General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great BritainPeters, Samuel
History
General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great Britain
Peters, Samuel
Connecticut -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Connecticut -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
_Soil and Produce._--The soil is various in different parts of the
province: in some black, in others brown, and elsewhere red, but all
rich. Some plains are sandy and of a whitish colour, and they produce
rye, beans, and Indian-corn. The meadows and lowlands are excellent
pasturage, and yield great crops of hay. The hills and uplands have a
rich, deep soil, but are subject to droughts in July and August, which
in many places are relieved by water drawn from rivers, ponds, and
brooks, in troughs and ditches. The crops of European grain are always
good, when the snow, which in general is the only manure, covers the
earth from December to March. One acre generally yields from twenty to
thirty bushels of wheat; of Indian-corn, from forty to sixty bushels
on even land, and from thirty to forty on hilly land; but it is to be
observed, that one bushel of it raised on hilly land weighs thirteen
pounds more than a bushel raised on river land. All European grains
flourish here, and the grass is as thick, and much longer than in
England. Maize, or Indian-corn, is planted in hillocks three feet
apart, five kernels and two pumpkin-seeds in a hillock, and between
the hills are planted ten beans in a hillock; so that, if the season
prove favourable, the beans and the pumpkins are worth as much as the
corn. If from an acre the crop of corn be twenty bushels, add the
beans and pumpkins, and it will be equal to sixty bushels; so, if
there be sixty bushels of corn, a proportionate growth of beans and
pumpkins will render the product equal to one hundred and eighty
bushels. One man plants an acre in a day; in three days he hoes the
same three times; and six days more suffice for plowing and gathering
the crop. For these ten days’ work the price is thirty shillings; and,
allowing ten shillings for the use of the land, the whole expense is
two pounds, and no more, while the corn is worth two shillings a
bushel. The gain is seldom less than 300, and often 600 per cent. It
is thus that the poor man becomes rich in a few years, if prudent and
industrious.
The limits of Connecticut are reckoned to comprise 5,000,000 acres,
half of which is supposed to be swallowed up in rivers, ponds, creeks,
and roads. The inhabitants are estimated at 200,000, so that there
remains but twelve and a half acres for each individual. Let it now be
considered that the people buy no provisions from other provinces,
but, on the contrary, export full as much as they consume, and it will
appear that each person has in fact only six and a quarter acres for
his own support, two of which must be set apart for the growth of
wood, the only fuel of the colony. Should I, then, not be justified in
saying that Connecticut is as good and flourishing land as any part of
Great Britain?
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