The early colonists in Jamestown had little background in agriculture. They quickly adopted the crops and cultural methods of the Indigenous people, abandoning the modern wheat-based agriculture of Europe.
Maize soon became the principal grain for human and animal consumption, and beans and peas were widely grown for sustenance. At an early stage, tobacco became an important export crop. The early settlers also maintained good-sized herds of cattle, swine, and sheep.
A wide array of plants was also grown in gardens for home use: carrots, leeks, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, artichokes, radishes, horseradish, beets, onions, shallots, garlic, chives, onions, lettuce, spinach, cress, parsley, asparagus, cabbage, watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers, and pumpkins. European apples and peaches, pears, nectarines, and apricots were popular.
“Although wheat and other kinds of small grain were tried out in the early years of all the colonies, these crops occupied an unimportant place in the agriculture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.” There were many reasons for this. Land had “to be fully cleared for small grain, while corn could be grown among the stumps and down timber, and even in the midst of trees killed by girdling. It could be planted in hills with the hoe without breaking up the intervening ground, an important advantage to pioneers who owned neither plows nor draft animals. Small grain was harder to harvest than corn, and thrashing was more laborious than husking. The average yield of small grain was considerably smaller than that of corn, and a much larger proportion of the small grain crop was required for seed … Moreover, corn fodder was superior to wheat than straw as forage for stock … The relative disadvantages of small grain as compared with Indian corn in pioneer communities were especially serious because of the greater difficulty in preparing them for consumption. Corn could be pounded in a hollow block with a wooden pestle or grown with hand mills. Small grain required a more elaborate process of milling, usually justified only by considerable density of population.” (Gray, 1933 – pg.161)
In the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, maize was also the primary staple, although significant amounts of barley, rye, beans, peas, squash, and oats were also grown. Barley was grown for beer, and oats for animal fodder. In the early gardens, cabbages, turnips, onions, radishes, carrots, and parsnips were grown. Asparagus, cauliflower, and potatoes were added in the mid-1600s. They did not grow much tobacco in New England. Apples, pears, plums, quinces, and cherries were brought from Europe and widely planted. Apples were the most popular fruits due to their hardiness and high yields, and they could be eaten fresh or processed into cider. Peaches did not do well in New England and fared better in the middle and southern colonies. Wine grapes generally failed in the northeast.
Cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and horses were widespread by the mid-1600s, although their initial introduction into the Plymouth colony was slow (Bidwell & Falconer, 1925). Plymouth had no cattle for the first three years, and by 1627 still had no horses or sheep. The Massachusetts Bay colony had 30 cows and 12 mares from the beginning, and high numbers of swine and goats. In 1623, the Mason plantation on the Piscataqua River had 58 cattle, 92 sheep and lambs, 27 goats, 64 pigs, and 22 horses. In 1648, the Trelawny plantation near Portland, Maine, had 57 cattle, 18 goats, and 52 pigs.
Horses were used mostly for riding and, to a much lesser extent, as draft animals. Oxen were generally preferred for plowing and other farm work, although plows were scarce in early New England settlements. The Pilgrims had none for 12 years, and by 1636, there were only 30 plows in the whole Massachusetts Bay colony.
It turned out that the native grasses were poor forage for livestock due to their high proportion of roughage to nutrition. In fact, “as long as the livestock had to rely on native grasses, they were in danger of starvation” (Bidwell and Falconer, 1925 – pg. 20). Timothy, Kentucky bluegrass and the red and white clovers were imported from Europe to rectify this situation, probably accidentally from the forage brought over to feed the animals on shipboard. Within a few years, these English grasses were “so common as to be considered Indigenous.”
In New England, livestock was generally held in common, fenced fields, often located on Islands or peninsulas to protect them from predators and minimize the need for fences. Sheep were often pastured separately with shepherds in residence. Swine were pastured at great distances from crops. After harvest, the livestock was allowed to pasture on the stubble.
During the colonial period, three distinct forms of agriculture evolved across eastern North America. In the Northern colonies, small family farms were the norm, which relied on the indigenous staples of corn, beans, and squash supplemented by Old World rye and oats. In the milder environments of the middle colonies, Old World wheat flourished, and by the mid-18th century, the farms therein became the breadbasket of the colonies. In the southern colonies, plantation agriculture took hold with giant tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton farms.
Illustration. Thirteen Colonies of North America: Dark Red = New England colonies, Bright red = Middle Atlantic colonies, Red-brown = Southern colonies. Richard Zietz.
Bibliography:
Bidwell, P. W and Falconer, J. I. (1925). History of agriculture in the northern United States, 1620-1860 (No. 358). Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Gray, L. C. (1933) History of Agriculture in Southern U.S. to 1860. Carnegie Institute, Washington D. C.
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