted that they 
ever taught them the little they knew 
about farming. 
* * * * * 
You must remember, too, that the soil 
around Plymouth is naturally light and 
poor. It had evidently been cultivated 
for years by a tribe of Indians who had 
been wiped out b.v a plague of sickness. 
Thus these pioneers did not go to rich, 
virgin soil. They fed themselves and 
finally grew food for export on soil natur¬ 
ally thin and "exhausted” by long years 
of cropping. That fact is not well under¬ 
stood by this modern generation. And 
still another strange thing is that these 
back-to-the-landers had no live stock at 
first. The Mayflower brought no cattle 
or sheep or hogs, and it was several years 
before the first live stock reached New 
England. It was a case of chemical farm¬ 
ing from the start. In the early Spring 
great swarms of herrings ran up the 
brooks and rivers, and imitating the In¬ 
dians, tin' white people caught great loads 
of these fish for food and fertilizer. When 
I was a boy, and I presume the habit 
still holds, we would buy great strings 
or sticks of smoked herring. They usu¬ 
ally came in sticks—run through the eyes 
<>f the fish, perhaps a dozen to a stick. 
Fried or boiled, they were good—too 
common to be a delicacy, but a “balanced 
ration” when eaten with potatoes, turnips 
and brown bread. I shall try to get a 
stick of these herrings and test my family 
on them. The Indians taught the white 
men to put one or more of these dead her¬ 
rings in each hill of corn, as fertilizer. 
One objection to this was that the dogs 
and wolves came by night to dig the fish 
out of the hills. The farmers were forced 
to sit up nights to drive these fertilizer 
thieves away. 
***** 
For several years this method of fertiliz¬ 
ing with fish produced fair crops of corn. 
Then, even when extra fish were used, the 
crop would not. respond. In that case, 
before there were enough live stock to 
furnish manure, such a field would be 
abandoned and left to grow up to brush-, 
scrub oaks, weeds and coarse grass. This 
trash was able to grow where the corn 
could not thrive. After some years the 
land would be fairly well covered with 
this growth. Then, perhaps by accident, 
(ire would sweep through the field and 
burn every growing thing. There would 
be left thin, gray streaks of wood ashes 
on the ground. It was found that then, 
after this burning, clover or fine grass or 
corn would make a better growth. It be¬ 
came known that after this burning, if 
corn were planted once more on that land, 
with fish in the hill, it would again make 
a good crop. There was evidently some¬ 
thing about the burning or the ashes 
which enabled the fish to "come back” 
and feed the corn once more. The Indians 
seem to have discovered this fact before 
the white men even Came, and the white 
settlers adopted it as the first rotation of 
crops which New England ever started. 
When I was a boy something of this plan 
was still followed. One generation would 
crop a field until it failed to respond to 
ordinary manuring. Then that field would 
be abandoned and would grow up to brush, 
grass and weeds, providing, a little pas¬ 
ture and some huckleberries, but nothing 
more. Then the son of that farmer would 
grow- up and exhaust another field. lie 
would cut over what his father had aban¬ 
doned. sell a little cord wood, burn over 
the field, plow it as well as he could and 
then, by using seaweed, fish or bone, pro¬ 
duce a dozen fair crops on that land. 
* * * * * 
I suppose that was the first form of 
soil rotation ever practiced in America. 
Farmers understood the practice, but did 
not grasp the principle of it for 250 years. 
As we see it now explained by the scient¬ 
ists, it appears simple enough. The fish 
contained nitrogen and phosphorus, but 
no potash. The fat which it contained 
had an injurious effect upon the soil. The 
soil around Plymouth is usually lacking 
in available potash. Thus after several 
crops of corn, which is a heavy potash 
crop, the soil could not provide this needed 
element, and the fat of the fish had made 
the soil less capable of giving up its plant 
food. It was just as a man would fail 
if shut in a dark hole with food and 
water but without air, or if he were 
thrown on a desert island with air and 
food in abundance, but no water. For 
nitrogen, potash and phosphorus are. each 
and all. as necessary to plant growth as 
food, air and water are necessary to hu¬ 
man life. We must have them all three— 
one cannot substitute for another. Of 
course, there were forms of potash and 
lime in that soil, but the corn plant could 
not touch them. When the field w'as 
abandoned other forms of plant life which 
are able to use these forms of lime aud 
potash came in and occupied the land. 
Scrub trees, sorrel, sour grass, berry 
bushes, weeds, started up and grew. Either 
they were stronger or had a better diges¬ 
tion than the corn, but they took lime 
August 20, 1921 
and potash out. of that “exhausted” goil 
and stored it away in their stems and 
leaves. Then when these were burned we 
can easily see that this lime and potash 
would be changed over into forms which 
the corn can take up or absorb. In that 
case, of course, we can see that the fish, 
coming once more with its nitrogen and 
phosphorus, would make with the potash 
in the ashes "a complete fertilizer.” while 
the lime w-ould help sweeten and fit the 
soil. That is the explanation of this first 
successful “crop rotation.” I shall refer 
to this once more later, for some of the 
old soil handled originally on this plan is 
still producing good crops. 
***** 
\ 
I am nearly at the end of my space, 
but I wanted to start with this old 
method of farming. The best of our mod¬ 
ern agriculture is built upon some appli¬ 
cation of this old "rotation.” In the fu¬ 
ture I think we are to apply it still fur¬ 
ther by using such forms of fertility as 
are most economical, and finding plants 
which can make over the soil and put its 
plant food into proper condition. Our 
folks on the beach are having a wonderful 
time. They attended the great celebration 
at Plymouth when President Harding 
spoke, and they are surely soaking in the 
spirit of Pilgrim land. What do they do 
and how do they live? Perhaps I can 
best answer that by telling the story of 
a day on the beach. I will do that when 
I go down for my “vacation.” ri. w. C. 
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