The fruit trees are wonderfully quick of growth; so that in six or seven years time from the planting, a man may bring an orchard to bear in great plenty, from which he may make store of good cider, or distill great quantities of brandy; for the cider is very strong, and yields abundance of spirit. Yet they have very few, that take any care at all for an orchard; nay, many that have good orchards are so negligent of them as to let them go to ruin, and expose the trees to be torn and barked by the cattle.
Peaches, nectarines, and apricots, as well as plumbs and cherries, grow there upon standard trees. They commonly bear in three years from the stone, and thrive so exceedingly, that they seem to have no need of grafting or inoculating, if any body would be so good a husband; and truly I never heard of any that did graft either plum, nectarine, peach or apricot in that country, before the first edition of this book.
Peaches and nectarines I believe to be spontaneous, somewhere or other on that continent, for the Indians have, and ever had greater variety, and finer sorts of them than the English. The best sort of these cling to the stone, and will not come off clear, which they call plum nectarines, and plum peaches, or cling stones. Some of these are twelve or thirteen inches in the girt. These sorts of fruits are raised so easily there, that some good husbands plant great orchards of them, purposely for their hogs; and others make a drink of them, which they call mobby, and either drink it as cider, or distill it off for brandy. This makes the best spirit next to grapes.
Grape vines of the English stock, as well as those of their own production, bear most abundantly, if they are suffered to run near the ground, and increase very kindly by slipping; yet very few have them at all in their gardens, much less endeavor to improve them by cutting or laying. But since the first impression of this book, some vineyards have been attempted, and one is brought to perfection, of seven hundred and fifty gallons a year. The wine drinks at present greenish, but the owner doubts not of good wine, in a year or two more, and takes great delight that way.
When a single tree happens in clearing the ground, to be left standing, with a vine upon it, open to the sun and air, that vine generally produces as much as four or five others, that remain in the woods. I have seen in this case, more grapes upon one single vine, than would load a London cart. And for all this, the people till of late never removed any of them into their gardens, but contented themselves throughout the whole country with the grapes they found thus wild.
A garden is no where sooner made than there, either for fruits or flowers. Tulips from the seed, flower the second year. All sorts of herbs have there a perfection in their flavor, beyond what I ever tasted in a more northern climate. And yet they haven't many gardens in that country, fit to bear the name of garden.
§ 97. All sorts of English grain thrive, and increase there, as well as in any other part of the world, as for example, wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas, rape, &c. And yet they don't make a trade of any of them. Their peas indeed are troubled with weevils, which eat a hole in them, but this hole does neither damage the seed, nor make the peas unfit for boiling. And such as are sowed late, and gathered after August, are clear of that inconvenience.
It is thought too much for the same man, to make the wheat, and grind it, bolt it, and bake it himself. And it is too great a charge for every planter, who is willing to sow barley, to build a malt house, and brew house too, or else to have no benefit of his barley; nor will it answer, if he would be at the charge. These things can never be expected from a single family; but if they had cohabitations, it might be thought worth attempting. Neither as they are now settled, can they find any certain market for their other grain, which, if they had towns, would be quite otherwise.
Rice has been tried there, and is found to grow as well as in Carolina; but it labors under the same inconvenience, the want of a community to husk and clean it, and, after all, to take it off the planter's hands.
§ 98. I have related at large in the first book how flax, hemp, cotton, and the silk worms have thriven there in the several essays made upon them; how formerly there was encouragement given for making of linen, silk, &c., and how all persons not performing several things towards producing of them were put under a fine; but now all encouragement of such things is taken away or entirely dropped by the assemblies, and such manufactures are always neglected when tobacco bears anything of a price.