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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/78645-0.txt b/78645-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51c4b73 --- /dev/null +++ b/78645-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,593 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78645 *** + + + + + John Winthrop Jr. + on + Indian Corn + + The New England Quarterly, Volume X, Number 1, March, 1937 + + By + John Winthrop, Jr. + and + Fulmer Mood (Introduction) + + + + + Introduction + + Fulmer Mood + +There is some evidence to show that one of the effects of the civil +wars on English agriculture was to bring about an increased interest +in improved methods and new crops. The revolution in English farming +that was eventually to follow included not only the reclamation of land +by drainage and irrigation, but also the use of crops hitherto little +known to the English: turnips and other roots, grasses, clover, and the +like. It did not escape the attention of some of the thoughtful men of +the period of the Restoration that an earlier importation, the potato +plant, had become of vital importance in the economy of Stuart Ireland, +and it was therefore only a short step forward to consider whether +there were not still other crops which could be domesticated for use in +English fields. The civil wars had brought about the economic ruin of +many landlords, and so “spirited farming” rather than the traditional +conservative methods began more and more to be thought of as a +restorative of vanished fortunes.[1] + +Among the intellectuals of the day who concerned themselves with the +problems of improving the efficiency of English agriculture were Samuel +Hartlib[2] and Robert Boyle. Hartlib published numerous treatises on +agriculture, of which perhaps the best known is his _Legacy of +Husbandry_ (1655). We are more likely to think of Boyle’s name +in connection with pure science and his leadership in organizing the +Royal Society rather than in relation to agrarian arts, but Boyle, +as a matter of fact, was a prominent figure in the discussion of the +techniques of improved farming. Early in the life of the Royal Society +a “Georgical Committee” of thirty persons was appointed; elaborate +questionnaires were drawn up; and these were distributed in many parts +of the kingdom. It was hoped that from the answers to these much useful +information could be collected and reduced to order for the general +advancement of English farmers.[3] + +Boyle was thoroughly at home with the scientific knowledge of the +time, and his restless, curious mind roamed unceasingly through +the many books of travel and records of exploration which had been +accumulated by 1660 as a result of the visits of Englishmen to +strange and remote lands. He was in the habit of ransacking Hakluyt, +Purchas, and similar writers for information that might be of possible +economic value. In the archives of the Royal Society at London there +are still to be seen scores of sheets of notes which he made from +Purchas and other compilations. When once Boyle isolated an item +that interested him, he was in the habit of trying to test its value +by having Englishmen who were leaving Europe make careful enquiries +on the subject and then draw up reports which they were expected to +send back to him. In the end Boyle worked out a systematic list of +queries—a kind of “Intelligent Man’s Key to Intelligent Questions +to Ask”—and published the list where all could read it in the +_Philosophical Transactions_: “General Heads for a Natural +History of a Country, great or small, imparted ... by Mr. Boyle.”[4] +A single excerpt suffices to show Boyle’s curiosity about foreign +methods of farming. These are what travellers were requested to note +and make reports about: “What the Nature of the Soyle is, whether +Clays, Sandy, _etc_. or good Mould; and what Grains, Fruits, and +other Vegetables, do the most naturally agree with it: As also, by what +particular Arts and Industries the Inhabitants improve the Advantages, +and remedy the Inconveniences of their Soyle: What hidden qualities +the Soyle may have (as that of Ireland, against Venomous Beasts, +_etc_.).”[5] + +Those with special information, if they happened to be close at hand, +were not ignored. In January, 1662, John Winthrop, Junior, chanced to +be in London on important business for the Connecticut colony, of which +he was governor at the time. It was in this very month that Winthrop +was elected to membership in the Royal Society.[6] Boyle must at once +have improved the opportunity to question this well-informed colonial, +for under date of July 29, 1662, we find that Winthrop wrote to him, +apologizing for his tardiness in satisfying Boyle’s request to supply +him with certain information. He had written an essay on American +maize, Winthrop explained, but modestly declared he had his doubts +concerning the completed task: + + ... there will appeare many impertinences as to the cheife + [_sic_] matters that concerne that subject (the husbandry of + it being, as I remember chiefly desired, together with the manner + of the bread and beare made out of it). What is added impertinently + was intended to obviate some questions, and make knowne some other + things that are only occasional, which I was the bolder to doe being + intended only for your honors private view, and an other honorable + friend [perhaps Henry Oldenburg, Secretary of the Royal Society] then + present when I had your commands about it.[7] + +Maize was no novelty by the time of the Restoration. The Elizabethan +herbalist, John Gerard (1545-1612), had looked into the qualities of +the plant and penned an unfavorable judgment. In his great compilation, +published first in 1597 and republished in 1633 and again in 1636, +he wrote: “It is planted in the gardens of these Northern regions +[Virginia and Norumbega?], where it commeth to ripeness when the summer +falleth out to be faire and hot; as my selfe haue seen by proof in myne +owne garden [near Fetter Lane in Holborn, London].”[8] Maize or Indian +corn + + ... doth nourish far lesse than either wheat, rie, barly, or otes. + The bread which is made thereof is meanely white, without bran: it + is hard and dry as Bisket is, and hath in it no clamminess at all; + for which cause it is of hard digestion, and yeeldeth to the body + little or no nourishment; it slowly descendeth, and bindeth the + belly, as that doth which is made of Millet or Panick. Wee haue as + yet no certaine proofe or experience concerning the vertues of this + kinde of Corne; although the barbarous Indians, which know no better, + are constrained to make a vertue of necessitie, and thinke it a good + food: whereas we may easily judge, that it nourisheth but little, and + is of hard and euill digestion, a more conuenient food for swine than + for man.[9] + +A passage in Parkinson’s _Theatricum Botanicum_ of 1640 set +out to confute an opinion fantastic enough to win deathless obloquy +from every right-thinking farmer west of the Alleghanies. + + + Many doe condemne this Maiz to be as dry and of as little nourishment + as Millet or Panicke, but they doe not as I thinke rightly consider + the thing, for although the graine be dry, yet the meale thereof + is nothing so dry as of the _Turkie Millet_, but hath in it + some clamminesse, which bindeth the bread close and giveth good + nourishment to the body, for wee finde both the Indians and the + Christians of all Nations that feede thereon, are nourished thereby + in as good manner no doubt, as if they fed on Wheate in the same + manner.... Of it is made drinke also, both in the _Indies_ and + our _English_ plantations, that will intoxicate as quickly as + our strong Beare if it bee made accordingly: but is found to be very + effectuall to hinder the breeding of the Stone, so that none are + troubled therewith that doe drinke thereof, the leaves thereof are + used also to fatten their Horses and cattle.[10] + +Perhaps it was to settle this dispute between weighty authorities that +Boyle asked Winthrop to write his little essay. The Anglo-American, for +his part, was aware of Gerard’s opinion of maize, for he mentions the +herbalist by name in his text. And we shall probably not go very far +astray if we credit Boyle, too, with a knowledge of Gerard’s work. + +Did Boyle think to introduce maize into England, if circumstances +should prove favorable? There can be no certainty about the answer. +Nevertheless, Boyle, despite his devotion to theory and science in +general, was a man dominated by practical aims, and when he took the +trouble to procure the writing of an essay on American corn, he had (it +may be suspected) utilitarian motives in mind. + +The essay is here published in full for the first time. An abbreviated +text was brought out in an issue of the _Philosophical +Transactions_ in 1678.[11] The original manuscript and Winthrop’s +covering letter are now in the possession of the Royal Society, by the +kindness of the council of which they are reproduced.[12] + +To students of our colonial cuisine no less than to those interested +in agriculture the essay will be of value. It may serve, too, as +a specimen of the descriptive or scientific prose of the age, and +although the writing is hardly elegant, it is informed throughout by a +sincere appreciation of the importance of corn in colonial economy that +lends to it a modest degree of charm, if not of distinction. + + + + + Indian Corne + (The Description, Culture and Use of Maiz) + + John Winthrop, Jr. + +The Corne which was used in New England before the English inhabited +any of those parts, is called by the Natives there Weachim, and is the +same which hath beene knowne by the Name of Mays in some Southerne +partes of America. This sorte of Corne is generally made use of in +many parts of America for their food, and although in the Northerne +Plantations, where the English and Dutch are settled, there is plenty +of Wheat, and other Graine, yet this sort of Corne is still much in +use there both for Bread, and other kind of food made out of it. It +seemes in those times before it was so well knowne, Mr. Gerard had +beene informed of it, as if it were a Graine not so pleasant or fitt +to be Eaten by mankind, as may appeare by what he writeth of it in his +Herball[13] page 83, That it is hard of Digestion, and yeildeth little +or no Nourishment _etc_, (yet acknowledgeth, there had beene yet +no certaine proofe or experience of it), yet it is now found by much +Experience, that it is wholesome and pleasant for Food of which great +Variety may be made out of it. + +The Composure of the Eare is very beautifull, being sett in Even +Rowes, every Graine in each Rowe over against the other, at equall +distance, there being commonly Eight Rowes upon the Eare and sometimes +more, according to the Goodness of the Ground. It hath also usually +above thirty Graines in one Row, the number of Rowes and Graines being +according to the Strength of the Ground, the Eare is commonly about a +Span long. + +Nature hath delighted it selfe to beautify this Corne with great +Variety of Colours, the White, and the Yellow being most common, being +such a yellow as is betwene Straw Colour, and a pale yellow; there are +also of very many other Colours, as Red, Yellow, Blew, Olive Colour, +and Greenish, and some very black and some of Intermediate degrees of +such Colours, also many sorts of mixt colours and speckled or striped, +and these various coloured Eares often in the same field and some +Graines that are of divers Colours in the same Eare. + +This Beautifull noble Eare of Corne is Cloathed and Armed with strong +thick huskes of many doubles, which provident nature hath made usefull +to it many wayes, for it not onely defends it from the cold, and too +much moisture of unseasonable Raine (which sometimes may happen) and +the Cold of the Nights which might hinder the Ripening of it (being +the latter end of September in some parts before it be full Ripe) and +possibly the Injury of some blasting Winds, but also defends it From +the Crowes, Sterlings, and other Birds, which would otherwise devour +whole fields of it before it could come to its full maturity. These +Birds especially Sterlings come in greate flights into the fields, when +the Eare beginneth to be full, before it hardneth, and being allured +by the Sweetness of the Corne, will sitt upon the stalke, or the Eare +it selfe, and so pick at the Corne through the huske at the top of the +Eare (for there it is tenderest) and not cease that worke till they +have pulled away some of the huske that they may come at the Corne, +which wil be plucked out so farr as they can come at it. There groweth +within the Huske upon the Corne a matter like small threads which +appeare out of the top of the Eare like a tuft of haire or Silke. + +The Stalke of this Corne groweth to the Height of 6 or 8 foot and more +or less according to the Condition of the Ground, and the kind of Seed. +The Stalkes of the Virginian Seed grow taller then that of the New +England, or the intermediate places: But there is another sort which +the Northerne Indians farr up in the Countrey use that groweth much +shorter then the New England Corne, the Stalke of every sort is Joynted +like to a Cane and is full of sweete Juice like the Sugar Cane, and a +Syrrop as sweete as Sugar Syrrop may be made of it which hath beene +often tryed, and Meates Sweetned with it have not beene discerned, from +the like sweetness with Sugar, some trialle may make it knowne whether +it may be brought into a dry Substance like Sugar, but it is probable +it may be done. At every Joynt there are long Leaves like flaggs, and +at the very top there is a bunch like Eares as if it were some kind of +small Graine, and Blossoms like the Blossoms of Rye upon them but are +wholy Barren, and an empty huske conteyning nothing in it. + +The time of planting this Corne in that Countrey is any time betweene +the middle of March and the beginning of June, but the most usuall time +is from the middle of Aprill to the middle of May: The Indians observe +in some parts of that Countrey a Rule from the comeing up of a Fish +called Aloofes[14] into the Rivers and Brookes for the time to begin +their planting, in other parts they observe the Leaves of some trees +beginning to put forth: + +In the Southerly parts of that Continent as Virginia, and Florida they +have their sooner Seasons, and in the Northerly parts, and Upland +parts are later, where they use a peculiar kind of that Corne which +is called Mowhawkes Corne, which though planted in June wil be Ripe in +Season, the Stalkes are shorter than the other Sorts, and the Eares +grow neerer the bottom of the Stalke and are generally of divers +Colours. + +The Manner of planting every kind of this Corne, is in Rowes at equall +distance every way about five or Six foote asunder, they open the Earth +with a How, takeing away the Superfices three or fower Inches deepe and +the breadth of the How which is used, and in the middle of that hole +they throw in fower, or five Graines of that Corne, a little distant +one from the other, as they may fall and place themselves accidently +covering them with Earth. Of these Graines if but two or three grow up +it may do well, for some of them are usually plucked up by the Crowes +or Birds, or Mouse-Squirrells (a little creature, that doth much hurt +in some Fields newly planted). After the Corne is growne up, the length +of an hand, it wilbe time to weed about it, which is done by a broad +how, which cuts up the Weeds, and looseneth the Earth, and this Labour +is so often performed as the Weeds do grow up in any Quantity. + +When the Stalke beginneth to grow high, they draw (at the second +weeding) a little Earth about it, and afterwards, as it groweth higher, +and puteth forth the Eare, they draw so much Earth about these Stalkes, +that maketh a little hill like hopp hills, using the same manner, as +they do hopp grounds with broad Howes. After this they have no other +business about it till Harvest, when they gather it, which doth not +require great haste, (if it be secured from cattle) when it is gathered +it must be as soon as may be stripped from the Huskes, except it be +laid very thin, otherwise it will heate and grow mouldy, and sometimes +sprout in the huskes: where they have Roome enough to spread the Eares +thin, and keepe them dry, they onely pull off the huske, and lay the +Eares thin in their Chambers and Garretts, but the Common way is to +weave it together in long traices by some parts of the husks left +upon the Eare (this worke they call traicing) and these traices they +hang upon Stayes or other bearers without doors, or within, for it +will keepe good and sweete hung in that manner all the Winter after, +though it be in all weather without. The Natives commonly thresh it +out as they gather it, and dry it well upon Matts in the Sun, and then +bestow in holes in the Ground (which are their Barnes) well lined with +withered Grass, and with Matts, and then covered with the like and over +that covered with Earth, and so it keepes very well till they use it, +this was the way of planting used by the Natives, and English also. +But now the English have found out an Easier way of raising Quantity +of that Corne by the helpe of the Plough, which is performed in this +manner. In the planting time there are single furrowes ploughed through +the whole field, about Six foote asunder more or less, as they will +plant in distance, then they plow such like furrowes Cross at the same +distance, and where the Cross furrowes meete there they throw in the +Corne as before mentioned, and cover it with an How, or with Running +an other Furrow by the Plow, and that’s all till the Weeds begin to +overtop the Corne, then they plough over the rest of the field betweene +these furrowes where they planted, and so turne in the Weeds, and +this is done only a second time about the time of the Summer, they +used to begin to hill the Corne with the How, and so the Ground is +better loosened then with the How, and the Rootes of the Corne have +more Liberty to Spread. So as there is not so much need of that kind +of hilling, as is described before, yet they do cast up the Earth +about the Corne as well as they can with the Plow, and some will after +helpe it a little with the Plow neere the Hill, though others do not +regard that way, where any Weeds escape the Plow, a little worke of +the how will mend that defect. Where the Ground is not very good, or +hath beene long planted and worne out, the Indians used to put two or +three of those forementioned Fishes under each place upon which they +planted their Corne, or if they had not time before planting, then +they would put them afterwards into the Earth by the sides of those +Corne hills, and by these meanes had far greater Crops then that ground +would otherwise produce, many times more then double, the English +have learned this good husbandry of the Indians, and do still use it +in places, where those Mooses come up in greate plenty, or where they +are neere the fishing Stages, haveing there the heads and Gurbage of +Codfish in greate plenty at no charge, but the fetching. Some also have +tried the Dung of their Cattle well Rotted, and putting a little under +every place, or hill, and covered it with earth, and the Corne throwne +in upon it, have had very good advantage in their Cropps by it; the +Fields thus plowed for this Corne after the Cropp is off, are almost +as well fitted for English Corne, specially Summer graine (As Peas or +Summer Wheate) as if lying fallow they had an ordinary Summer tilth: +The Indians and some English also (Especially in good ground or where +it is well fished as before) at every hill of Corne will plant a kind +of Beans with the Corne (they are like those here called French Beans +or turky Beans) and in the Vacant places and betweene the Hills, they +will plant Squashes and pumpions, loading the Ground with as much as it +will beare; The Stalkes of the Corne serveing in stead of poles for the +Beans to Climb up, which otherwise must have poles to hang upon. Many +English also after the last Weeding their Ground sprinkle Turnep-seed +between the hills, and so have after Harvest a good crop of turneps in +the same Field. + +The Stalke of this Corne cut up in due time (before too much dried) +and stacked up or laid up in a Barne drie, are good Winter Fodder for +Cattle but they usually leave them upon the Ground, where the Cattle in +the Winter will feed upon them, and leave onely the hardest part of the +Stalkes next the Ground; which are pulled up by hand before the Land be +againe planted or sowed: Those Stalkes which are about the Eare, are +also good Fodder for Cattle given them for Change sometimes after Hay. +The Indian Women make Basketts with them, splitting them into narrow +parts, weaveing them artificially into severall fashioned Basketts. + +This Corne the Indians dress it in severall manner for their food +sometimes they boyle it whole, till it swell, and breake, and become +tender, and then eate it with their Fish, or Venison in stead of +Breade, or onely that without other foode, sometimes they bruise it in +a Morter, and then boyle it and make good food of it, bakeing it under +the Embers _etc_, but a very Common way of dressing of it is by +parching it among the Ashes, which they do so artificially, by putting +it amongst the hott Embers, and continually stirring of it that it +wilbe thoroughly parched without any burneing, but be very tender, and +turned almost quite the inside outward, which wilbe almost white and +flowry, this they sift very cleane from the Ashes, and then beate it in +their wooden Morters with a long Stone for a pestle, into fine meale, +which is a constant food amongst them, both at home, and especially +when they travell, being putt up into a Bagg for their Journey, being +at all times ready, and may be Eaten either drie, or mixed with water; +they find it a strengthening and wholesome diet, and is not apt to +breed wormes in their Children or others, this is the food which their +souldiers Carry with them in time of Warr. The English sometimes for +Novelty will procure some of this to be made by the Indian Women, and +adding Milke, or Sugar, and Water, will make it much more pleasant to +be taken. + +The English make very good Breade of the Meale, or flower of it being +Ground in Mills, as other Corne, but to make good bread of it there is +a different way of ordering of it, from what is used about the Bread of +other Graine, for if it be mixed into stiff past, it will not be good +as when it is made into a thinner mixture a little stiffer then the +Battar for Pancakes, or puddings, and then baked in a very hott oven, +standing all day or all Night therein, therefore some use to bake it +in panns like puddings. But the most ordinary way is this, the Oven +being very hott they have a great Wooden Dish fastened to a long staff, +which may hold the Quantity of a Pottle, and that being filled, they +empty it on an heape in the Oven, upon the bare floore thereof cleane +Swept, and so fill the Oven, and usually lay a second laying upon the +top of the first, because the first will otherwise be too thinn for +the proportion of a Loafe because it will spread in the oven at the +first pouring of it in: if they make it not too thinn it will ly in +distance like Loaves, onely in some parts where they touch one another +will stick together but are easily parted but some will fill the whole +floore of the Oven as one intire Body and must then cut it out in +greate peices; In just such manner handled it wilbe (if baked enough) +of a good darke yellow Colour, but otherwise white which is not so +wholesome nor pleasant, as when well baked of a deeper Colour. There is +also very good Bread made of it, by mixing half, or a third parte, more +or less of Ry or Wheate-Meale, or Flower amongst it, and then they make +it up into Loaves, adding Leaven or yeast to it to make it Rise, which +may be also added to that other thinner sorte beforementioned. + +There is also another sort of Bread, which they used to make before +they had Mills, which was in this manner, they beate the Corne in +Morters of Wood, first watering of it a little that the huskes may come +cleane off by the beateing. When it is beaten they sift the Meale out, +and then they Winnow the Course parte, Seperating the loose hulls by +the Wind, this Course parte which is seperated from the finer Meale, +they boyle it till it be thick like batter, and then Cooleing of it, +mix so much of the finer Meale, which was sifted out, as might make it +into a past, of which they make Loaves, and bake them as other Bread. +This kind of Bread is very well tasted and wholesome, but the best sort +of Food which the English make of this Corne is that they call Sampe, +which is made in this manner. They first Water the Corne, if with Colde +Water a little longer, if with Water a little warmed a shorter time +about halfe an hower more or less, as they find it needfull, according +to the driness of the Corne, then they either beate it in a Morter as +beforementioned but not so small, as for that use of makeing bread of +it, but to be about the Biggness of Rice, though some will be a little +smaller, and some a little greater, or Grind it gross as neere as they +can about the bigness of Rice in handmills or other Mills, out of which +they sift the Flower, or Meale very cleane (for whether they beate it +or Grinde it there wilbe some little Quantity of Meale amongst it) then +they winnow it in the wind, and so seperate the hulls from the rest +this is to be boyled or Stued with a gentle Fire, till it be tender, +of a fitt consistence, as of Rice so boyled, into which if Milke, or +butter be put either with Sugar or without, it is a food very pleasant +and wholesome, being easy of Digestion, and is of a nature Divertical +and Clensing and hath no Quality of binding the Body, as the Herball +supposeth, but rather to keepe it in a fitt temperature, but it must +be observed, that it be very well boyled, the longer the better, some +will let it be stuing the whole day: after it is Cold it groweth +thicker, and it is Eaten commonly by mixing a good Quantity of Milke +amongst it. This was the most common diet of the planters, at the first +beginning of planting in these parts and is still in use amongst them, +and may be taken as well in Sickness as in health, even in feavers and +other acute Diseases. A learned Physician that not long since lived in +London (Doctor Wilson[15]) had every yeare some Quantity brought over +ready beaten, and fitt to be boyled, and did order it to such Patients +as he saw cause for it. It was observed that at the beginnings of the +Plantations, where this foode was most in use it was very rare that +any were troubled with the Stone, and amongst the Indians that Eate +no other sorte of Corne but that. The English that have beene most +acquainted with them, have beene informed by them, that the disease of +the stone is very seldome knowne amongst them. It is accounted also a +good meanes against the Scurvie. + +The Indians have another sort of Provision out of this Corne, which +they call Pondomenast—the English call it sweete Corne, which they +prepare in this manner: When the Corne in the Eare is full, whiles it +is yet greene it hath then a very sweete tast, this they gather and +boyle a convenient time, and then they drie it, and put it up into +Baggs or Basketts, for their store, and so use it as they have occasion +boyleing of it againe either by it selfe, or amongst their Fish or +Venison or Beavers Flesh, or such as they have, and this they account +a principall Dish, either at their ordinary Meales or Feastivall +times, they boyle it whole, or beaten Gross, as was formerly mentioned +conserning their other Corne. These Eares while they are greene and +sweete they roast before the fire, or covered with Embers, and so Eate +the Corne, picking it off the roasted Eares as they Eate it, therefore +at that time of the yeare, when this Corne beginneth to be thus full in +the Eare, they have sufficient supply of Food, though there store be +done, and their Soldiers doe then most commonly goe out against their +Enemyes, because they have this supply both in their Marches if it be +in places inhabited, and also in the Fields of those Enemyes against +whom they make Warr, but this is observable amongst them, that they do +not Cutt downe, or spoile their Enemies Corne more then they gather to +Eat. + +The English have found out a way to make very good Beere of this Graine +which they doe either out of Bread made of it, or by Maulting of it, +that way of makeing Beere, of Bread, is onely by makeing the Bread in +the manner as before described, and then breake it or Cutt it into +greate Lumps, as bigg as a mans Fist or bigger (for it must not be +broken small) then they Mash it and proceed every way about brewing of +it, as is used in Brewing Beere of Mault, adding hopps to it as to make +Beere. + +In makeing Mault of it to make it good there is a singular way must be +used. The Maulters that make Mault of Barly have used all their skill +to make Mault also of this Corne, but cannot bring it the ordinary way +to such a perfecion that the whole Graine is Maulted, and tender, and +Flowry, as other Mault; Nor will the Beere made of it be well Coloured, +but witish, the reason that it doth not come to the perfection of +good Mault in that way of Maulting as of other Graine, is this. It is +found by experience, that this Corne before it be fully changed into +the nature of Mault, must sprout out both wayes a great length the +length of a Finger at least, but if more its better, so as it must +put out the Roote as well as the upper sprout, and that it may so +do, it is necessary that it be laide upon an heape a convenient time +till it doth so sprout, but if it lieth of a sufficient thickness for +this purpose, it will quickly heate and moulde, if it be stirred and +opened to prevent the too much heating of it, those Sprouts that are +begun to shoote out (if spread thin) cease growing, and consequently +the Corne ceaseth to be promoted to that mellowness of Mault. If left +thick till they grow any length they are so intangled one in the other +and so very tender that the least stirring and opening of the heape +breaketh those axells of, and every Graine that hath the sprout, so +broken ceaseth to grow to any further degree towards the nature of +Mault, and soone groweth mouldy if not often stirred and spread thinn. +To avoid all these difficulties, and to bring every sound Graine to +the full perfection of good Mault, this way was tried, and found a +sure and perfect way to it. In a Field or Garden or any where that +there is loose Earth, take away the top of that Earth two or three +Inches for so great a space as may be proportionable to the Quantity +of Corne intended to be made into Mault, the Earth may be throwne up +halfe one way, and halfe the other, for the more facility of that, +and the following labour. Then upon the even Bed, or Floore of Earth +where the upper part is so taken off, there lay the Corne intended to +be maulted all over, that it may fully cover the Ground, then cover it +over with the same Earth, that was taken thence, and then you have no +more to doe, till you see all that plott of Ground like a greene Field +covered over with the sprouts of the Corne, which within tenn dayes, or +a Fortnight, more or less according to the time of yeare wilbe growne +greene upwards, and Rooted downwards, and then there is no more to be +done but to take it up and shake the Earth from it and drie it. It will +by the Insnarlements of the Rootes one with another be like a Matt and +hang so together that it may be raised in greate peices and the Earth +shaken off from it (which is best to be done in a dry time) and then to +make it very cleane, it may be washed and presently dried upon a Hill +or in the Sun, or in that Countrey it selfe, spread thinn on a Chamber +floore. This way every Graine that was sound, and good will grow and +consequently become Mault, and no part of the Graine remains steely (as +is alwayes in the other wayes of maulting it) but be mellow, and Flowry +and very sweete, and the Beere that is made of this Mault wilbe of a +very good browne Colour, and be a pleasant, and wholesome drinke. But +because the other way of makeing Beere out of the Bread, as before sett +downe, is found to be as well Coloured, and pleasant, and every way as +good and very wholesome without any windy Quality, and keepeth better +from Sowring then any other Beere of that Corne, therefore that way of +Brewing is most in use in that Countrey, that way of Maulting being +also yet little knowne. + + + Footnotes + +[1] Ephraim Lipson, _Economic History of England_ (London, 1931). II, +373. + +[2] _Dictionary of National Biography_ (London, 1891), XXV, 73. + +[3] _Economic History Review_ (London), IV, I (October, 1932): R. +Lennard, “English Agriculture under Charles II: The Evidence of the +Royal Societies’ ‘Enquiries.’” 23-45. + +[4] _Philosophical Transactions_ (London), II (April 2, 1666), 186. + +[5] _Philosophical Transactions_ (April 2. 1666), 188. + +[6] Thomas Birch, _History of the Royal Society_ (London, 1756), I, 68. + +[7] Royal Society, London: Boyle Manuscripts, BI. V, 197. + +[8] John Gerard, _The Herball or Generall Historie of Plants ... +Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson_ (London, 1636), 82. + +[9] Gerard, _Herball_, 83. + +[10] John Parkinson, _Theatricum Botanicum_ (London, 1640), 1138-1139. + +[11] _Philosophical Transactions_, 142 (1678), 1065-1069. + +[12] Royal Society, London: Catalogued as BI. V. 199. + +[13] A reference to the edition of 1636. + +[14] Alewives. Winthrop’s use of “aloofes” supplied the editor of the +_New English Dictionary_, I (1888), 215, with the earliest use of this +rare word. + +[15] Perhaps to be identified as Edmund Wilson, of Oxford and Padua, +Fellow of the College of Physicians, Censor and Harveian Orator, +who died in 1657. William Munk, _The Roll of the Royal College of +Physicians of London_ (London, 1878), I, 246. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + +John Winthrop Jr.’s paper was originally published in 1676. + +Original spelling and punctuation have been maintained as printed. + +Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text. + +New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the +public domain. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78645 *** diff --git a/78645-h/78645-h.htm b/78645-h/78645-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19b500d --- /dev/null +++ b/78645-h/78645-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,728 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + John winthrop jr. on indian corn | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} + +blockquote { + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +figcaption {font-weight: bold;} +figcaption p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: .2em; text-align: inherit;} + + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78645 ***</div> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> + + + +<h1> +John Winthrop Jr.<br> +on<br> +Indian Corn +</h1> + + +<h2>The New England Quarterly, Volume X, Number 1, March, 1937</h2> + +<h3>By<br> +John Winthrop, Jr.<br> +and<br> +Fulmer Mood (Introduction)</h3> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION"> + Introduction + </h2> + +<h3>Fulmer Mood</h3> +</div> + +<p>There is some evidence to show that one of the effects of the civil +wars on English agriculture was to bring about an increased interest +in improved methods and new crops. The revolution in English farming +that was eventually to follow included not only the reclamation of land +by drainage and irrigation, but also the use of crops hitherto little +known to the English: turnips and other roots, grasses, clover, and the +like. It did not escape the attention of some of the thoughtful men of +the period of the Restoration that an earlier importation, the potato +plant, had become of vital importance in the economy of Stuart Ireland, +and it was therefore only a short step forward to consider whether +there were not still other crops which could be domesticated for use in +English fields. The civil wars had brought about the economic ruin of +many landlords, and so “spirited farming” rather than the traditional +conservative methods began more and more to be thought of as a +restorative of vanished fortunes.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Among the intellectuals of the day who concerned themselves with the +problems of improving the efficiency of English agriculture were Samuel +Hartlib<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and Robert Boyle. Hartlib published numerous treatises on +agriculture, of which perhaps the best known is his <cite>Legacy of +Husbandry</cite> (1655). We are more likely to think of Boyle’s name +in connection with pure science and his leadership in organizing the +Royal Society rather than in relation to agrarian arts, but Boyle, +as a matter of fact, was a prominent figure in the discussion of the +techniques of improved farming. Early in the life of the Royal Society +a “Georgical Committee” of thirty persons was appointed; elaborate +questionnaires were drawn up; and these were distributed in many parts +of the kingdom. It was hoped that from the answers to these much useful +information could be collected and reduced to order for the general +advancement of English farmers.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span></p> +<p>Boyle was thoroughly at home with the scientific knowledge of the +time, and his restless, curious mind roamed unceasingly through +the many books of travel and records of exploration which had been +accumulated by 1660 as a result of the visits of Englishmen to +strange and remote lands. He was in the habit of ransacking Hakluyt, +Purchas, and similar writers for information that might be of possible +economic value. In the archives of the Royal Society at London there +are still to be seen scores of sheets of notes which he made from +Purchas and other compilations. When once Boyle isolated an item +that interested him, he was in the habit of trying to test its value +by having Englishmen who were leaving Europe make careful enquiries +on the subject and then draw up reports which they were expected to +send back to him. In the end Boyle worked out a systematic list of +queries—a kind of “Intelligent Man’s Key to Intelligent Questions +to Ask”—and published the list where all could read it in the +<cite>Philosophical Transactions</cite>: “General Heads for a Natural +History of a Country, great or small, imparted ... by Mr. Boyle.”<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +A single excerpt suffices to show Boyle’s curiosity about foreign +methods of farming. These are what travellers were requested to note +and make reports about: “What the Nature of the Soyle is, whether +Clays, Sandy, <i>etc</i>. or good Mould; and what Grains, Fruits, and +other Vegetables, do the most naturally agree with it: As also, by what +particular Arts and Industries the Inhabitants improve the Advantages, +and remedy the Inconveniences of their Soyle: What hidden qualities +the Soyle may have (as that of Ireland, against Venomous Beasts, +<i>etc</i>.).”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Those with special information, if they happened to be close at hand, +were not ignored. In January, 1662, John Winthrop, Junior, chanced to +be in London on important business for the Connecticut colony, of which +he was governor at the time. It was in this very month that Winthrop +was elected to membership in the Royal Society.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Boyle must at once +have improved the opportunity to question this well-informed colonial, +for under date of July 29, 1662, we find that Winthrop wrote to him, +apologizing for his tardiness in satisfying Boyle’s request to supply +him with certain <span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>information. He had written an essay on American +maize, Winthrop explained, but modestly declared he had his doubts +concerning the completed task:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>... there will appeare many impertinences as to the cheife +[<i>sic</i>] matters that concerne that subject (the husbandry of +it being, as I remember chiefly desired, together with the manner +of the bread and beare made out of it). What is added impertinently +was intended to obviate some questions, and make knowne some other +things that are only occasional, which I was the bolder to doe being +intended only for your honors private view, and an other honorable +friend [perhaps Henry Oldenburg, Secretary of the Royal Society] then +present when I had your commands about it.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Maize was no novelty by the time of the Restoration. The Elizabethan +herbalist, John Gerard (1545-1612), had looked into the qualities of +the plant and penned an unfavorable judgment. In his great compilation, +published first in 1597 and republished in 1633 and again in 1636, +he wrote: “It is planted in the gardens of these Northern regions +[Virginia and Norumbega?], where it commeth to ripeness when the summer +falleth out to be faire and hot; as my selfe haue seen by proof in myne +owne garden [near Fetter Lane in Holborn, London].”<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Maize or Indian +corn</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>... doth nourish far lesse than either wheat, rie, barly, or otes. +The bread which is made thereof is meanely white, without bran: it +is hard and dry as Bisket is, and hath in it no clamminess at all; +for which cause it is of hard digestion, and yeeldeth to the body +little or no nourishment; it slowly descendeth, and bindeth the +belly, as that doth which is made of Millet or Panick. Wee haue as +yet no certaine proofe or experience concerning the vertues of this +kinde of Corne; although the barbarous Indians, which know no better, +are constrained to make a vertue of necessitie, and thinke it a good +food: whereas we may easily judge, that it nourisheth but little, and +is of hard and euill digestion, a more conuenient food for swine than +for man.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A passage in Parkinson’s <cite>Theatricum Botanicum</cite> of 1640 set +out to confute an opinion fantastic enough to win deathless obloquy +from every right-thinking farmer west of the Alleghanies.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span></p> + + +<blockquote> +<p>Many doe condemne this Maiz to be as dry and of as little nourishment +as Millet or Panicke, but they doe not as I thinke rightly consider +the thing, for although the graine be dry, yet the meale thereof +is nothing so dry as of the <i>Turkie Millet</i>, but hath in it +some clamminesse, which bindeth the bread close and giveth good +nourishment to the body, for wee finde both the Indians and the +Christians of all Nations that feede thereon, are nourished thereby +in as good manner no doubt, as if they fed on Wheate in the same +manner.... Of it is made drinke also, both in the <i>Indies</i> and +our <i>English</i> plantations, that will intoxicate as quickly as +our strong Beare if it bee made accordingly: but is found to be very +effectuall to hinder the breeding of the Stone, so that none are +troubled therewith that doe drinke thereof, the leaves thereof are +used also to fatten their Horses and cattle.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Perhaps it was to settle this dispute between weighty authorities that +Boyle asked Winthrop to write his little essay. The Anglo-American, for +his part, was aware of Gerard’s opinion of maize, for he mentions the +herbalist by name in his text. And we shall probably not go very far +astray if we credit Boyle, too, with a knowledge of Gerard’s work.</p> + +<p>Did Boyle think to introduce maize into England, if circumstances +should prove favorable? There can be no certainty about the answer. +Nevertheless, Boyle, despite his devotion to theory and science in +general, was a man dominated by practical aims, and when he took the +trouble to procure the writing of an essay on American corn, he had (it +may be suspected) utilitarian motives in mind.</p> + +<p>The essay is here published in full for the first time. An abbreviated +text was brought out in an issue of the <cite>Philosophical +Transactions</cite> in 1678.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The original manuscript and Winthrop’s +covering letter are now in the possession of the Royal Society, by the +kindness of the council of which they are reproduced.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>To students of our colonial cuisine no less than to those interested +in agriculture the essay will be of value. It may serve, too, as +a specimen of the descriptive or scientific prose of the age, and +although the writing is hardly elegant, it is informed throughout by a +sincere appreciation of the importance of corn in colonial economy that +lends to it a modest degree of charm, if not of distinction.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="INDIAN_CORNE_THE_DESCRIPTION_CULTURE_AND_USE_OF_MAIZ"> + Indian Corne<br> +(The Description, Culture and Use of Maiz) + </h2> +</div> + + +<h3>John Winthrop, Jr.</h3> + +<p>The Corne which was used in New England before the English inhabited +any of those parts, is called by the Natives there Weachim, and is the +same which hath beene knowne by the Name of Mays in some Southerne +partes of America. This sorte of Corne is generally made use of in +many parts of America for their food, and although in the Northerne +Plantations, where the English and Dutch are settled, there is plenty +of Wheat, and other Graine, yet this sort of Corne is still much in +use there both for Bread, and other kind of food made out of it. It +seemes in those times before it was so well knowne, Mr. Gerard had +beene informed of it, as if it were a Graine not so pleasant or fitt +to be Eaten by mankind, as may appeare by what he writeth of it in his +Herball<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> page 83, That it is hard of Digestion, and yeildeth little +or no Nourishment <i>etc</i>, (yet acknowledgeth, there had beene yet +no certaine proofe or experience of it), yet it is now found by much +Experience, that it is wholesome and pleasant for Food of which great +Variety may be made out of it.</p> + +<p>The Composure of the Eare is very beautifull, being sett in Even +Rowes, every Graine in each Rowe over against the other, at equall +distance, there being commonly Eight Rowes upon the Eare and sometimes +more, according to the Goodness of the Ground. It hath also usually +above thirty Graines in one Row, the number of Rowes and Graines being +according to the Strength of the Ground, the Eare is commonly about a +Span long.</p> + +<p>Nature hath delighted it selfe to beautify this Corne with great +Variety of Colours, the White, and the Yellow being most common, being +such a yellow as is betwene Straw Colour, and a pale yellow; there are +also of very many other Colours, as Red, Yellow, Blew, Olive Colour, +and Greenish, and some very black and some of Intermediate degrees of +such Colours, also many sorts of mixt colours and speckled or striped, +and these various coloured Eares often in the same field and some +Graines that are of divers Colours in the same Eare.</p> + +<p>This Beautifull noble Eare of Corne is Cloathed and Armed with strong +thick huskes of many doubles, which provident nature hath made usefull +to it many wayes, for it not onely defends it from the cold, and too +much moisture of unseasonable <span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span>Raine (which sometimes may happen) and +the Cold of the Nights which might hinder the Ripening of it (being +the latter end of September in some parts before it be full Ripe) and +possibly the Injury of some blasting Winds, but also defends it From +the Crowes, Sterlings, and other Birds, which would otherwise devour +whole fields of it before it could come to its full maturity. These +Birds especially Sterlings come in greate flights into the fields, when +the Eare beginneth to be full, before it hardneth, and being allured +by the Sweetness of the Corne, will sitt upon the stalke, or the Eare +it selfe, and so pick at the Corne through the huske at the top of the +Eare (for there it is tenderest) and not cease that worke till they +have pulled away some of the huske that they may come at the Corne, +which wil be plucked out so farr as they can come at it. There groweth +within the Huske upon the Corne a matter like small threads which +appeare out of the top of the Eare like a tuft of haire or Silke.</p> + +<p>The Stalke of this Corne groweth to the Height of 6 or 8 foot and more +or less according to the Condition of the Ground, and the kind of Seed. +The Stalkes of the Virginian Seed grow taller then that of the New +England, or the intermediate places: But there is another sort which +the Northerne Indians farr up in the Countrey use that groweth much +shorter then the New England Corne, the Stalke of every sort is Joynted +like to a Cane and is full of sweete Juice like the Sugar Cane, and a +Syrrop as sweete as Sugar Syrrop may be made of it which hath beene +often tryed, and Meates Sweetned with it have not beene discerned, from +the like sweetness with Sugar, some trialle may make it knowne whether +it may be brought into a dry Substance like Sugar, but it is probable +it may be done. At every Joynt there are long Leaves like flaggs, and +at the very top there is a bunch like Eares as if it were some kind of +small Graine, and Blossoms like the Blossoms of Rye upon them but are +wholy Barren, and an empty huske conteyning nothing in it.</p> + +<p>The time of planting this Corne in that Countrey is any time betweene +the middle of March and the beginning of June, but the most usuall time +is from the middle of Aprill to the middle of May: The Indians observe +in some parts of that Countrey a Rule from the comeing up of a Fish +called Aloofes<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> into the Rivers and Brookes for the time to begin +their planting, in other parts they observe the Leaves of some trees +beginning to put forth:</p> + +<p>In the Southerly parts of that Continent as Virginia, and Florida they +have their sooner Seasons, and in the Northerly parts, and Upland +parts are later, where they use a peculiar <span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span>kind of that Corne which +is called Mowhawkes Corne, which though planted in June wil be Ripe in +Season, the Stalkes are shorter than the other Sorts, and the Eares +grow neerer the bottom of the Stalke and are generally of divers +Colours.</p> + +<p>The Manner of planting every kind of this Corne, is in Rowes at equall +distance every way about five or Six foote asunder, they open the Earth +with a How, takeing away the Superfices three or fower Inches deepe and +the breadth of the How which is used, and in the middle of that hole +they throw in fower, or five Graines of that Corne, a little distant +one from the other, as they may fall and place themselves accidently +covering them with Earth. Of these Graines if but two or three grow up +it may do well, for some of them are usually plucked up by the Crowes +or Birds, or Mouse-Squirrells (a little creature, that doth much hurt +in some Fields newly planted). After the Corne is growne up, the length +of an hand, it wilbe time to weed about it, which is done by a broad +how, which cuts up the Weeds, and looseneth the Earth, and this Labour +is so often performed as the Weeds do grow up in any Quantity.</p> + +<p>When the Stalke beginneth to grow high, they draw (at the second +weeding) a little Earth about it, and afterwards, as it groweth higher, +and puteth forth the Eare, they draw so much Earth about these Stalkes, +that maketh a little hill like hopp hills, using the same manner, as +they do hopp grounds with broad Howes. After this they have no other +business about it till Harvest, when they gather it, which doth not +require great haste, (if it be secured from cattle) when it is gathered +it must be as soon as may be stripped from the Huskes, except it be +laid very thin, otherwise it will heate and grow mouldy, and sometimes +sprout in the huskes: where they have Roome enough to spread the Eares +thin, and keepe them dry, they onely pull off the huske, and lay the +Eares thin in their Chambers and Garretts, but the Common way is to +weave it together in long traices by some parts of the husks left +upon the Eare (this worke they call traicing) and these traices they +hang upon Stayes or other bearers without doors, or within, for it +will keepe good and sweete hung in that manner all the Winter after, +though it be in all weather without. The Natives commonly thresh it +out as they gather it, and dry it well upon Matts in the Sun, and then +bestow in holes in the Ground (which are their Barnes) well lined with +withered Grass, and with Matts, and then covered with the like and over +that covered with Earth, and so it keepes very well till they use it, +this was the way of planting used by the Natives, and English also. +But now the English have found out an Easier way of raising Quantity +of that Corne by the helpe of the Plough, which is performed in this +manner. In the planting time there are single furrowes ploughed through +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>the whole field, about Six foote asunder more or less, as they will +plant in distance, then they plow such like furrowes Cross at the same +distance, and where the Cross furrowes meete there they throw in the +Corne as before mentioned, and cover it with an How, or with Running +an other Furrow by the Plow, and that’s all till the Weeds begin to +overtop the Corne, then they plough over the rest of the field betweene +these furrowes where they planted, and so turne in the Weeds, and +this is done only a second time about the time of the Summer, they +used to begin to hill the Corne with the How, and so the Ground is +better loosened then with the How, and the Rootes of the Corne have +more Liberty to Spread. So as there is not so much need of that kind +of hilling, as is described before, yet they do cast up the Earth +about the Corne as well as they can with the Plow, and some will after +helpe it a little with the Plow neere the Hill, though others do not +regard that way, where any Weeds escape the Plow, a little worke of +the how will mend that defect. Where the Ground is not very good, or +hath beene long planted and worne out, the Indians used to put two or +three of those forementioned Fishes under each place upon which they +planted their Corne, or if they had not time before planting, then +they would put them afterwards into the Earth by the sides of those +Corne hills, and by these meanes had far greater Crops then that ground +would otherwise produce, many times more then double, the English +have learned this good husbandry of the Indians, and do still use it +in places, where those Mooses come up in greate plenty, or where they +are neere the fishing Stages, haveing there the heads and Gurbage of +Codfish in greate plenty at no charge, but the fetching. Some also have +tried the Dung of their Cattle well Rotted, and putting a little under +every place, or hill, and covered it with earth, and the Corne throwne +in upon it, have had very good advantage in their Cropps by it; the +Fields thus plowed for this Corne after the Cropp is off, are almost +as well fitted for English Corne, specially Summer graine (As Peas or +Summer Wheate) as if lying fallow they had an ordinary Summer tilth: +The Indians and some English also (Especially in good ground or where +it is well fished as before) at every hill of Corne will plant a kind +of Beans with the Corne (they are like those here called French Beans +or turky Beans) and in the Vacant places and betweene the Hills, they +will plant Squashes and pumpions, loading the Ground with as much as it +will beare; The Stalkes of the Corne serveing in stead of poles for the +Beans to Climb up, which otherwise must have poles to hang upon. Many +English also after the last Weeding their Ground sprinkle Turnep-seed +between the hills, and so have after Harvest a good crop of turneps in +the same Field.</p> + +<p>The Stalke of this Corne cut up in due time (before too much <span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span>dried) +and stacked up or laid up in a Barne drie, are good Winter Fodder for +Cattle but they usually leave them upon the Ground, where the Cattle in +the Winter will feed upon them, and leave onely the hardest part of the +Stalkes next the Ground; which are pulled up by hand before the Land be +againe planted or sowed: Those Stalkes which are about the Eare, are +also good Fodder for Cattle given them for Change sometimes after Hay. +The Indian Women make Basketts with them, splitting them into narrow +parts, weaveing them artificially into severall fashioned Basketts.</p> + +<p>This Corne the Indians dress it in severall manner for their food +sometimes they boyle it whole, till it swell, and breake, and become +tender, and then eate it with their Fish, or Venison in stead of +Breade, or onely that without other foode, sometimes they bruise it in +a Morter, and then boyle it and make good food of it, bakeing it under +the Embers <i>etc</i>, but a very Common way of dressing of it is by +parching it among the Ashes, which they do so artificially, by putting +it amongst the hott Embers, and continually stirring of it that it +wilbe thoroughly parched without any burneing, but be very tender, and +turned almost quite the inside outward, which wilbe almost white and +flowry, this they sift very cleane from the Ashes, and then beate it in +their wooden Morters with a long Stone for a pestle, into fine meale, +which is a constant food amongst them, both at home, and especially +when they travell, being putt up into a Bagg for their Journey, being +at all times ready, and may be Eaten either drie, or mixed with water; +they find it a strengthening and wholesome diet, and is not apt to +breed wormes in their Children or others, this is the food which their +souldiers Carry with them in time of Warr. The English sometimes for +Novelty will procure some of this to be made by the Indian Women, and +adding Milke, or Sugar, and Water, will make it much more pleasant to +be taken.</p> + +<p>The English make very good Breade of the Meale, or flower of it being +Ground in Mills, as other Corne, but to make good bread of it there is +a different way of ordering of it, from what is used about the Bread of +other Graine, for if it be mixed into stiff past, it will not be good +as when it is made into a thinner mixture a little stiffer then the +Battar for Pancakes, or puddings, and then baked in a very hott oven, +standing all day or all Night therein, therefore some use to bake it +in panns like puddings. But the most ordinary way is this, the Oven +being very hott they have a great Wooden Dish fastened to a long staff, +which may hold the Quantity of a Pottle, and that being filled, they +empty it on an heape in the Oven, upon the bare floore thereof cleane +Swept, and so fill the Oven, and usually lay a second laying upon the +top of the first, because the first will <span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span>otherwise be too thinn for +the proportion of a Loafe because it will spread in the oven at the +first pouring of it in: if they make it not too thinn it will ly in +distance like Loaves, onely in some parts where they touch one another +will stick together but are easily parted but some will fill the whole +floore of the Oven as one intire Body and must then cut it out in +greate peices; In just such manner handled it wilbe (if baked enough) +of a good darke yellow Colour, but otherwise white which is not so +wholesome nor pleasant, as when well baked of a deeper Colour. There is +also very good Bread made of it, by mixing half, or a third parte, more +or less of Ry or Wheate-Meale, or Flower amongst it, and then they make +it up into Loaves, adding Leaven or yeast to it to make it Rise, which +may be also added to that other thinner sorte beforementioned.</p> + +<p>There is also another sort of Bread, which they used to make before +they had Mills, which was in this manner, they beate the Corne in +Morters of Wood, first watering of it a little that the huskes may come +cleane off by the beateing. When it is beaten they sift the Meale out, +and then they Winnow the Course parte, Seperating the loose hulls by +the Wind, this Course parte which is seperated from the finer Meale, +they boyle it till it be thick like batter, and then Cooleing of it, +mix so much of the finer Meale, which was sifted out, as might make it +into a past, of which they make Loaves, and bake them as other Bread. +This kind of Bread is very well tasted and wholesome, but the best sort +of Food which the English make of this Corne is that they call Sampe, +which is made in this manner. They first Water the Corne, if with Colde +Water a little longer, if with Water a little warmed a shorter time +about halfe an hower more or less, as they find it needfull, according +to the driness of the Corne, then they either beate it in a Morter as +beforementioned but not so small, as for that use of makeing bread of +it, but to be about the Biggness of Rice, though some will be a little +smaller, and some a little greater, or Grind it gross as neere as they +can about the bigness of Rice in handmills or other Mills, out of which +they sift the Flower, or Meale very cleane (for whether they beate it +or Grinde it there wilbe some little Quantity of Meale amongst it) then +they winnow it in the wind, and so seperate the hulls from the rest +this is to be boyled or Stued with a gentle Fire, till it be tender, +of a fitt consistence, as of Rice so boyled, into which if Milke, or +butter be put either with Sugar or without, it is a food very pleasant +and wholesome, being easy of Digestion, and is of a nature Divertical +and Clensing and hath no Quality of binding the Body, as the Herball +supposeth, but rather to keepe it in a fitt temperature, but it must +be observed, that it be very well boyled, the longer the better, some +will let it be stuing the whole day: after it is Cold it groweth +thicker, and it is Eaten commonly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span>by mixing a good Quantity of Milke +amongst it. This was the most common diet of the planters, at the first +beginning of planting in these parts and is still in use amongst them, +and may be taken as well in Sickness as in health, even in feavers and +other acute Diseases. A learned Physician that not long since lived in +London (Doctor Wilson<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>) had every yeare some Quantity brought over +ready beaten, and fitt to be boyled, and did order it to such Patients +as he saw cause for it. It was observed that at the beginnings of the +Plantations, where this foode was most in use it was very rare that +any were troubled with the Stone, and amongst the Indians that Eate +no other sorte of Corne but that. The English that have beene most +acquainted with them, have beene informed by them, that the disease of +the stone is very seldome knowne amongst them. It is accounted also a +good meanes against the Scurvie.</p> + +<p>The Indians have another sort of Provision out of this Corne, which +they call Pondomenast—the English call it sweete Corne, which they +prepare in this manner: When the Corne in the Eare is full, whiles it +is yet greene it hath then a very sweete tast, this they gather and +boyle a convenient time, and then they drie it, and put it up into +Baggs or Basketts, for their store, and so use it as they have occasion +boyleing of it againe either by it selfe, or amongst their Fish or +Venison or Beavers Flesh, or such as they have, and this they account +a principall Dish, either at their ordinary Meales or Feastivall +times, they boyle it whole, or beaten Gross, as was formerly mentioned +conserning their other Corne. These Eares while they are greene and +sweete they roast before the fire, or covered with Embers, and so Eate +the Corne, picking it off the roasted Eares as they Eate it, therefore +at that time of the yeare, when this Corne beginneth to be thus full in +the Eare, they have sufficient supply of Food, though there store be +done, and their Soldiers doe then most commonly goe out against their +Enemyes, because they have this supply both in their Marches if it be +in places inhabited, and also in the Fields of those Enemyes against +whom they make Warr, but this is observable amongst them, that they do +not Cutt downe, or spoile their Enemies Corne more then they gather to +Eat.</p> + +<p>The English have found out a way to make very good Beere of this Graine +which they doe either out of Bread made of it, or by Maulting of it, +that way of makeing Beere, of Bread, is onely by makeing the Bread in +the manner as before described, and then breake it or Cutt it into +greate Lumps, as bigg as a <span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>mans Fist or bigger (for it must not be +broken small) then they Mash it and proceed every way about brewing of +it, as is used in Brewing Beere of Mault, adding hopps to it as to make +Beere.</p> + +<p>In makeing Mault of it to make it good there is a singular way must be +used. The Maulters that make Mault of Barly have used all their skill +to make Mault also of this Corne, but cannot bring it the ordinary way +to such a perfecion that the whole Graine is Maulted, and tender, and +Flowry, as other Mault; Nor will the Beere made of it be well Coloured, +but witish, the reason that it doth not come to the perfection of +good Mault in that way of Maulting as of other Graine, is this. It is +found by experience, that this Corne before it be fully changed into +the nature of Mault, must sprout out both wayes a great length the +length of a Finger at least, but if more its better, so as it must +put out the Roote as well as the upper sprout, and that it may so +do, it is necessary that it be laide upon an heape a convenient time +till it doth so sprout, but if it lieth of a sufficient thickness for +this purpose, it will quickly heate and moulde, if it be stirred and +opened to prevent the too much heating of it, those Sprouts that are +begun to shoote out (if spread thin) cease growing, and consequently +the Corne ceaseth to be promoted to that mellowness of Mault. If left +thick till they grow any length they are so intangled one in the other +and so very tender that the least stirring and opening of the heape +breaketh those axells of, and every Graine that hath the sprout, so +broken ceaseth to grow to any further degree towards the nature of +Mault, and soone groweth mouldy if not often stirred and spread thinn. +To avoid all these difficulties, and to bring every sound Graine to +the full perfection of good Mault, this way was tried, and found a +sure and perfect way to it. In a Field or Garden or any where that +there is loose Earth, take away the top of that Earth two or three +Inches for so great a space as may be proportionable to the Quantity +of Corne intended to be made into Mault, the Earth may be throwne up +halfe one way, and halfe the other, for the more facility of that, +and the following labour. Then upon the even Bed, or Floore of Earth +where the upper part is so taken off, there lay the Corne intended to +be maulted all over, that it may fully cover the Ground, then cover it +over with the same Earth, that was taken thence, and then you have no +more to doe, till you see all that plott of Ground like a greene Field +covered over with the sprouts of the Corne, which within tenn dayes, or +a Fortnight, more or less according to the time of yeare wilbe growne +greene upwards, and Rooted downwards, and then there is no more to be +done but to take it up and shake the Earth from it and drie it. It will +by the Insnarlements of the Rootes one with another be like a Matt and +hang so together that it may be raised in greate <span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span>peices and the Earth +shaken off from it (which is best to be done in a dry time) and then to +make it very cleane, it may be washed and presently dried upon a Hill +or in the Sun, or in that Countrey it selfe, spread thinn on a Chamber +floore. This way every Graine that was sound, and good will grow and +consequently become Mault, and no part of the Graine remains steely (as +is alwayes in the other wayes of maulting it) but be mellow, and Flowry +and very sweete, and the Beere that is made of this Mault wilbe of a +very good browne Colour, and be a pleasant, and wholesome drinke. But +because the other way of makeing Beere out of the Bread, as before sett +downe, is found to be as well Coloured, and pleasant, and every way as +good and very wholesome without any windy Quality, and keepeth better +from Sowring then any other Beere of that Corne, therefore that way of +Brewing is most in use in that Countrey, that way of Maulting being +also yet little knowne.</p> + +<h3>Footnotes</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Ephraim Lipson, <cite>Economic History of England</cite> +(London, 1931). II, 373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> <cite>Dictionary of National Biography</cite> (London, +1891), XXV, 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> <cite>Economic History Review</cite> (London), IV, I +(October, 1932): R. Lennard, “English Agriculture under Charles II: The +Evidence of the Royal Societies’ ‘Enquiries.’” 23-45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> <cite>Philosophical Transactions</cite> (London), II +(April 2, 1666), 186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> <cite>Philosophical Transactions</cite> (April 2. 1666), +188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> Thomas Birch, <cite>History of the Royal Society</cite> +(London, 1756), I, 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Royal Society, London: Boyle Manuscripts, BI. V, 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> John Gerard, <cite>The Herball or Generall Historie of +Plants ... Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson</cite> (London, +1636), 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Gerard, <cite>Herball</cite>, 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> John Parkinson, <cite>Theatricum Botanicum</cite> +(London, 1640), 1138-1139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> <cite>Philosophical Transactions</cite>, 142 (1678), +1065-1069.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Royal Society, London: Catalogued as BI. V. 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> A reference to the edition of 1636.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> Alewives. Winthrop’s use of “aloofes” supplied the editor +of the <cite>New English Dictionary</cite>, I (1888), 215, with the +earliest use of this rare word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> Perhaps to be identified as Edmund Wilson, of Oxford and +Padua, Fellow of the College of Physicians, Censor and Harveian Orator, +who died in 1657. William Munk, <cite>The Roll of the Royal College of +Physicians of London</cite> (London, 1878), I, 246.</p></div> +<br> +<div class="transnote"> +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber’s Notes</b></p> + + +<p>John Winthrop Jr.’s paper was originally published in 1676.</p> + +<p>Original spelling and punctuation have been maintained as printed.</p> + +<p>Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text.</p> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the +public domain.</p> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78645 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78645-h/images/cover.jpg b/78645-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d5e137 --- /dev/null +++ b/78645-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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