Hatfield Town (part 12 of 16)

A treaty of peace with the eastern Indians was signed at Boston, Dec. 15, 1725, and ratified at Falmouth, Maine, Aug. 5, 1726. A present of ;;^300 was made to them not long after. The hostile Indians in Canada became peaceable.

The number of towns in Hampshire in 1726 was only twelve,* and one of them, Brimfield, was not incorporated until 1731. The people began new towns after the peace. When Worcester county was formed in 1731, Brookfield was included in it.

Expedition to the West Indies. - In 1740, the British government, being at war with Spain, sent to the colonies for men to join an expedition to the West Indies. 1000 men were enlisted in Massachusetts, but only 400 were then wanted; 100 more were sent in 1741. Of these 500 men, only 50 ever returned; the others fell victims to the fatal climate. These men were induced to engage by liquor and delusive representations. Gov. Shirley in 1741 talked about "lands in Cuba."f

The war between Britain and France began in Europe in the early part of 1744, and soon extended to their colonies. Col. John Stoddard had the command in Hampshire until his death, June 19, 1748. He was succeeded in a few weeks by Col. Israel Williams of Hatfield. $ Many new towns and plantations had been commenced in Hampshire since the last war. All of those

Expresses traveled alone between Boston and Albany, in this, as in the preceding wars. Benjamin Alvord of Northampton often went to Boston as an express. Joseph Hawley in June, 1724, "thought it much boldness for one to travel alone," but Alvord was not afraid. He was an express in the next war.

tin 1740, Capt. Stephen Richards, after having obtained some men at Watertown and Newton, came up to Hampshire, and enlisted men in Suffield, Springfield and Westfield for the West Indies. It was affirmed that "he had a drummer, and plied drink very freely." In this manner, young men have often been incited to become soldiers. Rum and "lands in Cuba" would have the same effect with many now. - Capt. R. had 50 yards of ribbon for cockades.

f Eleazar Porter of Hadley was Lieut. Colonel under Col.' Stoddard. He was better fitted for civil than military life, or as Rev. T. Woodbridge of Hatfield wrote July 21, 1748, - "Mr. Porter has not a genius for war." He was respected by all. Secretary Willard wrote to Maj. Israel Williams, July 7, 1848 - "The governor has thought it a proper respect to Col. Porter to offer him the command of the forces in Hampshire, either singly or jointly with you - expects he will decline." He declined in a few weeks, and Major Williams was appointed colonel in August.

History Of Hadley 335

above Northfield were added to New Hampshire in 1740, by the king in council, who estabHshed the north hne of Massachusetts far south of the Hne claimed by her, and even 14 miles south of the line claimed by New Hampshire.

Massachusetts maintained garrisons in this war at No. 4, or Charlestown, and Fort Dummer, and at times in the Ashuelots and other places in New Hampshire. Fort Shirley was built in the present Heath, Fort Pelham in Rowe, and Fort Massachusetts in East Hoosuck or Adams, and these forts were garrisoned. Soldiers paid by the province were stationed at Northfield and Greenfield, and in fortified houses or other works in Falltown, Colerain, Southampton, Blanford, Stockbridge and upper and lower Sheffield, in most of these only a part of the year. Sometimes there were troops at Deerfield, and a few men at No. i, and No. 2, west of Blanford, and at Shutesbury and New Salem. Some of the places named were at times manned by soldiers from Connecticut. There were palisaded or picketed houses, some with mounts, in Northampton, Hatfield and other places that were not guarded at the expense of the province.*

Scouting was continual, and much' was paid to scouting parties. Scalping parties also went out; but it was very rarely that a scalp was obtained. In 1745, 100 pounds in new tenor were offered to volunteers for scalps; and in 1747, when the bills had fallen much, 250 pounds. Nathaniel Kellogg of Hadley was at the head of a party of "volunteers" in 1746. Their object is not stated. 300 pairs of snow-shoes were ordered to be sent to Hampshire, January, 1746.

Capture of Louisburg. - On the 17th of June, 1745, at the end of a siege of 49 days, Louisburg in Cape Breton surrendered to the forces of New England, aided by a British squadron. By this capture of the strongest fortress in North America, New England acquired renown, and there was great rejoicing throughout the land. Sadness succeeded and eventually great disappointment. Previous to the surrender, only about 100 lives had been lost, but after that event, fatal diseases prevailed, which were destructive to the soldiers; Douglass says New England lost about 2000 men. Douglass is a careless writer, but a more cautious one estimates

*The following may give an idea of some of the fortifications or stockades of those days. In 1751, Ephraim Williams and others proposed to picket Fort Hoosuck in this manner: - To get 3000 pickets 6 inches in diameter, 9^ feet in length, sharpened at the upper ends; the lower ends to be set in a trench 18 inches deep, and a rib to be fastened across the whole by a pin through each picket and rib.

Soldiers were enlisted for this enterprise in all the Hampshire towns, and almost all the towns lost men by sickness. With few exceptions, the names of these men are not to be found. Major Seth Pomeroy of Northampton commanded a company at Louisburg, and there were other captains from Hampshire.f

There was a project for reducing Canada in 1746 by Britain and the colonies. Men were voted liberally by the colonies; Massachusetts voted to raise 3000 men, May 31, 1746, and actually enlisted 2000. Britain did not send the promised fleet and army, and the levies for Canada were kept on foot until Oct. 1747, and then dismissed. Many in Hampshire had enlisted in this Canada expedition. The Canada soldiers cost Massachusetts ;(^68,ooo before May, 1747, and much after. They aided in defending the frontiers. $

The war continued in Europe until the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, Oct. 7, 1748, and in New England, a few months longer. Several persons were killed and taken in this war at the upper towns and forts in Hampshire, and Fort Massachusetts was taken Aug. 20, 1746. The attacks of the enemy were more frequent in New Hampshire, north of this county, and a much larger number of men were slain and captured than in Hampshire.

*The Louisburg Expedition cost Massachusetts £261,700 in new tenor or last emission bills, which were nearly equal to silver at 6s. 8d. per ounce when the war began. The wages of the men on land amounted to £88,871, and their provisions to £54,153. The services of many continued several months in 1746. - Britain allowed Massachusetts 183,649 pounds sterling.

The wages of men at Louisburg, per month, in last emission bills, were for a colonel, £i2, lieut. col., £10, major, £8.10, captain, £4.10, lieutenant, £3, ensign, £2, sergeant, 32s., corporal and drummer, 28s., private soldier, 25s. or 6s. 3d. per week. A surgeon, £6.5 per month, a chaplain, £6. Provisions were much higher than in New England, and were estimated at 6 shillings per week for each man. - Massachusetts paid a bounty of 20 shillings each to 3433 men enlisted for the first embarcation, and to 674 men for the second; and enlisting officers received 2s. 6d. for each man enlisted. Every man received a blanket. A second bounty of 25 shillings was paid at Louisburg after the reduction of the place.

-j-In Major Pomeroy 's muster-roll, three men are said to belong to Hadley; two of them seem to be from South Hadley. Of the three, Reuben Smith, son of Joseph, returned, and Peter Montague, Jr. and John Taylor died. Phinehas Smith of South Hadley was at Cape Breton under Col. Wm. Williams. Joseph Cook of Hadley and South Hadley was there also. Doubtless there were some from Amherst, and others from Hadley and South, Hadley.- jThe expenses of Massachusetts in five years, from May, 1744 to May, 1749, including Cape Breton charges, (estimating the expenses of one year, not found,) exceeded 670,000 pounds, in bills of last emission.

The rations allowed to troops in garrisons were per day, one pound of bread, half pint of peas or beans, two-thirds of a pound of pork, and in six weeks, one gallon of molasses. Marching forces had one pound of bread, one pound of pork and a gill of rum.

History Of Hadlev 337

Those slain not far distant from this part of the county, were the following: - Aug. 25, 1746, at the Bars south of Deerfield, Samuel Allen, Eleazar Hawks, Oliver Amsden, Simeon Amsden and Adonijah Gillet were slain; Samuel Alleji, Jr. was taken, and Eunice Allen's skull was fractured, but she recovered. Oct. 19, 1747, John Smead was slain near the mouth of Miller's River. In Southampton, Elisha Clark was slain Aug. 27, 1747, and Noah Pixley May 9, 1748.* - Samuel Goodman of South Hadley was taken at Fort Massachusetts, and carried to Canada, where he died March 21, 1747.

In the "brave little garrison "f under Capt. Stevens, that so courageously defended the fort at No. 4 (Charlestown, N. H.) near the first of April, 1747, were six men from South Hadley and Amherst, viz., Eleazar Smith, William Boltwood, Nehemiah Dickinson, Nathaniel Church, Jr., Josiah Snow, and Ebenezer Dickinson. In the same fort were nine from Northampton.

This was commenced in 1754; and in 1755 an expedition was undertaken against Crown Point, a French fortress on the west side of Lake Champlain. It was unsuccessful as were the succeeding campaigns of 1756, 1757 and 1758, in the same quarter, owing principally to the incapacity of the British commanders. In 1759, the French evacuated Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and Quebec surrendered, and in 1760, Montreal and the rest of Canada were taken. The war continued until 1763. For each of these six Crown Point and Canada expeditions, Massachusetts voted to raise from 4000 to 7000 men, excepting a less number in 1757; and men were raised yearly to defend her own frontiers, and many were sent to Nova Scotia, Louisburg, &c. The Treasurer's book for 1759 records the payment of wages to "eight companies, up the river St. Lawrence, at the reduction of Quebec." The province levied about 3000 men in 1 761, and nearly as many in 1762. Some hundreds from Massachusetts joined a British expedition to the West Indies in 1762, and nearly all perished.

Fourteen Hampshire towns were in the province tax in 1746, and 18 in 1751. Three united with Connecticut about 1747. In 1751, Northampton was taxed £i<)(>, Hadley, 156, Hatfield, 91, Deerfield, 89, Sunderland, 51. Whole tax, £30,394. Polls paid 5 shillings.

Until Canada was subdued, the enemies made attacks upon the western frontiers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as in the preceding war, and the killed and captured were numerous. Massachusetts furnished soldiers for some places in New Hampshire, and for forts or fortified houses at Northfield, Greenfield, Falltown (Bernardston,) Colerain, Charlemont, Huntstown (Ashfield,) Fort Massachusetts, West Hoosuck (Williamstown,) New Framingham (Lanesborough,) Pontoosuck (Pittsfield,) and Stockbridge. Connecticut sometimes garrisoned Pontoosuck and Stockbridge. Men were not posted at Southampton, Blandford and Sheffield after 1 755-1

Many of the men in the garrisons were scouts. These were provided with snow-shoes and moccasons. On the western frontier were scouting parties, ranging parties and scalping parties; all wishing to obtain scalps. The bounty offered in June, 1755? to those in service, was 40 pounds for Indian scalps; to volunteer companies, 200 pounds. In May, 1757, the bounty to volunteers was raised to 300 pounds for each scalp. I find in the Treasurer's accounts for 1757 and 1758, that he paid 300 pounds of looo dollars each, for five scalps. ijl

Capt. Moses Porter was the only captain in the service from Hadley, during the war. In 1755, he commanded a company in Col. Ephraim Williams's regiment, and under him were Lieutenant Hezekiah Smith, Ensign Reuben Wait of Hatfield, Clerk Joshua Ballard of Hadley, 3 sergeants, 4 corporals, a drummer and 38 privates. In the fighting on the 8th of September, 1755, in the vicinity of Lake George, there were slain of this company, Capt. Porter,§ Ens. Wait, Henry Bartlett of Hadley, Asa Strat-

*New England lost thousands of her active and hardy young men in these military expeditions, and the morals of survivors were injured. Many of the British officers were profligates.

-j-Col. Israel Williams of Hatfield had the command on this frontier. He was colonel of the northern Hampshire regiment, and John Worthington of Springfield, of the southern.

Jin June, 1755, 20 pounds were offered for female scalps and the scalps of males under 12 years. This offer was not repeated. The governor of Pennsylvania offered 50 dollars for women's scalps in 1756.

§The late Lieut. Enos Smith of Hadley, informed me that he saw Capt. Porter, when he left Hadley for Albany, in the spring of 1755. His military dress appeared to Smith, then 9 or 10 years old, very rich and showy. Capt. Porter was slain by the Indians, and his dress became their prey. He left a wife, a daughter who married Charles Phelps, Esq. and a good estate. He had recently erected a handsome house, about two miles north of the village, on "Forty Acres," so called, and he owned about 300 acres in and near Forty acre field, and on Mount Warner. His house and barn were raised May 27, 1752, and he and his family removed to this place Dec. 5, 1752, This house, built 107 years since, is occupied ton of Northfield, and Zebadiah Williams perhaps of Amherst. James Hulbert was wounded. Col. Williams was slain, and 46 men in his regiment, and 24 were wounded. The news of the battle and deaths did not reach Hadley until Sunday, Sept. 14.

Officers. - The commissioned officers from these places, besides Capt. Porter, were Job Alvord from South Hadley, who was an Ensign under Capt. John Burk in 1757, and was in the capitulation of Fort William Henry. He was a lieutenant in 1 759. Joshua Ballard of Hadley was an Ensign after Sept. 8, 1755, and a Lieutenant in 1759. James Gray of Hadley was an Ensign in 1759. John Woodbridge, Jr. of South Hadley, was a Lieutenant in 1760. He had been an officer before, and is said to have been at the taking of Quebec. Jonathan Cook of Hadley was a Lieutenant in 1758. Asahel Judd of South Hadley was an Ensign at Nova Scotia, and died there in 1756.

Soldiers. - The names on the next page, of sergeants, corporals and privates were derived from muster-rolls, and rolls of enlistments, and other papers in the state house at Boston. There were other lists which have not been preserved, and the names of some soldiers are not found. There may be errors in the place of residence, as Amherst was not made a district and named until 1759. Granby was a part of South Hadley during the war.

The dates indicate the years in which the names of the Crown Point and Canada soldiers first appear. For example, all between 1758 and 1759 are first found under 1758. Many were in the service two, and some three or four campaigns. Very many were young men from 16 to 25; a few were above 40, and two were above 50. John Clark of Hadley and his two sons, John and William, were soldiers, (Scotch-Irish.) Samuel Hawley, Jr. of Amherst and his son Elijah belonged to one company. Some of the soldiers possessed property; the greater part were men of small estate or no estate, including servants, apprentices and other minors.

by Rev. Dan Huntington, who married the daughter of Charles Phelps, and it is still a convenient mansion, of respectable appearance. Charles Phelps put on the present mansard or gambrel roof, and made other alterations. He added to Capt. Porter's farm until he had about 600 acres. This farm was noticed by Pres. Dwight and he declared this estate to be "the most desirable possession of the same kind and extent, within my knowledge." Mr. Phelps gave it to his son, the late Charles P. Phelps, Esq. and to his daughter, the late Elizabeth W. Huntington.

History Of Hadley 341

The bounty offered to induce men to enlist, for one campaign, was for some years, six dollars; next it was four pounds, and afterwards 20 dollars, and some received 30 dollars; in 1762, it was seven pounds. Such bounties were a strong inducement to poor men and young men. Most soldiers were enlisted; some were impressed. When men of property were impressed, they generally paid a fine or provided a substitute.*

On the 9th of August, 1757, Fort William Henry, near Lake George, surrendered to the French. The Indians disregarded the capitulation, and a scene of pillage, cruelty and bloodshed ensued. There was a great alarm before the surrender and massacre, as well as after, and thousands of the militia of Massachusetts marched westward. They were not needed and soon returned. Few went as far as Albany. Gen. Pepperell wrote from Springfield, Aug. 13, that the people were so ready "to go to the assistance of the distressed, that this part of the province seems almost evacuated, the whole militia within 40 or 50 miles being drawn off."

*The wages varied. The pay of privates, most of the time, was 36 shillings per month, corporals, 38s. yd., sergeants, 43s. id., ensigns, ^^3, 10s., lieutenants, £^, captains, £8. Soldiers in garrisons and scouts on the frontier received less. Those who enlisted soldiers commonly were paid 3 shillings for each one; sometimes 6 shillings. Those who furnished provisions for the soldiers at Northfield, Greenfield and Southampton received for each man 4 shillings per week; at other places on the frontier north of Stockbridge, from 4s. 8d. to 6s., the transportation being expensive. A week's rations for each Massachusetts soldier north of Albany cost 5 shillings in 1755 and 1756. They had bread, meat, peas, rum, a little flour and meal, and a small quantity of sugar, ginger, butter and molasses. They were allowed more than they consumed. The gill of rum per day cost two shillings per gallon, and was probably hot from the Boston stills. The British seem to have furnished provisions for the Crown Point and Canada troops after 1756.

Bayonets were useless in Indian warfare, and there were few in Hampshire before this war. The province purchased many thousands of bayonets, or "bayonets and slings," (meaning belts.) after the war commenced. Some cost seven shillings each.

Expresses who went from Connecticut River to Boston and back, received £'^, and sometimes £2, 6s. Benjamin Alvord of Northampton was an express in three wars. Charles Colton rode courier from Boston to Albany and back 31 times in 1759, and received £j for each time. He kept 7 horses on the road, and went with speed.

The expenses of Massachusetts for 8 years, from May, 1755 to May, 1763, were not far from 1,265,100 pounds, or 4,217,000 dollars. This aggregate, which I formed from the accounts of the province Treasurer, is not exact, but it is not too high. Not less than four millions of dollars were for military expenses. Great Britain repaid to Massachusetts at different times, from 1756 to 1766, about one and a half million of dollars. The province taxes in the eight years of war amounted to 608,000 pounds, or a little more than two millions of dollars. The currency was gold and silver.

Captains and soldiers from Maine first appeared in Massachusetts Proper in this war. Maine men crossed the Connecticut in 1755, 1756, 1757, &c.

Of the Hadley militia, Capt. Moses Marsh, Ens. Eleazar Porter, Sergeants EHsha Cook, Jonathan Cook and Josiah Dickinson, one corporal and 38 privates were gone 12 days, and their miles were estimated at 15 a day, or 90 miles each way. They probably w^ent as far as the North River. Soldiers found themselves and were allowed 2s. 8d. per day. - Of the South Hadley company, Capt. Samuel Smith, Lieut. Luke Montague, Sergeants Aaron Nash, Joseph Moody and Reuben Smith, four corporals and 54 privates were gone also 12 days, and their distance both ways was called 180 miles. - The list of the East Hadley company that marched in this alarm, has been lost.

Diseases destroyed more lives than the French and Indians. There was much sickness in the army every year, and in the latter part of the season, sick men w^ere dispersed in various places along the route, from the camp to Albany and Greenbush, and to Sheffield and Connecticut River. Many men rode from Hampshire and elsewhere towards the camp, seeking for a sick relative or friend, and took care of him when found, till he died, or was able to ride home. Some died after they reached home. Men were sometimes sent from Boston to look after the sick along the roads to the camp, and see that they were tended, and supplied with necessaries. There were hospitals at Sheffield,* No. i, (Tyringham,) Westfield, &c. 17 soldiers died in the hospital in Sheffield in less than a year, in 1756 and 1757.

The Small-pox became prevalent in the latter years of the war, and many died with it. Some, not knowing that they had been exposed, brought home the disease and gave it to their friends. In the Westfield hospital, 12 soldiers had the small-pox from Nov. 1760 to Feb. 1761, and 6 died; and 4 died in Brookfield, in the same months. Tenders for small-pox hospitals w^ere impressed by authority. But few persons had had the disease, and such were necessary for tenders. f

*Probahly Upper Sheffield is meant, now Great Barrington. Much rum was consumed in these hospitals, - 30 gallons at Sheffield hospital in less than a year, and 17 gallons of rum and some gallons of wine at Westfield small-pox hospital, in three months.

-j-In 1732, John Bedortha caught the small-pox among the Dutch, and died in West Springfield. This may have been the only case in Hampshire before this war. In 1757, there were cases in two families in South Hadley; in 1760, in several towns. In 1761, there was a place for inoculated small-pox in or near Springfield. Elisha Porter of Hadley was inoculated at Springfield in Feb. 1761. Caleb Strong, Jr. of Northampton had the smallpox by inoculation the same year.

Bonfire. - After the surrender of Quebec in 1759, a bonfire on Copp's Hill in Boston was made of 45 tar barrels, 2 cords wood, a mast, spars, boards, a barrel of tar, and 50 pounds of powder, and cost, with another on Fort Hill, j(j 25. 12. 4. The province paid this sum, and for 32 gallons of rum much beer for the people, and £,44 for the dinner and wine of the Council and Court.

History Of Hadley 343

Road to Albany. - The way from Hampshire and Hartford to Albany, in early days, was through the villages of Westfield and Kinderhook, and the territory now in Blandford, Sheffield, &c. A later road crossed North Sheffield, (Great Barrington.) Almost all the travel between Hampshire county and Albany, for near a century, was through Westfield. In 1755 and after, some soldiers went to the camp north of Albany and returned, by way of Charlemont and Fort Massachusetts, and some crossed the woods of Vermont, yet most of the travel to and from the camp was through Westfield.*

French Neutrals. - Of those French people, who were cruelly driven from their homes in Nova Scotia, and dispersed among the British colonies, in 1755 and 1756, near a thousand were brought to Massachusetts, and their support cost the province and towns many thousand pounds. One family was sent to Hadley and one to Northampton about 1761. Hadley voted, Jan. 4, 1762, "that the family of French Neutrals now in this town shall be supported together, during the town's pleasure." March 25, 1767, the town voted three pounds to remove the French Neutrals, "whom we are obliged to support," to Canada. They were removed before January, 1768.

The father of the family sent to Northampton was named Silvine Dupee, and he had a wife and seven children. This family and that at Hadley appear to have been kindly treated. Silvine worked for Deac. Ebenezer Hunt and others, and received his pay in provisions and clothing. The town gave him 4 shillings per week through the year and the use of a house, and he kept a cow. The family was not here in 1768.

Pirates. - In the days of our forefathers, stories of the cruel deeds of pirates were recited around the kitchen fire, as well as those of the barbarities of the Indians and of the strange doings of the witches.

William Kidd, famous in pirate history, was arrested at Boston in 1699, and executed in England in I70i.t June 30, 1704, 6 pirates were executed at Boston. Of the gold taken with them,

*The road through Blandford towards Albany, though laid as a county road in 1754, was little more than a horse path in this French war, and teams could have drawn only light loads. Pork and flour purchased in Hampshire for the army, were sent down the Connecticut and up the Hudson. A horse road was marked out in 1753, fron^ '5 rniles east of Albany through Pontoosuck to Northampton; it was little used. Before SheiBeld was settled, when the Housatonnuc was high, posts have been sent from Hampshire to Albany by way of Woodbury, Conn, where was a ferry.

788 ounces were sent to England, after paying £']i'] for charges. July 19, 1723, 26 pirates were hung at once at Newport, R. I. under their own blue flag, hoisted upon the gallows. They had taken 45 vessels. 3 pirates were executed near Boston, July 12, 1726, and 5, Nov. 2, 1726, and 4 at Newport, Nov. 3, 1738. Many were executed in the southern colonies. Pirates were hung and buried near low water mark.

Chapter Xxxi

Noxious Beasts and Birds - Wolves - Wildcats - Bears - Catamounts, Crows and Blackbirds - Woodchucks - Furred Animals and the Fur Trade - Beavers - Raccoons - Muskrats - Deer and Deer Hunting - Venison - Deerskin Garments - Wild Turkeys - Pigeons - Rattlesnakes.

Wolves were very common and destructive in the New England and other colonies, and long tried the patience of our fathers. Wood in 1634 considered them "the greatest inconveniency in the country." A reward has been off"ered in Massachusetts for killing wolves since 1630. The nocturnal bowlings of these ravenous animals have been heard by the inhabitants of almost every township. Wolves annoyed the people of Hampshire more than 100 years after the settlement of Northampton and Hadley.

The reward for destroying wolves in 1643 was thirty shillings. In 1662, it was forty shillings, of which the county was to pay twenty, the town ten, and the colony ten.* In 1693, the bounty for grown wolves was twenty shillings, and for whelps five shillings. In 171 7, it was raised to four pounds for grown wolves and one pound for whelps, all paid by the province. After 1741, the bounty varied from thirty shillings to four pounds.

*The heads were to be carried to the constable or selectmen, who were to cut off the ears. Capt. Aaron Cook of Northampton was a famous wolf-killer, and he once sent a wolf's head by his daughter. Wolves killed sheep, goats, calves, swine and deer. When the county reward was 20 shillings, it required most of the Hampshire county tax, some years, to pay for wolves.

History Of Hadley 345

2852 old wolves and 191 whelps, averaging a few more than a hundred in a year. The yearly number was not given after 1737. Wolves were killed in many of the Hampshire towns down to 1775, and in some, several years later.*

The colony treasurer credited to Hadley 7 wolves in 1662, ii in 1669, 8 in 1672, 3 in 1674, 43 in three years, 1680, 168 1 and 1682, 10 in 1683, 19 in 1684, and 10 in 1694.1 Wolves were killed in Hadley in the years omitted, and in the last century, but the returns are not found. The town offered in 1686, ten shillings for every wolf killed in the town, and brought to the constable, and the same in 1692.

Some wolves were caught in traps and some were shot. Many were taken in pits called wolf-pits, which were fitted to entrap them. Wolves were seldom killed by dogs.

Wildcats. - A reward for their destruction was first offered in 1727, viz., twenty shillings for those over a year old, and ten shillings for those younger. In 1753, the reward was ten shillings and five shillings. It appears by the province treasurer's accounts, that 251 old wildcats were killed in 1728, 261 in 1729, 436 in 1730, 175 in 1731, 679 in 1733, 330 in 1734 and 49 in 1736. In these seven years, 2181 old wildcats and 88 young ones were destroyed. After this havoc, they did not again become so numerous.$

Bears. - In 1742, a bounty was first offered to those who killed bears, viz., ten shillings for old ones and five shillings for cubs, from the first of April to the first of September. The small reward, and the delay in giving it, evince that bears were much

*6 were killed in Northampton in 1763, 5 in Greenfield and 2 in Amherst in 1765, &c. Northampton was disturbed by wolves after 1772, and they howled near the dwelling of the father of the writer in Westhampton, in 1775. They seldom troubled the people of Hadley and South Hadley after 1761;, yet in March, 1785, Hadley offered 4 pounds to any Hadley man who should kill a wolf, if his track was taken in the town.

About the year 1805, two wolves ranged some time from the northern part of Hadley and Amherst to the northern part of Montague, and killed many sheep. Men from three or four towns turned out after a light snow, and surrounded and killed them. One of my informants often heard these wolves howl in the woods of North Hadley, and he was in Montague when one of them was brought in on a pole by two men. The hunters had a merry time.

-j-Eleven of the wolf killers in Hadley from 1668 to 1672, were John Smith, Philip Smith, Robert Boltwood, Samuel Boltwood, Hezekiah Dickinson, Thomas Wells, David Hoyt, Joseph Selden, Azariah Dickinson, Thomas Dickinson, James Beebee. - Goodman Ayres, Corporal Coy and Goodman Pritchard killed many wolves at Quabaug.

In the winter of 1660-61, John Holton of Northampton killed a wolf on the ice of the Connecticut, between Northampton and Hadley; and the county court decided that each town should pay half of the town bounty.

|The common wildcats of New England were a species of lynx. The fisher was sometimes called the black wildcat. It may be supposed that many of the wildcats were killed in Hampshire, and many in Maine.

less hurtful than wolves and wildcats, yet in some seasons, especially when acorns and nuts were scarce, bears destroyed pigs and sheep, and devoured soft corn.*

Catamounts or Panthers. - There were a few of these animals formerly near the western border of New England. Connecticut offered a bounty for them in 1694 and 1713, and paid for four or five in 1769. Massachusetts first ofi'ered a reward in 1742, of 40 shillings; in 1745 of 50 shillings; and in 1753 of 4 pounds. The killing of a catamount must have been a rare occurrence. An animal called a catamount was killed by some Northampton hunters in 1764, and there are stories of others shot in Hampshire in later days. Some of the tales relating to the catamount are not reliable. It had a terrific scream, but rarely if ever attacked man, woman or child. f

Town Premiums. - The province once offered rewards for killing small vermin ;$ the towns often gave premiums, especially for the destruction of crows and blackbirds. For many years, the blackbirds were the most mischievous, and most towns offered rewards for killing them before they made war upon the crows.

Hadley first offered a premium of one penny each for blackbirds, Jan. 7, 1717, and their heads were to be cut off in presence of one of the selectmen. At the same time, 8 pence each were offered for wood-hatches, meaning woodchucks,§ and their ears were to be cut off in presence of one of the selectmen. Hadley first voted a premium for crows, of one shilling. May 8, 1727. In 1730, the bounty was one shilling for grown crows, 6 pence

*The late John Cook of Hadley informed me that about 1788, John Montague shot a bear which his dog had treed in Hadley meadow, and carried him into the street on the top of his load of corn. This was long after bears had disappeared from Hadley.

Bear's meat was eaten in these towns, and was accounted about as good as venison. The price in Northampton from 1721 to 1759 ^^^ from I5 to 2 pence per pound, in lawful money.

stories about lions in the early writers of New England and of the other colonies, came from the reports of Indians who had seen the catamount and heard its scream. It was named by some Indians, qunonou, meaning apparently, the long animal. Eliot in his Indian Bible has qunonou for lion.

I In 1740, the province offered for five years, 6 pence for crows, 3 pence for blackbirds' and 4 pence for water rats, ( ?) gray and ground squirrels. These vermin cost the province 105 pounds in 1744. Doct. Franklin said in 1749, that the worms had greatly multiplied in New England since the destruction of the blackbirds, and done more damage than the birds.

§Northampton and Hatfield gave premiums for woodchucks for a short time. The premiums which some towns offered for foxes, woodchucks, skunks, squirrels and blue jays did not continue long.

The custom of giving rewards for the destruction of creatures denominated vermin, is more than 300 years old in England. Various scarecrows, to keep birds from wheat, cherries, &c. were common in England before 1600.

History Of Hadley 347

for young ones, one penny for blackbirds, and half a penny for young ones. From 1772 to 1800, blackbirds were omitted, except one year, and the reward for crows was commonly one shilling.

The shrewd and cautious crow has maintained himself against all the arts and efforts of men, and still abounds. He does much harm by pulling up the springing corn; and he is also useful as a scavenger, devouring reptiles, worms, insects and all sorts of dead carcasses.

Woodchucks* and Skunks were very rare in New England when first settled by the English. These and some other quadrupeds, and many species of birds, greatly increased in the neighborhood of civilized men, whose farms yielded much more food for them than the forests and Indian towns.

Beavers, which were once numerous in this region, were almost all caught by the Indians before Philip's war in 1675. The beaver trade with the Indians, for some years, was in the hands of John Pynchon, and of those appointed by him. He packed for England in six years, from 1652 to 1657, 47 hhds. containing 8992 beaver skins, weighing 13,139 pounds, and sent 663 pounds in bundles. From 1658 to 1674, he packed 6480 beaver skins. Most of these skins may have been worth about 8 shillings sterling per pound in England. From 1652 to 1674, he packed 699 otter skins, about 900 skins of muskrats, and many of the gray and red fox, raccoon, marten, fisher, mink and wildcat. Also 426 moose skins, weighing from 12 to 25 pounds each, and 67 pounds of the drug called castor, obtained from beavers. Very many of the beaver and other skins were brought from the north and west, and most were purchased of Indians. f [Derived from Pynchon's Account books.]

*Woodchucks were caught and their skins tanned for whip lashes, perhaps loo years ago. 50 and 60 years since, many boys in the Hampshire towns caught them in traps set at the mouth of their holes; the skins were divested of hair by the aid of lime or ashes, and then tanned - many of them in the common soap barrels. The writer in his boyhood tanned many in soap. The boys obtained spending money for the whip lashes.

-j-The Indian names of some animals, in the accounts of fur-dealers, were for wildcat, pessow; mink, nottomag; marten, openock, and sometimes wappenauk; fisher, wullaneag. Raccoon was a name derived from Virginia Indians. Skunk was spelled by Wood in 1634, squncke, which may have been the Indian name.

residing near and far off, and bought of them furs and skins. He had of men Hving in middle Hampshire, including Hadley, South Hadley, Granby and Amherst, the skins of raccoons, minks, muskrats, red and gray foxes and deer, and rarely the skin of a beaver, otter, marten, wildcat and wolf.* From towns up the river, in the county and north of it, he obtained some beaver skins, and at times the skin of a fisher, bear and moose. He bought most of his beaver in Albany and Boston, and many raccoon skins in Albany.

Oliver Warner of Hadley learned the hatter's trade of E. Hunt, and made and sold hats and bought furs in Hadley, many years after 1750. His business was not extensive. Josiah Dickinson from Hadley, succeeded Hunt in Northampton.

Deer and Deer Hunting. - For a long time, the mild and nimble deer were very numerous. The early planters of Hampshire,f though they occasionally hunted deer, turkeys, &c. were too industrious to spend much time in such pursuits. The Indians were the principal hunters in this region while they remained. Many persons of the succeeding generations sometimes diverted themselves by hunting; few let this recreation interfere with their

*Hunt gave after 1750, for good beaver, 10 to 12 shillings per pound, and for inferior, much less; for a few otter skins, 8 to 12s. each; raccoons, is. 6d. to 3s. 6d.; minks, is. 6d. to 3s.; red and gray foxes, 2s. to 3s. 3d.; muskrats, 4 to 9 pence. Only the fur of beavers, raccoons and muskrats was made into hats. Beaver hats were sold, after 1750, from 20 to 42 shillings each, and raccoon and muskrat hats, from 12 to 20 shillings. Felt hats, 3s. 4d. to 5s. 6d.

Raccoons have been hunted more than two hundred years, both for pleasure and profit. Fifty or sixty years ago, and long before, they were commonly hunted in the night, by the aid of a good dog, which treed them. A raccoon on a climbable tree was shaken off by a man, and caught by the dog; sometimes one was shot by moon-light; the hunters often kindled a fire and waited until morning, and then shot one or more; if a raccoon was in a hollow tree, it was cut down and the dog seized him. The writer when a boy carried a lantern for raccoon hunters two or three nights. These animals still devour green corn, and are still hunted in many of our towns. The meat was esteemed by some in the last century nearly as good as venison.

Muskrats have been plenty in some parts of Hampshire for two centuries, and they are still hunted, perhaps more for sport than for the skin. When a flood covers most of the meadows and low lands, and muskrats are driven from their habitations, boats may be seen in Northampton and elsewhere carrying men with guns and a dog, and now and then is heard the peculiar, clicking noise made by the discharge of a gun near the water, and the dog leaps into the water and brings to the boat a musquash, if one has been killed. They are hunted in other ways. This animal was called tump in Northampton 100 years ago, and still is; perhaps an Indian name.

That large animal, the moose, doubtless came into Hampshire. One was killed at Brookfield in Sept. 1765, another in Sept. 1767, 6 feet high, and one in New Braintree in Sept. 1769, 5 feet high.

History Of Hadley 349

regular business.* Noxious animals were hunted from necessity. Deer were more useful to men than all else that was hunted. As these animals were lean in winter, and the females produced their young in the spring, Massachusetts enacted in i6g8, that deer should not be killed between January ist and August ist. These dates were afterwards altered a little. Other colonies had similar laws. In 1739, each town of the province was required to choose men annually to prosecute or inform against those that killed deer out of season. In March, 1740, Hadley chose Lt. Westwood Cook of the old precinct, Samuel Rugg of the South precinct, and John Nash of the east precinct. Two men called "Deer Reeves" or "Informers of Deer," were chosen yearly in Hadley, from 1758 to 1780. Only a few deer were killed in Hadley after 1780. The county records notice the prosecution of many persons in Hampshire, for killing deer unlawfully. The fine was 10 pounds, half to the informer. f

Seventy or eighty years since, a number of men in the old towns were denominated the "old hunters." They had chased deer and other animals long before the revolution, and sometimes a jovial party and a venison feast had succeeded a hunt. Many of their hunting stories were formerly in circulation, some of them wild and hardly credible. Some hunters were trappers also. J

*Those who spent a large portion of their time in hunting were poor. The habits of such are inconsistent with regular industry. Hunting does not increase property nor improve morals.

-j-A few men in Hadley, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby were prosecuted. The following from the county records exhibits the form of some complaints.

At a court in Northampton, March, 1763. "John Worthington, Esq. Attorney for our sovereign lord the king, in this behalf, here instantly complains and gives this court to understand and be informed, that Azariah Selden of Hadley, in the county of Hampshire, yeoman, on the 8th day of March current, did at said Northampton, wittingly and willingly, with force and arms, kill one wild deer, and then and there had in his possession the raw flesh and raw skin of one wild deer, killed since the 21st day of December last, contrary to a law of this province, the peace of said lord the king, his crown and dignity." He was fined 10 pounds and costs 29 shillings. Noah Smith, Jr. of Hadley, the informer, was to have half the fine.

jLevi Moody of Granby, born in 1784, informs me that deer continued on the extensive pine plains in the eastern part of Springfield, and were killed by hunters from South Hadley and Granby down to 1800 and after. When pursued by hounds, they often crossed Chickopee River. Mr. Moody has shot deer on these plains, the last one in 1820.

Several persons have been undesignedly shot and killed in Hampshire in hunting. Joseph King was killed by Samuel Burt of Southampton, Oct. 8, 1742; Nathan Tuttle of Montague by his son, Sept. 16, 1762; John Lammon of Palmer by John Davis of Ware, Dec. 5,

In Northampton, from 1674 to 1771, the price of venison, (reduced to lawful money,) was two pence and one and a half penny per pound; lean w^as often one penny. Josiah Pierce of Hadley bought venison at two pence per pound in 1764. Many quarters of venison appear to have weighed from 14 to 30 pounds each. - The venison pasty or pie, so much esteemed in England, was rarely noticed in New England. - Venison was sometimes salted in a cask. - Deer's tallow was made into candles.

Deer Skins and Garments. - Leather garments were common in England. A vast number of deer skins were dressed in New England, and many were dressed in oil. Some deer's leather was called wash-leather. Dressing deer skins, moose skins and beaver skins, was a regular trade. Jonathan Moody of Amherst was a dresser of deer and other skins; also his son Lemuel. Breeches were the most common garment made of deer's leather;* jackets or waistcoats were numerous; there were leather doublets and coats, and some had a leather suit. A few had wash-leather stockings, and many had deer skin gloves. Moccasons were made of deer's leather and moose leather. "Leather Breeches Maker and Glover" was a common mechanic in Boston. Many men in Hadley formerly had leather breeches, and some had other leather garments. Rev. C. Williams of Hadley, (page 324,) had leather breeches and waistcoat. Leather breeches were worn by some military men. When sheep skins were scarce, some leather aprons were made of dressed beaver skins.

Wild Turkeys were abundant in this and other colonies. No notice is found of them in the towns on Connecticut River previous to 1700. The Pynchons did not buy nor sell them. They naturally frequented the oak, chestnut and beech forests, more than the pine lands, the former furnishing the most food. Wild Turkeys were sold in Hartford about 171 1, at one shilling and IS. 4d. each, and in Northampton in 1717 at is. 4d. From 1730

1764; Ezekiel Wood by Samuel Coleman of Southampton, Dec. i, 1778; Major Jonathan Allen of Northampton by Seth Lyman, Jan. 7, 1780; a son of Rev. Edward Upham of Agawam, while hunting bears in the night.

*Many years ago, a woman informed me that in her youth, young men sometimes went to courting, in deerskin breeches. Such were worn on the Sabbath, in cool weather.

Dressed deerskins differed much in size and value. In this vicinity, for ;o years before 1770, the greater part were sold from 8 to 24 shillings each, in lawful money. The skins of bucks were larger and more valuable than those of does. Many skins were sold from 12 to 16 shillings.

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to 1735, the price of those dressed was in Northampton equal to one and a half penny per pound, in lawful money; they weighed from 5 to 15 pounds. In 1766, the price was 2^ pence; in 1788, 3 pence; a few years after 1800, 4 to 6 pence; and about 1820, 10 to 12I cents.

In the last century, turkeys were hunted on Holyoke and in other places in the old township of Hadley.* Deer hunters were also turkey hunters. Turkeys were killed after 1800, but they were not as plenty as on the west side of the river. f Thaddeus Birge of Northampton, supposes that he shot about 100 turkeys between 1803 and 1820, and none of them on Tom; and the late Oliver Warner killed a large number in those years. Others killed many on Tom. Wild turkeys continued on Tom and Holyoke longer than elsewhere. There was a flock on Tom in 1842, a few in 1845, and a single turkey in 185 1. A few remained on Holyoke nearly as long. All are gone.

Pigeons passed over the eastern part of Massachusetts in countless multitudes, in early days. Wood says in 1634, "we could see neither the beginning nor ending of these millions of millions." They are not named in Hampshire until after 1700; but undoubtedly some were here. In 1741, they had a breeding place near the line between Hampshire and Vermont, and their nests on the beech and hemlock trees extended for miles. Pigeons were taken in nets around Boston as early as 1700, and in this county before 1740, and many were shot. They were sometimes decoyed by a flatterer or stool-pigeon, but were more often taken without such a lure. Levi Moody says that in former days, they were at times caught so abundantly in Granby, that they could not all be sold nor eaten, and the bodies of many were given to the hogs, after the feathers were plucked from them. Pigeon feathers were much used for beds. In August, 1736, pigeons fell in Boston to two pence per dozen (not a penny, lawful,) and many could not be sold at that. In Northampton, from 1725 to 1785, pigeons when sold, brought usually from 3 pence to 6

*I have been told that many years since, the initials of several Hadley turkey-hunters might be seen in the bark of a white birch tree, near the path over Holyoke, called by the hunters, Turkey Pass.

-[About 1800, when a boy, I often saw small flocks of wild turkeys in the woods near my father's; observed their tracks in the snow in the winter, and heard their gobbling in the spring.

The old writers of several colonies tell large stories about the weight of some wild turkeys, reporting it to be from 40 to 50 pounds, and two report 60 pounds. Vanderdonck, more moderate, says fat ones weigh from 20 to 30 pounds. In Northampton, Mr. Birge killed only two or three that weighed 24 pounds, and Mr. Warner's largest weighed only 18 pounds. These weights were before the turkeys were dressed.

pence per dozen. In 1790, they were 9 pence, and a few years after 1800, is. 6d. Since 1850, they have been sold from 75 cents to ;^i,50 per dozen.

Partridges are greatly lessened in numbers, and their drumming, a sound of spring, is much less frequent. Quails, which were sometimes caught in box traps, and by the aid of the figure 4, are rare, and their prediction of more wet, is seldom heard. Wild ducks were formerly abundant; now but few alight about our ponds and streams. Wild geese are still more uncommon. The woodcock, a bird which the old fowlers would have despised, is shot on both sides of the river.

Hunters in Hampshire, previous to the middle of the last century, bought more lead than shot. They had molds and run bullets and perhaps large shot. Samuel Alexander of Northampton, who spent much time in hunting and was poor, bought of one trader in six years, from 1720 to 1726, 22 pounds of powder and 24 pounds of lead. Several kinds of shot, named pigeon, duck, goose and turkey shot, were sold. The first Thomas Smith of Hadley and others of the family bought many turkey shot.*

The Rattle Snake excited the curiosity of many Europeans who came to this country. Wood in 1634 obtained from reports some correct notions respecting this poisonous reptile. He remarked that it was "a most sleepy, unnimble creature, never offering to bite unless trod upon." Five or six men had been bitten, and all had been cured by snake weed. Rattle snakes inhabited Mounts Tom and Holyoke, when Northampton and Hadley were settled, and some still remain. It is believed that in 200 years no man has lost his life by them in these towns, though some have been bitten. May 27, 1751, a son of Hugh Queen of South Hadley was bitten; Doct. Crouch of Hadley visited him and scarified about the wound; he was brought to Hadley the same day, and Doct. Mather of Northampton went over to see him. He returned to South Hadley in 1 1 days. Enos Pomeroy, son of Stephen P. of Hockanum, was bitten in his father's garden, and two young men named Smith, south of Holyoke; these were cured. The bite has been fatal in a few cases elsewhere. A small number of rattle snakes are killed almost every year on the sides and near

Squirrel hunts with two sides, and shooting at tame turkies about the time of Thanksgiving, are sports introduced into this part of the country since the revolution, which do not make better the habits or heart of any one.

History Of Hadley 353

Physicians formerly supposed that there was much medicinal virtue in the flesh and gall of the poisonous viper of Europe, and of the rattle snake of America. The flesh of the latter was eaten by some infirm persons in this vicinity in the last century, and the gall was mixed with chalk and made into balls.* These precious balls were bought even by physicians; Doct. Crouch of Hadley and Doct. Hunt of Northampton gave 8 shillings per dozen for them. Traders bought them. Col. Eleazar Porter had two pounds of snake balls, valued at 24s. 6d. in 1758.

When Hampshire and Hampshire county are mentioned, they mean the old county of Hampshire, comprising the present Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin.

Husbandry - Wheat, Peas, Rye, Meslin, Barley, Oats, Beans, Buckwheat, Indian Corn, Potatoes, Turnips, Pumpkins, Flax, Hemp, Broom Corn, and Brooms - Hay Grasses, native and foreign - Cider and Apples - Apple Molasses - Beer - Gardens.

The first planters of Massachusetts, for want of oxen, tilled their lands mainly with the spade and hoe, for some years. When this valley was settled, men had cattle and plows. The people of Northampton plowed for the Indians i6 acres in Hadley in 1654. It is not known where this first plowing in Hadley was done.

*About 1773, my father killed five rattle snakes near the foot of Pomeroy's mountain in Southampton, cut off their heads, fastened the bodies to the saddle by the mail straps, and carried them to his father's house, dangling from his saddle.

Another person bitten by a rattle snake was Stephen Coats at Hockanum, Sept. 5, 1760. Dr. Crouch or Doct. Kellogg scarified and dressed his toe, and he grew well.

A chapter could be added respecting the hunting of foxes, hares, squirrels, &c. and the trapping of various animals. - Among the hunters of Hadley, none were more fond of the sport than Major John Smith and Timothy Stockwell.

the three towns above the falls, Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield, every farmer raised v^^heat, and wheaten bread w^as common, though much Indian corn was prepared for food. Large quantities of wheat were sent to Boston for rates, debts and goods. Both winter and summer wheat were raised; apparently most of the latter. The alluvial lands became less productive as early as 1680, and the crops of wheat were considerably diminished before 1700.* In the next 60 years, the crop became so uncertain and so often failed, that most men ceased to sow wheat on the intervals. The greater part of the wheat consumed in Hampshire for a long time, perhaps 60 or 70 years, in the last and early part of the present century, was raised on uplands newly cleared. During much of this period, wheat was sparingly used in Hadley and other towns; many families had only enough for the entertainment of friends and the annual Thanksgiving.f Some wheat is still sown on the intervals and uplands, but the crop often fails. Enriching land with manure does not restore those properties which it had when new.

Some wheat flour was sent to Hartford and Boston from Hampshire and the region north of it, during the revolutionary war, and some years later. In a few years after 1800, barrels of flour began to be brought up the river, into Hampshire. There were no sellers of such flour in Springfield and Northampton^ in 1807, though a few barrels had been received by bakers and others. Barrels of flour were advertised by Hadley traders in i8o9.§ For some years the quantity sold in this vicinity was not large. After the Erie canal and rail roads were made, the quantity of wheat flour consumed in New England was vastly increased. It has been more freely used by all for many years than in any preceding generation, not excepting the first.

*The blasting of wheat began in Eastern Massachusetts and in Plymouth in 1664, and in Connecticut a few years later, and continued. It was mentioned by writers and in Fast Appointments, and was deemed a judgment. It may have been chiefly owing to the exhaustion of the soil by many crops. The Hampshire lands had not been tilled so long, and the blights did not begin here so early. In the last century, the blasting of grain in many places was attributed to the barberry bushes.

The English sower sometimes had a seed-basket, called a seed-lip, fitted to his side, and some of the first settlers of Hadley had a seed-lip. Loudon's Agriculture has a picture of a seed-basket.

§Barrels then held i| cwt. or 196 pounds, and had for twenty years or more. This singular quantity originated in the old way of selling flour by the 112 pounds.

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Peas. - These were extensively cultivated on the intervals of the Connecticut, and many were sent to Boston. They were valued no higher than rye in the 17th century; in the next half century, they were injured by pea-bugs, much less land was sown, and the price of good peas became equal to that of wheat. Field peas were sown by some in Hadley down to the present century.*

Rye. - This species of grain was early raised in the eastern part of Massachusetts, and in some places in Connecticut. In the three towns in Hampshire above the falls, where grain was sowed on the intervals, rye is only once named in records before 1685. It was not received for town rates in Hadley until 1690, nor in Hatfield until 1694. It seems to have been sown on land that had ceased to yield good crops of peas and wheat, and the production gradually increased, and still continues. Rye has been extensively cultivated on uplands in all the towns once included in Hadley. The pine plains yield moderate crops of the best rye.f

Meslin. - Not long after 1700, and perhaps before, some farmers in these towns sowed a mixture of wheat and rye, probably on land that would no longer produce wheat alone. This mixed grain, named meslin, was long used for bread, and was raised in Hadley as late as 1800. Meslin was a common crop in England, 200 years ago.

Barley. - This was raised and converted into malt from early days; and many in Hadley and elsewhere raised a patch of barley down to 1800, and even after that time.$

Oats were raised here in the 17th century. They have always been more light and chaffy in New England than in Great Britain. Peas and oats were often sown together, and sometimes rye and oats in the last century, and these mixtures were called provender.

Beans were seldom raised for market in Hampshire, for a century after the settlement of Hadley; many farmers planted a few French or Indian beans in their gardens and fields. As long as

*Peas were harvested by "hooking" them, and some of the small peas-hooks of former days for cutting up peas, have been used in Hadley since 1800.

-j-Most of the people of these and many other towns in Hampshire, though they consumed much corn, commonly had bread made of bolted rye-flour, for three-fourths of a century or longer, and rye bread is now used in considerable quantities. In the counties east of Hampshire, the common bread of the inhabitants was made of sifted rye flour, mixed with corn meal, and was, as Pres. Dwight says, "dark, glutinous and heavy."

JOrange Warner was the last maltster in Hadley, and he continued tOl the latter part of the last century. Four Warners in succession carried on the malting business not far from 130 years, viz., Andrew, Jacob, Jacob, Orange.

Buckwheat was not formerly much regarded. A little was raised in Massachusetts for animals a century ago. Some was sown in this vicinity after the revolution, and it was sold from IS. 8d. to 2s. per bushel. It has been grown more extensively in the present century.f

Indian corn or maize. - The people of New England could hardly have been sustained without this American grain. It has furnished them with much of their food in all generations. $

Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, previous to 1676, sent to the Royal Society in London, a particular description of Indian corn, and of its cultivation and uses, which was published in the "Philosophical Transactions and Collections" of the Society. The length of the ear was then about 9 inches, and the colors of the corn were yellow, white, red, blue, olive, greenish, black, speckled, striped, &c. but yellow and white were the most common.§ The stalks grew to the height of 6 or 8 feet. The Virginia corn was much taller, and the Indians had some much shorter. Corn was planted in rows 5 or 6 feet apart each way, and 4 or 5 grains in a hill. In Winthrop's days, corn was hoed three times, and at the third hoeing, a hill was made. Farmers had begun to plow between the rows. Some English, following the example of the Indians, planted beans in corn-hills and pumpkins and squashes in vacant places between the hills. They very early discovered that every ear of corn had an even number of rows.

Doct. Douglass of Boston gave the New England method of cultivating Indian corn in 1750. The land was plowed twice, and furrows made for the rows, making the hills about 4 feet apart. The planting was done at the end of April and beginning of May. Two furrows were plowed between the rows at each hoeing, viz., weeding, half-hilling and hilling. Some hoed four

The field beans cultivated in England for centuries, have an erect, stiff stalk, and are sown like grain; they are mostly given to animals. The English have had the French kidney beans in their gardens for string-beans.

flour began to be sold for cakes in this vicinity in 1833. Some housewives had long before made cakes of it. In Pennsylvania and some parts of Europe, buckwheat cakes were eaten more than 100 years since.

Indian corn was more plenty than English grain, but the price was so low in Boston that the producer could not afford to give is. 4d. a bushel to transport it. Corn was sent to market in pork and beef.

History Of Hadley 357

times. The stalks were cut for fodder. The ripe corn was gathered at the end of September and beginning of October, and yielded on an average 25 bushels to an acre. Douglass used old style.*

From these and later accounts, it may be inferred that there was no great change in the mode of cultivating Indian corn, down to the end of the last century. On the intervals of Hadley and other river towns, 70 and 80 years ago, the crops of corn were light, except those manured, many yielding not over 15 or 20 bushels to an acre.f The quantity of manure made was not large, and it was put on the homelots, and on the nearest parts of the meadows. In Hadley, seldom was a load of manure carried west of the bank of the plain in the Great meadow. Much land was planted and sowed to which no manure had ever been applied. The rotation of crops did not extend beyond corn and rye, corn and oats, or corn, oats and rye. The hills of corn were 5 or 6 feet apart. The homelots were manured and better managed, and they produced good crops of grass and grain. They were chiefly mowed. |

*After making an addition of 1 1 days for new style, it will be found that corn was planted and ripe as early in 1750 as now. - Stalks were generally cut in Hadley 75 years ago, but were not highly valued. They were sold by some from is. to is. 6d. per acre. Those below the ear were not cut. - In Hadley, the corn harrow was used among corn soon after 1700.

persons estimate that the average crop of Indian corn in Hadley, by the acre, is now nearly twice as much as it was 70 years ago. The assessors' return in 1855, which may be too high, was 1142 acres of corn, averaging 37 bushels to the acre.

jHuskings. - Those who had a corn-house, husked their corn in that; others in the barn, and sometimes in the great kitchen. The evening husking party was generally composed of the family, sometimes a few neighbors were present. They were lively and cheerly, but not very noisy. There was a plain repast at the close. The boisterous husking frolics, and the kissing connected with red ears, which took place in some parts of New England, were not known in Hadley and the towns around. I never knew such huskings in my native town.

The samp or nausamp of the New England Indians and the homony of the Virginia Indians, were nearly the same. The English used much samp, made of Indian corn coarsely beaten or ground.

Hasty Pudding was made in Great Britain of flour and milk, and of oatmeal and water, before New England was settled. This name was very improperly given to our puddings of Indian meal and water, for every thing made of Indian meal requires to be thoroughly boiled or baked. Hasty pudding or mush is still much used in New England and the other states. It was the custom formerly in Hadley and other towns to make hasty pudding once a week or oftener. It was commonly made on Saturday, and eaten with milk at night and the next morning. The people of Northampton were noted for their love of hasty pudding.

The New England hard Indian pudding, boiled many hours in a linen bag, was long a part of the dinner, in most families in farming towns. Some are still made. They were common in all this region. It was reported that one or two families in Hadley had 365 such puddings in a year.

Succotash. - This seems not to have been originally the name of boiled green corn and beans. According to Roger Williams, m'sickquatash was corn boiled whole. Gov. Win-

Potatoes. - The culture of potatoes was introduced into New England by the Scotch-Irish,* who came over in 1718. Few, if any, were raised in Hampshire, until the Scotch-Irish settled in Palmer, Pelham, Coleraine and Blandford. The people of Northampton, Hadley and some other towns were indebted to the planters of Pelham for their knowledge of potatoes, and of the manner of cultivating them. A few potatoes were planted in these towns as early as 1750, but not many until several years later. Josiah Pierce of Hadley raised 8 bushels in 1763, 60 bushels in 1766, and 130 bushels in 1769. Very few, if any, had so many. Most farmers were satisfied with a few bushels. They had in Hadley 65 years ago, the cragged Spanish or hog potato, fit only for hogs, and a red potato used for the table. A good white potato followed. The potato disease began in some places in 1843, in Hadley in 1844.

Turnips. - The early settlers of New England sowed turnips, and in succeeding generations, they becam.e an important article of food. The price in Hampshire from 1700 to 1775 was commonly equal to 1 1 cents, or 8 pence lawful, per bushel. Previous to 1775, more turnips than potatoes weie consumed in families in Hadley and other towns. They were raised on patches of new land, and in Hadley were often sowed on good land where barley had just been harvested, making two crops in one season.

Pumpkins. - Those ripened under the suns of New England were much more dry and sweet than those produced in England. They were in some respects a substitute for apples. Josselyn calls stewed pumpkin with a little butter, spice and vinegar, "the ancient New England standing dish." Johnson of Woburn says in 165 1, "let no man make a jest of pumpkins, for with this throp and other early writers do not notice an Indian or English dish, composed of green corn and beans. The English did not probably cook succotash as early as 1750. Fifty years later, many preferred to have the corn and beans in separate dishes. - Sweet corn was hardly known here 60 years ago, and the boiled ears and the roasted ears were of the common corn.

Nookhick, or nokehick, the Indian name of the meal of parched corn, was pronounced nocake, by the English, who sometimes hired Indian women to prepare it for them. Winthrop says the parched corn was "turned almost inside outward, and was white and floury." It must have resembled our parched pop-corn. Eliot in his Indian Bible, translated flour and meal by the word nookhick.

*These Scotch-Irish were descendants of Scotch people who settled in the north of Ireland about 100 years before. They were truly Scotch. They settled in Pelham in 1740. They made finer linen and thread than our English women could make, and they brought in the foot wheel for spinning flas.

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fruit the Lord was pleased to feed his people till corn and cattle were increased."* Pumpkins have been raised to feed animals, in the river towns, from early days.

Flax was cultivated by the early settlers of New England and by succeeding generations, until the establishment of cotton factories. Sixty and fifty years ago, flax was an important crop in old Hampshire, and was made into cloth in most families. f But so complete has been the change that few persons under thirty years of age, have ever seen a woman hatchel flax or card tow, or heard the buzzing of the foot wheel, or seen bunches of flaxen yarn hanging in the kitchen, or linen cloth whitening on the grass. The flax dresser, with the shives, fibres and dirt of flax covering his garments, and his face begrimmed with dust, has disappeared; the noise of his brake and swingling-knife has ended, and the boys no longer make bonfires of his swingling-tow. The sound of the spinning wheel, the song of the spinster and the snapping of the clock-reel have all ceased; the warping-bars and quill-wheel are gone, and the thwack of the loom is heard only in the factory. The spinning woman of king Lemuel cannot be found. This revolution, and a similar, later one in the household manufacture of wool, have made a great change in domestic life.

Hemp and Ropes. - Small pieces of hemp were sown in the river towns, and both hemp and flax were used for ropes and cords. ij: There were men in Hadley and other towns, who made

*Pumpkin Pies were early made in New England, and are mentioned by Johnson and Vanderdonck. When Johnson wrote, the English made pies also of apples, pears and quinces. The delicious pumpkin pie at the annual Thanksgiving, may remind us of the straightened circumstances of our fathers.

Dried Pumpkins. - The English learned of the Indians to dry pumpkins. Fifty or sixty years ago most of the kitchens of Hampshire farmers, late in autumn, had poles suspended from the joists, loaded with pumpkins, cut into circular slices, running round the pumpkin, and pared. These were dried for pies and sauce. Those used for beer were not pared. A pumpkin-paring sometimes made a merry evening, as well as an apple paring.

-j-Flax was absolutely necessary to past generations. Almost all the linen and tow cloth used for garments, sheets and other bed furniture, table cloths, napkins, towels and bags, was made in families. The mdustrious females also made linsey-woolsey of flax and wool, and other cloth of flax and cotton. The price of flax in N. E. currency previous to 1775, was from 5 pence to 8 pence, commonly near 6 pence, and that of tow about half as much.

Tow cloth made of tow and flax, was an article of traffic more fhan half a century; it was sold to the traders, and it was sent to Hartford, Newport, &c. Th e v ves and daughters of farmers exchanged tow cloth, checked linen and woolen, and other clo' v tli the traders, and obtained stuff for gowns, and various other articles.

cart-ropes, bed-cords, draw-ropes, leading-lines, teddering-lines, halters, ropes about nets, &c. Lieut, Noah Cook of Hadley made ropes 80 and 100 years ago; and William Cook and his son David W. Cook afterwards made ropes.

Broom Corn and Brooms. - Broom corn, the Sorghum saccharatum of the botanists, a native of India, has long been cultivated in the southern part of Europe, chiefly for the seed, but brooms and brushes were made of it in Italy more than a century since. In this country. Dr. Franklin is said to have raised broom corn from one or two seeds found on an imported brush. Mr. Jefferson in 1781 placed broom corn among the productions of Virginia. Rev. Enoch Hale of Westhampton, in his Diary, May 19, 1785, records that he "sowed broom.-corn;" and a few hills may have been planted in several gardens before 1797. Levi Dickinson of Hadley is however entitled to the credit of conceiving the plan of raising broom corn abundantly, and of supplying the country with brooms. He introduced a lucrative and important branch of industry, and females have been furnished with better sweeping utensils than they ever had before.*

Levi Dickinson, a native of Wethersfield, Conn, obtained a little broom-seed, and planted some hills in his garden, on the upper part of the old back-street of Hadley, in 1797. From the seed of this he planted half an acre of broom corn in 1798, - the first half acre cultivated for brooms in America. In 1799 he planted an acre, and more in succeeding years. Strangers who were passing after the tall broom corn had put forth its panicles, wondered what it was, and many stopped to make inquiries. Mr. Dickinson made 20 or 30 brooms in 1797 and between 100 and 200 in 1798. Heber, a colored man, began to tie on brooms for him, but Mr. D. contrived a better way; he sat in his chair, with the string round a roll under his feet, and wound it round the brush in his lap. The seed at first was scraped from the brush by a knife; afterwards by the edge of a hoe with a short handle,

*The brooms of New England in early days resembled those of Old England. The best were made of hair or bristles and imported ; most were made here of twigs of birch and hemlock, of rushes, husks, &c. In the last century, those called Indian brooms became the common brooms of the country. They were made of sticks of birch, ash, &c. long enough for the broom and handle; the broom being formed of two lengths of thin, tough splints or filaments, the upper doubling over the lower, and both at one end adhering to the handle. They were named splinter brooms. In 1762, a Northampton m.erchant had 761 brooms, valued at 6 pence each. Brooms were retailed at 8d. or 9d. People were supplied with Indian brooms till after 1800. Indians and squaws peddled brooms and baskets and begged for cider, in Hadley and other towns. In many families in the country, the fathers or boys made the brooms. The writer made a few Indian brooms when a boy. Ovenbrooms were made of husks.

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fastened to a bench. Upright teeth were used later. Mr. D. peddled brooms and reeds in a horse-cart, in Williamsburgh, Ashfield and Conway, in 1798, and some say in 1797. He remarked that the day when he first sold a few brooms was the happiest day of his life; he had ascertained that some women liked his brooms and would buy them. In 1799, he went to Pittsfield with brooms, and about 1800 to New London. From the beginning, most people in Hadley thought he was visionary and his projects fanciful, and sneers and sarcasms were frequent. His friends at Wethersfield said to him tauntingly, "the Indians hereabouts make brooms." These things were very unpleasant, and he found obstacles and up-hill work, but he was not diverted from his course at all. He was a man of energy and perseverance, though of small estate and infirm in health, and he boldly predicted to the scoffers as early as 1801, that the broom business would be the greatest in the county. Such men have a little of the seer. His neighbors at length began to think he was doing well, and William Shipman, Solomon Cook and Levi Gale began to raise broom corn and make brooms about 1801. Cato, a negro, first planted broom corn in the meadow, perhaps in 1800. Mr. Dickinson carried brooms to Boston and Albany, not far from 1805. He and others at first made their own handles, and the twine was spun from their own flax. After Hadley had commenced, some in Hatfield and Whately began to grow broom-corn and make brooms; Northampton followed some years later. The return of corn brooms made in Hampshire in 1810 was 70,000. Levi Dickinson died in 1843, aged 88. Long before his death, the broom business had been widely extended.

The following returns of brooms and broom-corn in Hadley are not free from errors. Some of the aggregates may be too high. Much of the seed is sometimes destroyed by early frosts, as in this season, 1859.

In 1850, the assistant marshal, Eleazar Porter, who took the census of Hadley, returned the Products of Industry for a year, which included 769,700 brooms, valued at $118,478, and 76,000 brushes, valued at $5970, all made at 41 places in Hadley. These were estimated to have taken 496 tons of broom brush, (not all raised in Hadley,) which cost $72,745, or about 7 J cents per pound. The handles, wire, twine, paint and varnish cost $15,274, or near two cents for each broom.

In 1855, the assessors of Hadley returned 906 acres of broom corn, producing 700 lbs. per acre, worth at 10 cents per pound, 63,420 dollars; and 60 bushels of seed per acre, worth at 40 cents per bushel, 21,744 dollars. They returned brooms made in Hadley, 641,120, valued at 118,550 dollars, and 35,000 brushes worth 2625 dollars.

Hay Grasses, native and foreign. - The New England planters selected for mowing grounds, the low lands of the brook and river valleys, swampy uplands and salt marshes. Most of the native grasses were marsh and sedge grasses, and others of low value.

English grasses* were not named among our plants for some years, and it is believed that red clover, herdsgrass, English spear or June grass, sweet vernal grass, redtop grass, fescue grass and others have been introduced since New England was planted. Whether white clover is a native or an exotic, is an unsettled question. Among the native grasses which were found on the intervals of Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield, were three species of andropogon,t which are named thatch-grass, and two of them are valued by farmers, and have ever formed an important portion of the hay cut on the permanent grass grounds, which are often overflowed. These lands have been mowed once or twice every year for about two hundred years.

Much of the higher parts of these intervals, that were not frequently flooded, were plowed from the beginning, and were sowed or planted almost every year, more than lOO years. Seldom was there a change from tillage to grass, or from grass to tillage.

It has been erroneously asserted that grass seed was not sowed in this country previous to ijgo.l^ But the farmers of Rhode Island sowed hay-seed with chaff" before 1647. Edward Stebbins of Hartford had 100 bushels of hay-seed in chaflFfor sale, in May, 1654, at two shillings a bushel. In 1650, William Pynchon of Springfield had "30 bushels of hay-seed," brought up the river. John Pynchon bought and sold hay-seed by the bushel several times, between 1655 and 1672; and he also sold "Flanders grass seed," at 4s. and 5s. per pound, which must have been clean clover seed. In 1658, he had a number of acres of "English grass." The General Court of Massachusetts in 1670 noticed three sorts of mowing, viz.. Salt marsh, fresh meadow, and English grass. Before 1670, there were spacious meadows of English grass on Long Island. Clover and other hay-seeds were sowed about Philadelphia in 1685. §

*When our fathers emigrated from England, about 1630, the English had some good grasses, hut the clean seeds of clover and grasses were not sold so early in England. Chaff from haymows, and what Markham calls, "the sweepings of hay barns," were sowed before 1630.

three species are Andropogon furcatus, nutans and scoparius. They are all seen on sandy plains, and the latter, which is not of much worth, is scattered over some grave yards. These tall grasses were cut for thatched roofs, in early days - hence the Northampton name, thatch-grass. They do not grow in the intervals on land that is swampy or very wet.

§White Clover diffused itself widely in America, as previously in Europe. It appeared far distant from the places where it had been sowed, after the land was plowed or broken up. It was abundant in New Jersey in 1684, in New York in 1738 as reported by C. Colden,

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Rev. Jared Eliot* of Killingworth, Conn, sowed the seed of red clover, fowl meadow,f English spear and herdsgrass in 1747. Clover seed was advertised in Boston and Philadelphia in 1730, and frequently in Boston from 25 to 45 years later. Fowl meadow and herdsgrass were advertised in 1756, and redtop in 1765. Women imported and sold seeds. In 1773, of ten persons that advertised grass and garden seeds in Boston, seven were females. $

Clover and Grass Seed in Hadley, &c. - When hay-seed could be procured at Springfield and Hartford, it may be supposed that some was scattered on the homelots of Hadley, and that English grass grev/ there before 1700. During most of the last century, good hay from homelots, and some from other uplands in Hadley and elsewhere, was often denominated English hay.

In 1757, Israel Clark of South Hadley, Simeon Clark of East Hadley and Col. Seth Pomeroy of Northampton, sent to Boston for clover seed, by William Clark of Northampton. This is the first record found of clover seed being brought to these towns. In 1762, Eliakim. Smith bought clover seed in Hadley at is. 4d, per pound; and in 1764 it was sold in Northampton, at is. 3d. In 1765, Oliver Smith of Hadley sold fowl meadow seed at 7d. per quart, and herdsgrass at lod. per pound. Josiah Pierce of Hadley bought fowl meadow, herdsgrass and clover seed in 1765. Enos Smith bought clover seed in 1775 and 1779. Undoubtedly a few others in Hadley, Amherst, South Hadley and Granby sowed grass seed, clean or in chaff, before the peace of 1783, but the number was not large. The clover of the last century was long and trailing, and less valuable than that of the present day. Oliver Smith sold clover hay in 1783, '84 and '85. In those days, grass seeds and chaff were sowed principally in the upland towns, and was observed by farmers in the new towns of Hampshire, and of other parts of Massachusetts. Hutchinson remarked about 1760, that white clover seed was supposed to be in the earth in all parts of the country. White clover grew on lands in the western states after (hey were plowed, where it had not been sowed by men.

*Mr. Eliot began to publish his "Essays upon Field Husbandry'' in 1748, the first agricultural publication in America. He was encouraged by Doct. Franklin.

-j-More than one species of grass has been named fowl meadow. In this vicinity, many believe that poa serotina is the true fowl meadow, though poa nervata is so named by some botanists. I have noticed more of the poa serotina in Fort meadow in Hadley, than elsewhere in that town.

jMuch mercantile business was done in Boston by women in the last century. They dealt in millinery and most kinds of dry goods, in grass, garden and flower seeds, in crockery, groceries, &c.

Apples and Cider. - The second Henry Wolcott of Windsor early set an orchard, and began to sell apples and cider in 1648. See page 66. He sold some quinces. For some years, he had no mill, and his apples were pounded by hand. He planted a nursery, and it may be inferred from his accounts, that he sold near 2000 trees from 1647 to 1654, from Springfield to Stratford. Among his trees were engrafted apple trees and many pear trees.

The settlers of Northampton and Hadley planted apple trees and a few other fruit trees, and apples, cider and boiled cider appear as early as 1677, and some quinces, pears and vinegar were sold in Northampton. At first they crushed their apples with pounders in troughs, as was often done in England; and cider millsf are not found in our records previous to 1700. For many years after 1700, beer was more generally drank than cider,J but the use of the latter was increasing. Orchards were numerous in Hampshire before the revolution, and they seem to have been much more extensive after 1783. The demand for cider to drink and to distill induced farmers to set out large orchards. There

*The Grasses that grow in Aquavitae, a permanent river-meadow in Hadley, from examinations made in 1851 and 1852. They are numbered according to their product. The thatch grasses yield the most and are No. i. The redtop is the nest in quantity and is No. 2, and so on. The botanical names are added.

These form more than seven-eighths of the grasses in the first crop of hay. The rest are panicum virgatum and other panicums; four wet poas, viz., aquatica, serotina, nervata and canadensis; calamagrostis, aira, carex, or sedges of several species, and others. The field horse-tail is common, and there are herbs and flowers.

The grasses numbered from i to 5 and the others named form almost all the crop in Indian Hollow in Hatfield, and Old Rainbow in Northampton, and other permanent river meadows in the three towns.

The grasses in old homelots that have been long in grass, not including wet places, are chiefly of seven sorts, viz., vernal, herd's, English spear, fescue and redtop grass, and red and white clover.

+In 1762 and after, Samuel Gaylord had a cider mOl near where the Academy now stands, and made cider at 6 shillings a barrel, old tenor, near 10 pence. Sometimes it was made for 8 pence. - Cider mills so numerous in Hampshire, 50 years ago, are rarely seen now.

Children were always fond of sucking cider through straws from barrels at cider mUls. In France, children are said to suck wine in the same manner.

Jit was estimated in Boston in 1728, that a family of 9 persons, ''of middle figure," consumed in a year, 12 barrels of beer, 4 barrels of cider and 6 gallons of wine.

History Of Hadley 365

was a small distillery* in Northampton, 1 762-1 770, but none on the east side of the river. According to the returns of assessors in 1 77 1, the cider made in Hadley, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby averaged 4J barrels to a house. In later years, when a great quantity of cider was distilled, much more was brought up from the cellars of these towns yearly, by the mug-ful, than all that was made in 1771. Pelham made more cider in 1 77 1 than either of the four towns.

Hadley has not been distinguished for its fruit trees and fruits. The late Col. Moses Porter told me that he thought there was not an engrafted apple tree in Hadley in 1791, nor for some years after. I find others who do not differ from him. Yet there was in 1 79 1, and probably had been for a century, a moderate supply of pretty good natural fruit, for eating in summer and winter, for sauce, drying, &c. In Granby and other towns there were native trees that produced very good apples. In Hadley and the adjoining towns, most of the old apple trees are gone, and there are many trees that have been engrafted or budded within 25 years, and some families had such trees lone before.

Fifty and sixty years ago, there were in Hadley but few peaches, plums and quinces, some pears, and many of the sourish cherries. There are now better cherries and more plums, quinces and pears. Most of the peach trees have perished in late years, though many small trees remain. More attention is given to fruit.

Apple Molasses. - In Hadley and other towns, 50 and 60 years ago, were many trees of luscious sweet apples, from which apple molasses was made, by boiling the apples or boiling the cider. This molasses was used on puddings, in pies, &c. There were apples named by some "skunk sweetings." - May have been of the same kind as those referred to by Dudley in the note.f

*The old village of Hadley never had a distillery, but it has been cursed by intoxicating drinks, like other places. There was a distillery at Hockanum, after 1800, and much cider was carted from the old village to a distillery in Amherst. Every distillery made drunkards. - There were 65 distilleries of cider and grain in old Hampshire in 18 10.

The price of cider in this neighborhood during most of the last century was from four to six shillings per barrel; sometimes only 3s. or 3s. 4d.

Dudley of Rosbury, in communications to the Royal Society, in 1722 and 1724, represented that our apples and pears were as good as those of England, and our peaches better than the English, and that peach trees commonly bore in three years from the stone. Most of our cherries were the red, sourish ones. One town made near 10,000 barrels of cider in 1721. The people planted many "summer sweetings," and fattened swine with the apples, and made apple molasses from the cider.

Beer. - Household beer was made in most families in these river towns more than 150 years, and some strong beer was brewed. Malt was used more freely in early than in later times. When cider became plenty, beer was still drank. In Hadley, 60 years ago, beer was generally brewed once a week; malt, hops, dried pumpkin, dried apple parings, and sometimes rye bran, birch twigs and other things, were put into the brewing kettle, and the liquor was strained through a sieve. This beer was used at home and was carried into the meadows by the farmers.*

Gardens. - The inhabitants of this valley have always ' had gardens, and cultivated some common garden vegetables,f the women often aiding formerly. Our fore-mothers had, as in England, medicinal herbs| in the garden. Many females had a small plat of flowers. §

Many in Old and New England imported garden seeds, deeming foreign seeds the best. Our own seeds were advertised in Boston in 1773, as "suitable for the West Indies." "All sorts of Garden seeds from London" were advertised in Boston in 1719, and in most years down to 1 800. Many of the sellers were women || before 1775. Farmers in the country generally sowed their own seeds. - Charles Phelps of Hadley had a fine fruit and flower garden 50 and 60 years ago, having a Scotch gardener.

The price of apples in these towns after 1700, was from 8d. to is. per bushel. Oliver Smith of Hadley sold many winter apples and apples for paring, after 1760, at 8 pence per bushel and some at a shilling.

New Englanders liked baked and roasted apples. There were tin apple-roasters 150 years ago, but in general, apples sputtered on the hearth while roasting.

Edward Yeomans had a nursery of choice fruit trees at Westfield in 1789, and one at Northampton a few years later. David Tracy of Norwich, Mass. succeeded him after i8oo, and had nurseries in several towns.

*Yeast to make dough light, was taken from the settlings of the beer barrel, and called ''emptyings." The old leaven, sour dough, was formerly used by some. Yeast from distilleries was first brought to houses in Northampton not far from 1830, and to Hadley about 10 or 12 years later.

Hops grew wild in the valley of the Connecticut but not in sufficient quantity; most farmers had a few hop vines and poles as long as family beer was brewed. The price of hops was commonly from 6 to 8 pence per pound from 1700 to 1800, in N. E. currency.

jThe medicinal herbs from England were rue, tansy, wormwood, sage, balm, hyssop, peppermint, catnip, coltsfoot, comfrey, elecampane, gill-go-over-the-ground and many others.

§A11 old ladies whom I have questioned, and some were born before 1760, told me that they and others had little flower beds when young. But there was nothing like the present fondness for flowers.

History Of Hadley 367 Chapter Xxxi I I.

Domestic Animals, &c. - Horses - Oxen - Fat Cattle - Butchers - Cows - Swine - Pork and Bacon - Puddings and Sausages - Sheep and Wool and Trade to Newport - Domestic Fowls - Geese - Bees and Honey - Tobacco - Butter and Cheese - Flax seed and Oil-^ Berries - Nuts - Maple Sugar - Soap - Lights - Time-pieces - Blue Dyeing - Cotton - Rags - Sleighs - Carriages - Wagon to and from Boston - Time of Planting, Harvesting, &c. - Statistics of four Towns, 1771.

Horses, Oxen and Cows were not plenty in these towns for some years after the settlement of Hadley. When they became numerous, prices were reduced.

Horses. - The horses which obtained most of their living upon the commons, were cheaply raised, and were often much neglected, yet there were always some good horses in Hampshire. In the last quarter of the 17th century, horses were valued at various prices, from 30 to 120 shillings each in provision pay. The money price was full one-third less. A few horses were worth from 15 to 25 dollars as money. In the next century, horses received more attention, and between 1750 and 1775, they were worth from 7 to 32 dollars each, and a few, 40 dollars or more. The most valuable horse noticed is that of Rev. Chester Williams of Hadley, apprized at 66§ dollars in 1754.*

Horses were chiefly used under the saddle. Down to 1750, there were very few sleighs and no wheel-vehicles for horses to draw. Horses were used in some farming operations before oxen, and a horse drew the corn plow and harrow, and the wheel of the cider mill. The harness was very simple. f In the next 50 years, horses did not take the place of oxen on the farm but a horse was often the leader of a team. Horses from Hampshire were shipped to the West Indies from Connecticut ports more than 150 years. I In a law of 1668, 14 hands were judged to be