for agriculture than for pasture lands. Mutton
was a rare delicacy even with the well-to-do.[6-6]

Poultry were exceedingly numerous. At the time of the Company it was
stated that the planter who failed to breed one hundred a year was
considered a poor manager. The _Perfect Discription_ says that the
poultry--"Hens, Turkies, Ducks, Geece"--were without number.[6-7]
Moreover, the wild fowls of the inland waterways were so numerous that
even the least skilful of huntsmen could readily bring down enough for
the needs of his family, and the mallard, the goose, the canvasback
appeared regularly in season upon every table.[6-8]

The planter always devoted a part of his land to the production of the
grain which was needed for his personal requirements. "They yearly plow
and sow many hundred acres of Wheat," it was said, "as good and faire as
any in the world."[6-9] At the same time maize grew so readily and its
cultivation proved so cheap, that cornbread formed a part of the diet
not only of the planters themselves, but of their servants and slaves.

From his garden, an inevitable accompaniment of every plantation, the
farmer secured a large variety of vegetables--potatoes, asparagus,
carrots, turnips, onions, parsnips, besides such fruits as strawberries,
gooseberries, raspberries; from his orchard he had apples, pears,
quinces, apricots, peaches.[6-10] Honey was abundant, and there were few
householders who did not have hives under the eaves of their
outbuildings. One planter, a Mr. George Pelton, is said to have made a
profit of L30 from his bees.[6-11] There were also many wild swarms in
the woods, which yielded a delicious return to the colonial
bee-hunters.[6-12]

It is easy to understand, then, why there were no complaints of hunger
even in the days when poverty was almost universal. The Virginia yeoman
spread always an abundant table. "He that is lazy and will not work,"
said the author of _New Albion_, "needs not fear starving, but may live
as an Indian, sometimes Oysters, Cockles, Wilkes, Clams, Scollons two
moneths together; sometimes wilde Pease and Vetches, and Long Oates,
sometimes Tuckaho, Cuttenoman ground, Nuts, Marhonions, sometimes small
nuts, Filbirds, Wallnuts, Pokeberries, ten sorts of Berries, Egs of
Foul, small Fish in Coves at low water will teach him to live idly." "It
must needs follow then that diet cannot be scarce, since both rivers and
woods afford it, and that such plenty of Cattle and Hogs