And This Assertion
Is Made Good By The Negro-Slaves, Who, In Many Places, Eat Nothing
But This Indian Corn And Salt.
Pigs and Poultry fed with this Grain,
eat the sweetest of all others.
It refuses no Grounds,
unless the barren Sands, and when planted in good Ground,
will repay the Planter seven or eight hundred fold; besides the Stalks
bruis'd and boil'd, make very pleasant Beer, being sweet like the Sugar-Cane.
{Rice.}
There are several sorts of Rice, some bearded, others not,
besides the red and white; But the white Rice is the best.
Yet there is a sort of perfum'd Rice in the East-Indies,
which gives a curious Flavour, in the Dressing. And with this sort
America is not yet acquainted; neither can I learn, that any of it
has been brought over to Europe; the Rice of Carolina being esteem'd
the best that comes to that Quarter of the World. It is of great Increase,
yielding from eight hundred to a thousand-fold, and thrives best in wild Land,
that has never been broken up before.
{Buck-Wheat.}
Buck-Wheat is of great Increase in Carolina; but we make no other use of it,
than instead of Maiz, to feed Hogs and Poultry: {Guinea-Wheat.}
And Guinea Corn, which thrives well here, serves for the same use.
{Pulse. Bushel-Bean.}
Of the Pulse-kind, we have many sorts. The first is the Bushel-Bean,
which is a spontaneous Product. They are so called, because they bring
a Bushel of Beans for one that is planted. They are set in the Spring,
round Arbours, or at the Feet of Poles, up which they will climb,
and cover the Wattling, making a very pretty Shade to sit under.
They continue flowering, budding, and ripening all the Summer long,
till the Frost approaches, when they forbear their Fruit, and die.
The Stalks they grow on, come to the Thickness of a Man's Thumb;
and the Bean is white and mottled, with a purple Figure on each side it,
like an Ear. They are very flat, and are eaten as the Windsor-Bean is,
being an extraordinary well-relish'd Pulse, either by themselves,
or with Meat.
{Indian Rouncevals.}
We have the Indian Rounceval, or Miraculous Pease, so call'd
from their long Pods, and great Increase. These are latter Pease,
and require a pretty long Summer to ripen in. {Pease and Beans.}
They are very good; and so are the Bonavis, Calavancies, Nanticokes,
and abundance of other Pulse, too tedious here to name,
which we found the Indians possess'd of, when first we settled in America;
some of which sorts afford us two Crops in one Year;
as the Bonavis and Calavancies, besides several others of that kind.
{Eng. Bean.}
Now I am launch'd into a Discourse of the Pulse, I must acquaint you,
that the European Bean planted here, will, in time, degenerate into
a dwarfish sort, if not prevented by a yearly Supply of foreign Seed,
and an extravagant rich Soil; yet these Pigmy-Beans are
the sweetest of that kind I ever met withal.
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