PIGEONS AND THE DOVECOT, Part I©

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columbarium, doocot, dovecot, pigeonnier

The reader may well ask what a dovecot is since this structure is rarely seen today although it served an important purpose in times past.  They were intended to house the dovecot pigeon which when delicately prepared graced many a serving platter.  Dovecots, pigeon cote, columbarium, pigeonnier, or doocot are the same structure while the name varied with location.

Dovecots, or their ruins, can be documented from the Roman occupation of Britain.  They were essential from the early Middle Ages through the 18^th century and many were still in use during the 19^th century.  They are found throughout Europe and the Middle East and were in use in the U.S. by the 1600’s.  Design varied though most were initially round houses with holes for the pigeons to enter and build nests in openings inside the dovecot.  The Medieval larger structures were limited to more well-to-do families who may have had more than one.

[This ruined structure in Newbigging, near Aberdour in Fife, Scotland shows the nesting boxes inside after the facade deteriorated.  Photo credit:  Kim Traynor.]

Later dovecots were small structures mounted onto a building or pole.  Whatever the style, the purpose was the same – the young pigeons were collected from the nests for the table after which the breeding process started over.

[A mounted dovecot, artist William Holman Hunt.]

[Dovecot built into a roof.]

Squab may be a more recognized term than pigeon in farming and cooking circles but only age separates the one from the other.  Squab is a pigeon that has reached adult size but has not begun to fly.

Millington and many others noted the dovecot pigeon was the common blue pigeon.  He found it hardier and better suited to severe weather.  The pigeons fared well on a diet of peas, barley, and buckwheat, many foraging by day and returning to the dovecot in the evening.  May or August were said to be the best months for butchering as that is when the young were deemed best, however, this depends on location.

There is an abundance of historical references of statutes governing the building of dovecots in Scotland due to the damage the birds sometimes did to neighboring crops of grain.

[Craigievar Castle, doocot in the foreground, Scotland.]

Pigeon has been kept as livestock and eaten since antiquity.  “No farm-yard can be considered complete without a well stocked dovecot, the contents of which make the owner a most ample return, and repay him abundantly for the depredations which the pigeons are wont to make upon his ripening corn.  He commands a supply of delicious young birds for his table; and he has the tillage from the dovecot, which is of vast advantage to his barley land.  Moreover, the pigeons render him an essential service, by consuming millions of seeds which fall in the autumn, and which, if allowed to remain on the ground, would rise up the following year, in all the rank exuberance of weed, and choke the wholesome plant. . .

[Painting showing dovecot on the right, 1416.  One might notice the pigeons on the ground and the bee skeps along the fence.]

Our ancestors generally built their dovecot in an open field, apart from the farm-yard; fearing, probably, that the noise and bustle occasioned by the rustic votaries of good Mother Eleusina might interrupt the process of incubation, where the dovecots placed in the midst of the buildings dedicated to husbandry.”

Not everyone agreed with locating the dovecot in isolated locations, and this logic may have changed through the decades and centuries.  “The proper place for the pigeon-house is the poultry-yard; but it does very well near dwellings, stables, brewhouses, bakehouses, or such offices.  Some persons keep pigeons in rooms, and have them making their nests on the floor”.  Roosting where rats and cats could access the nests usually meant wanton destruction of the young pigeons.

[Mazor columbarium, photo credit:  Etan Tal, Wikipedia.]

[Dovecot from Shirley Plantation, Charles City Co., Virginia.  1600’s.  Plantation est. 1613.  Below is a view from inside this dovecot.]

[Inside nests in a dovecot, location and author unknown.]

[If you are wondering, gentle reader, how the young pigeons were collected from inside the dovecots, this is an excellent reproduction of the system in use for generations.  The ladder is attached by wooden arms, at top and bottom, to the center pole and fits just inside the outer wall of the structure.  The gentleman can climb up and down, and pull himself around on the ladder without having to come down.  It is actually a very efficient retrieval method.]

I wonder how vehemently Dear Husband would object to building a reproduction of one of the smaller older structures, maybe a platform for deer hunting, drying vegetables and seeds, etc. . . .  I believe that’s called multi-tasking by those not rooted in the past as we are.  Blissful Meals, all.  Part II to follow.  © All rights reserved.

MUSCOVY DUCK©

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Muscovy duck

The Muscovy is easily identified by the caruncle, red in color, covering the cheeks, extending behind the eyes, and swollen at the root of the bill.  It is generally larger than common ducks.  Wild Muscovy males are brownish black with white patches on the wings, the female similarly but more obscurely colored.  Domesticated examples vary considerably in color.

Domestication of Muscovys has been estimated as early as AD 50, although accounts are spotty.  What seems widely accepted is that the Spanish conquistadors of the 16^th century kept them and took them home from where they spread throughout Europe.  Brown claimed the earliest mention of these ducks was in French, 1670, and they were called Turkish duck.  Willughby who died in 1672 called it, “a wild Brazilian duck of the bigness of a goose”, and described the Muscovy excellently.

“It is in this kind the biggest of all we have hitherto seen.  The colour both of male and female is for the most part a purplish black.  Yet I once saw a duck of this kind purely white.  About the Nosthrils and the Eyes it hath red Caruncles.  It hath a hoarse voice; and scarce audible, unless when it is angry.  Its Eyes are rounder than ordinary:  Those of the young ones at first are of a sordid green, afterwards become continually whiter and whiter”.  – Ray, John (1627-1705) and Willughby, Francis (1635-1672).  “The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Moddleton in the County of Warwick Esq, fellow of the Royal Society in three books . . .

DNA testing is underway and currently held notions may or may not change as results are compiled.

Eighteenth century fishermen often used Muscovy quills to make floats for slow waters.  This practice was still commonly described almost a century later.  – The Laboratory; Or, School of Arts.  1799.  London.

Some initially claimed the Muscovy was from Eastern Europe although that claim was later refuted.  Observers wrote in the early Victorian era that in its native South America nests were in trees but as soon as the ducklings hatched the hen took them one by one to the water.  Eggs are greenish white, roundish, and average from 12 to 18 eggs.  Nineteenth century breeders noted the Muscovy was a faithful sitter and should be allowed to hatch her own young.  – The Farmer’s Magazine.  April, 1858.

“Muscovy ducks are most excellent incubators.  They are used as incubators both in France and especially in Australia.  In these and possibly in other countries they hatch turkey eggs, duck eggs and even chicken eggs.  In some places in Australia five hundred Muscovys are kept for sitting on duck eggs, as it has been found that they hatch out a much larger per cent of eggs and with comparatively little trouble to their owners than either hens or incubators.

Muscovy duck eggs take thirty-five days to hatch, consequently they make very patient and steady sitters on eggs and will hatch duck, turkey or goose eggs without difficulty.  In using Muscovys you will probably need one Muscovy duck on an average to every thirty youngsters you wish to raise. . . They make their nests on the ground by hollowing out a hole with their bodies and lining it with straw.  When the ducks are about to sit, they pull feathers from their own breast and with these line the top of the nest, so that one may always know when a Muscovy duck is ready to sit. . . When the Muscovy duck leaves her nest to eat, which she will once or twice a day, she covers up the eggs with the feathers and down.  Towards the end of the hatch she will often stay off the nest a full hour without injury to the eggs.”  – Basley, A., Mrs.  “Western Poultry Book”.  1912.  Los Angeles.

“The Muscovy duck is easily fattened, and a prolific breeder, and hence, though it is also a voracious feeder, it may be rendered profitable to rear.”  Drakes and hens readily crossed with other ducks although the hybrids didn’t have the breeding capacity of the purebreds.  – The American Agriculturist. July, 1845.  NY.

The hatching success of Muscovy crosses varied from outright claims of sterility to those who said they rarely hatched signifying while it was possible for them to hatch the success rate was extremely low.

The Annual Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture said in 1863 that the Muscovy duck was native to South America and had formerly been known as the Guinea duck.  Other earlier sources used the name Brazilian, Peruvian, Indian, Musk, Muscovite, Turkish, and Barbary.  In the 1860’s it was still sometimes called the Barbary duck.  The report stated it had been introduced for domestication during the sixteenth century.

Its flesh was noted to be excellent in flavor.  Dixon wrote that the flavor was excellent if killed just before fully fledged [having wing feathers sufficient enough to enable the bird to fly], but it took longer in achieving growth for the table than the common duck.  “The flesh is at first high flavoured and tender, but an old bird would be rank and the toughest of tough meat.”  – Brown, Edward.  “Races of Domestic Poultry”.  1906.

With that, I bid adieu as the reader considers the merits of this odd looking duck. – Victoria Brady, The Historic Foodie. – ©Nov. 2017.

A Very Brief Look at the History of Flowers in Yesterday’s Post

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culinary herbs, edible flowers, medicinal herbs

Beans:  Scarlet Runner beans produce edible pods and blooms although they are so lovely in a garden setting many plant them purely for ornamentals.  A tower of Scarlet Runners in the garden adds height and color and they are gorgeous on an archway trellis.  Scarlet Runner beans should be picked while small and tender.  At least in most areas these beans are considered perennial.  They will die to the ground with frost but put up again from the roots in the spring.  Scarlet runners are native to Central America and introduced to the U.S. in the early 1700’s.

Bee Balm (Monarda):  Blossoms may be substituted  for oregano and the leaves and petals can be added to salads and fruit salads.  In old herbals this may be called horseming, Wild Oswego Tea, or Wild Bergamot.

Borage:  The leaves were cooked for greens and the fresh leaves were used in salads along with mint, sage, parsley, garlic, fennel and rosemary.  Borage flowers garnished custards, salads, soups, etc.  Its flavor is similar to cucumbers, and the flowers are a beautiful blue.  It is a welcome addition to the herb or the flower garden.

Carnations:  Carnations are edible as is dianthus.  Petals have been used in making Chartreuse (A French liqueur) since the 1600’s.

Chamomile:  Chamomile has tiny daisy-like flowers that would complement floral gardens and people once thought it possessed medicinal qualities.

Columbine:  A 15^th century manuscript listed columbine in its “herbs for potage”.  When combined with six other herbs and drunk with ale it was supposed to ward off the pestilence.

Day lilies:  Blooms may be eaten in a variety of ways and used as garnish.

Hens and chicks, aka houseleek, was used to counteract diarrhea, heal inflammation of the eyes, gout, hemorrhage, headache, and ulcers.  Planting them on thatched roofs was thought to prevent lightning strikes.  It was used to stop bleeding and treat burns and cuts.

Iris:  Iris were thought to stop coughs and convulsions, relieve bites of “venomous beasts”, treat sun burn and provoke sleep.  Roots were used in perfume, sachets, potpourris, etc. and the petals of purple iris combined with alum produced a pigment for Medieval artists.

Lavender:  Its lovely fragrance has been used for centuries to scent clothing and linens and it is also used as a culinary herb.

Lily of the Valley:  a half pound of the flowers soaked in a liter of wine then distilled was said to be, “more precious than gold”, in treating apoplexy and that mixture applied to the back of the neck was thought to give the person good common sense.  I will be placing a huge order for this fragrant lovely ASAP.

Mallow:  Mallows include hibiscus and Althea, and okra is also a member of this family of plants.  Hibiscus is edible and can be used to make a tea.  During the Middle Ages it was a common potherb with the added bonus of keeping witches away from one’s home.  The leaves were used for greens and the young green tops were added to salads.

Marigold:  Flower petals were used to add color to soups and drinks and medicinally to treat a number of complaints.  Marigolds are often used as a substitute for expensive saffron.

Nasturtiums:  Buds were pickled and used like capers, leaves are edible in salads, and the petals make a lovely garnish.  This flower is often misspelled in old herbals.

Peony:  During the Middle Ages the seeds were used as a spice to flavor food.  From “Piers Plowman” we find an alewife saying she has, “pepper and peony seed and a pound of garlic and a farthingale worth of fennel seed for fasting days”.  Medicinally, it was thought to relieve epilepsy, aid in delivering babies, etc.

Periwinkle, aka Vinca:  Vinca was called, “joy of the ground” because it was thought to ward off wicked spirits.  “Whoever carries this herb with him on the skin, the devil has no power over him”. – “Hortus Sanitatis”.  “No witchery may enter the house which has this herb hanging over the door and if any witchery be already therein it will be driven out soon”.  It was thought to stay the flux, ease toothache, and temper a fever.

Primrose:  Primrose was a Middle Ages potherb used in salads and when combined with rice flour, almonds, honey, saffron, and primrose flowers, almond milk and powdered ginger made a dish known as “primrose”.

Rose:  Petals scented water to wash the hands, dried petals were used to perfume clothing and linens, used in cooking, etc.  Rosewater was popular in cooking and in some cultures remains a favorite flavoring.

Rosemary:  I plan to transplant rosemary from a raised bed to my flower garden as soon as the weather cools.  Like thyme it produces pretty flowers and both the flowers and the leaves and stems carry a welcome fragrance.  It was used during the Middle Ages in food, to make a wash for the eyes, used in a wash for the hands at table, put in amongst clothing and linens to ward off moths, etc.

Sage / Salvia:  It was used in potages (soup), salads, for sauces and in meat pies.  It flavored chicken and other meats.  It was so commonly used as a medicinal herb that people said of it, “Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden”.

Thyme:  Thyme has lovely tiny purple flowers and a pot of thyme in a strategic place within a garden adds both visually and fragrantly to the display.  Thyme, being one of the most often used culinary herbs needs no account of its use.

Yarrow:  Was used at home and on the battlefield to stop bleeding, cure a headache, aleviate heartburn, etc.  Yarrow tea supposedly was a remedy for colds.

Yucca:  Petals are crunchy and mildly sweet.  They can be put into salads or used as a garnish.

RADISHES: Spring versus Winter Varieties©

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black radish, daikon radish, heirloom radishes, radishes in Colonial America, spring radishes, watermelon radish, winter radishes

It is not hard to locate books from the 1500’s which note the ways of eating and growing radishes, particularly “The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physic” (1653), Gervase Markham’s “A Way to Get Wealth” (1668), John Reid’s “The Scots Gard’ner in Two Parts” (1683), George Sandy’s “A Relation of a Journey Begun An:  Dom:  1610” in which he notes the builders of the pyramids eating radishes (1637), John Mason’s “A Briefe Discourse of the New-found-land” (1620), etc.

While not native to North America, radishes were prevalent in the gardens and diets of Colonial Americans as proven by such notable men as William Bradford and William Wood.  The latter resided in the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1629 and 1633.  They were found in John Randolph’s “Treatise on Gardening” written about 1765 in Williamsburg.  “There are Radishes known in this country by the name of Scarlet or Salmon, London short topped, &c.”.

Not all radishes are alike, however.  If you want radishes throughout most of the year, especially if you live where temperatures soar in summer, shop for seeds meant to grow during different seasons of the year.  After researching this topic I realized why I remembered long white icicle radishes from my childhood – simply put, they grew during summer when spring radishes would not.

Seed varieties are not often designated as spring or winter in their descriptions and most people are unaware there is a difference.  Research is a slow and tedious endeavor so hopefully sharing mine will help others with choosing varieties better suited to their needs.

Vilmorin made the distinction in 1885 and documented some 43 varieties grown for roots, and the rat-tailed and Madras grown for the pods.

While not infallible, a general rule is spring radishes come in a variety of pretty colors ranging from red, pink, white or purple, and in different  shapes while winter varieties tend to be longer icicle or round shape and white, white and green, cream, or black in color.

Let’s talk about eating radishes.  The fleshy root is not the only edible part and those weren’t always confined to the salad bowl.  Breakfast radishes were so named due to the prevalence with which they were consumed for the morning meal.  “…the mother and son were together in the dining-room, where they were breakfasting with a cup of coffee, with bread and butter and radishes”.  – “An Old Maid”.  1898.

French Breakfast radishes make a striking presentation

The greens can be sautéed, cooked with other greens, young leaves can be substituted for lettuce on a sandwich, or leaves add great flavor to soups and stews.  The greens are delicious and why throw away something so tasty and chock full of goodness?

Don’t forget radish sprouts for your salad or sandwich and wash the garden thinnings for salads.  I harvest some of the greens from the radishes for cooking and they grow back more luxuriant than before, but take only part of the leaves from each plant.

The root can be pickled or roasted just like a potato.  It can be sliced or cut into matchsticks, depending on size, and dressed as a salad.

The flowers are edible and can really make a nice presentation in salads, sandwiches, dips, etc.  If you fail to harvest the flowers, don’t worry, they will form seed pods which are also edible.  The seed pods can be added to salads, cooked, or pickled.

Image from Baker Creek Seeds

There are varieties, such as Rat’s Tail and Madras Podding that are grown purely for the seed pods.  The latter is supposedly more heat tolerant although I haven’t grown it and can’t say.  “The newly-introduced radish, which has attracted the attention of horticulturists so much of late, is certainly a novelty, inasmuch as the edible portion of the plant is the seed-vessel, and not the root”.  – “Nature and Art”.  June 1, 1856.

Let’s not forget that horse-radish is, indeed, a form of radish as well and there are those who would scoff at the idea of roast beef without it.

There are mild and hot variances in spring and winter radishes and since the length of this article will not permit me to describe the flavor of each one individually I suggest readers peruse the seed catalogs of recommended vendors at the end of this piece.

Before we can eat, we must plant and radishes require a little more thought than I once realized.  Plant for the season and temperature and don’t just try to plant the same variety all year.

Radish culture a century ago was little different than today, plant summer crops in a shaded location [in temperature extremes this probably won’t help], frequent watering in dry weather to keep them from getting pithy, and small successive plantings are preferable to large beds.

Spring radishes grow and produce rapidly and last only a very short time.  They like cool weather and do not tolerate heat well, quickly become pithy when over-large, and do not keep well in storage.  Plant early when the ground can be worked in the spring.  Cherry Belle is a well-known spring radish.  Others include Cherry Bomb, Celesta, Rover, April Cross, Champion, Red King, Snow Belle, French Breakfast, Gala, White Hailstone, Purple Plum, Bora King, and Crimson Giant.

Summer radishes aren’t so much a type as they are an in-between mixture of spring and winter radishes.  They may tolerate more heat than spring radishes but won’t last through a long hot summer.

A few varieties are marketed as heat tolerant and suitable for multiple seasons although one would have to experiment to know how accurate the description is.

White Icicle is commonly known and produces in summer as will the Chinese Pink.  The Red Meat or “Watermelon” radish is recommended for summer to fall sowing only.  Alpine, a popular Korean variety, KN-Bravo, Nero Tondo, Roxanne, Shunkyo Semi-Long, Summer Cross (icicle), Crunchy Royale, etc. are sold for spring to summer planting.

Its easy to see why its called “Watermelon” radish

Winter radishes are planted in late summer through early fall and mature before winter freezes come.  In warm climates successive plantings will see you through the winter with fresh radishes.  These hold in the ground better than spring radishes and can be left to harvest as they are wanted.  When a freeze is forecast, pull them up, cut off the greens, and store the roots in the refrigerator or a cool basement.

Winter varieties include China Rose,  Long Black Spanish (an old European heirloom), Chinese White Winter, Miyashige, Violet de Gournay, Daikon (which vary in length and size), Round Black Spanish (a very ancient variety), White Cannon,  Red Meat, Green Meat, Hild’s Blauer, Mini Purple, Misato Rose, Munchener Bier (also good for seed pods), Saitaro, and Winter Light.

A winter variety I fully intend to try planting this fall is Schifferstadt Long Black, a standard of the Pennsylvania Dutch.  My husband’s family is PA Dutch so we grow some PA Dutch vegetables on our little homestead and make historic dishes from that area.  I suspect this variety is from William Woys Weaver’s Roughwood Seed Collection sold through Baker Creek Seeds.

John Randolph made the distinction of winter radishes in Colonial America.  “The black Radish will continue if sown in August, until killed by the frosts, and Radishes may be preserved in sand as carrots are in the spring”.

“Winter radishes may be simply pared, cut in quarters, and arranged neatly on a pretty shallow dish.  Red radishes of the spring should have the roots neatly trimmed, half the top cut and trimmed, leaving little holders at the top.  These may be arranged neatly in a glass dish and served with cracked ice.”  – “How to Cook Vegetables”.  1892.

I hope this helps in choosing varieties for your garden.  The research was part of my on-going search for plants best suited to my long very hot summers.  I leave you with wishes for a good harvest and Blissful Meals.© Copyright.

Suggested Sources:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Johnny’s Seeds, Kitazawa Seed Co., Fedco, Seed Savers Exchange, Sustainable Seed Co., Heritage Harvest Seed, Sandhill Preservation, and Rare Seeds.

See:

Wood, William.  “New England’s Prospect”.   Originally published 1634, reprint 1897.

Marrow Fat

Marrow from bones has been consumed since antiquity and has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence in recent years, the difference from olden times being that the butcher now usually slices the bones in half ridding us of the task of cracking them open.

Eating marrow rose to such heights in the 17^th and 18^th centuries that silver marrow spoons or scoops were sold with which to eat it.

In addition to eating the cooked marrow on toast, the bones and marrow were utilized in soup stock to add consistence though they really add little to nothing to the flavor.  Numerous 19^th century cookery books point out that the bones can be prepared and after the marrow has been removed and consumed at the table, the bones are still fit to put into the soup pot afterward.

“The[buffalo] marrow-bones are also highly esteemed, especially when roasted, and are often used as a substitute for butter, as the marrow-bones of all animals are filled with a short, buttery fat.”  – De Voe.

An article from the 1990’s claimed frontiersmen referred to prepared marrow as prairie butter.  That author gave no source or documentation for the name prairie butter used in that context, yet other modern writers picked up the name and subsequently used the term in their own writing, still without any documentation.   A more accurate term is marrow-fat.

This writer made a diligent search and could find no period source with which to document the name prairie butter although numerous sources do mention eating the marrow and instructing how to prepare it.  There is no doubt it was commonly eaten but the name prairie butter is questionable.  This author does encourage anyone who can document the term to do so.

In 1880, William Shepherd’s method of making “prairie butter” was to add flour and water to grease remaining in the pan after meat was fried and basically making gravy.   There was no marrow in his dish.  Other accounts of prairie butter had nothing at all to do with marrow and were simply butter from milk that had been churned on the prairie.

Marrow was commonly taken from beef, sheep, and oxen, but Lewis and Clark noted supping and breakfasting on elk marrow bones at least twice and outdoorsmen wrote that they ate marrow bones from buffalo.  Richard Dodge claimed, however, that the marrow in the forelegs of buffalo was so pithy that when greenhorns roasted the bones they cracked them open to find nothing inside.

Indians knew how to roast the bones from the buffalo’s hind legs to get at the tasty marrow inside.  “The bones of the hind legs are thrown upon the glowing coals, or hidden under the hot embers, then cracked between two stones, and the rich, delicious marrow sucked in quantities sufficient to ruin a white stomach forever.”

“Marrow-fat is collected by the Indians from the buffalo bones which they break to pieces, yielding a prodigious quantity of marrow, which is boiled out and put into buffalo bladders which have been distended; and after it cools, becomes quite hard like tallow, and has the appearance and very nearly the flavor, of the richest yellow butter.  At a feast, chunks of this marrow-fat are cut off and placed in a tray or bowl, with the pemmican, and eaten together; which we civilized folks in these regions consider a very good substitute for (and indeed we generally so denominate it) ‘bread and butter’.  In this dish laid a spoon made of the buffalo’s horn, which was black as jet, and beautifully polished…”.  – Catlin.

Marrow could be heated, clarified, and stored away in small jars or crocks for future use in cooking.  It was used as a substitute for butter during the months when fresh butter was difficult to obtain.  Toasts were fried in marrow until golden brown or dipped in the marrow and baked in a quick oven.

MARROW BONES.  Mrs. Rundell’s Practical Cookery Book.  1898.  London.  If the Marrow Bones are very long they must be sawn in half.  Cover the end of each bone with a stiff paste of flour and water, using plenty of flour.  This paste is to prevent the Marrow from escaping from the bone whilst being cooked.  Tie a cloth over each bone, and put the bones in a roomy saucepan filled with boiling salted water.  Let the Marrow Bones boil for three hours.  Take them out of the saucepan, remove the cloth, and all the paste, and pin a clean napkin round each bone or half bone.  Send the Marrow Bones up on a hot dish, and send up dry toast in a toast rack.  See that a proper Marrow Spoon is provided to help the Marrow.  The Marrow Bones should be served upright.

MARROW-BONES.  Mrs. Beeton’s Dictionary of Every-day Cookery.  A note at the end of instructions for boiling the bones reads, “Marrow-bones may be baked after preparing them as in the preceding recipe; they should be laid in a deep dish, and baked for 2 hours.”

MARROW DUMPLINGS TO SERVE WITH ROAST MEAT, IN SOUP, WITH SALAD, &C.  Same.

1 oz. of beef marrow, 1 oz. of butter, 2 eggs, 2 penny rolls, 1 teaspoonful of minced onion, 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley, salt and grated nutmeg to taste.  Beat the marrow and butter together to a cream; well whisk the eggs, and add these to the other ingredients.  When they are well stirred, put in the rolls, which should previously be well soaked in boiling milk, strained, and beaten up with a fork.  Add the remaining ingredients, omitting the minced onion where the flavor is very much disliked, and form the mixture into small round dumplings.  Drop these into boiling broth, and let them simmer for about 20 minutes or ½ hour.  They may be served in soup, with roast meat, or with salad, as in Germany, where they are more frequently sent to table than in this country.  They are very good.

DEVILLED MARROW-BONES.  “The International Cook B ook”.  Filippini, Alexander.  1914. Procure six fresh beef marrow-bones of about three and a half inches long, arrange upright on a block and split in two with a cleaver (or have your butcher split them for you), leaving all the marrow on half of each bone only.  Lay the six with marrow in a tin, marrow side up, divide a teaspoon salt evenly and carefully spread a devilled butter…over marrow, dredge two tablespoons of fresh bread crumbs evenly over the six bones and set in oven for twenty-two minutes.  Remove, dress on a dish with a napkin and serve with twelve very thin slices freshly prepared toast separately.

DEVILLED BUTTER. (For the previous receipt).  Same source.  Half an ounce good butter, two saltspoons ground English mustard, one teaspoon good white wine vinegar, one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, one saltspoon salt, half a saltspoon cayenne pepper and one egg yolk.  Place all these articles in a bowl, thoroughly mix well together with a spoon and use as required.

CLARIFIED MARROW FOR KEEPING.  “Modern Cookery, for Private Families”.  Acton, Eliza.  1868.  Take the marrow from the bones while it is as fresh as possible; cut it small, put it into a very clean jar, and melt it with a gentle heat, either in a pan of water placed over the fire, or at the mouth of a cool oven; strain it through a muslin, let it settle for a minute or two, and pour it, clear of sediment, into small jars.  Tie skins, or double folds of thick paper, over them as soon as the marrow is cold and store it in a cool place.  It will remain good for months.”

MARROW PASTIES [pies].  “The Household Encyclopedia”.  1859.  Shred some apples with some marrow, add a little sugar to them, make them up in puff paste, and fry the pasties in clarified butter.  When fried strew some sugar over them and serve.”

SAVOURY BALLS [to serve with soup].  Smith, Eliza.  “The Complete Housewife”.  Take the flesh of fowl, beef suet and marrow, the same quantity; six or eight oysters, lean bacon, sweet-herbs and savoury spices; pound it, and make it into little balls.

WHITE POT.  “Domestic Economy”.  1827.  Slice some nice bread, lay it in the bottom of a dish, and cover it over with marrow; season a quart of cream or new milk with nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, and sugar; boil and strain it; beat six yolks, and put them to the cream, and pour it over the bread.  Bake in a moderate oven, and sift sugar over it, or rasped almonds, citron, orange-peel and sugar.

“Journals of Lewis and Clark”.

“Colburn’s New Monthly Magazine”.  March 1843.

Dodge, Richard.  “Our Wild Indians”.  1882.

De Voe, Thomas Farrington.  “The Market Assistant”.  1867.

Catlin, George.  “Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians”.  1841 and 1857.

American Dominiques as I Know Them©

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Dominique chickens

Dominiques were brought to America early on and though they once faced extinction have recovered.  They will be my next acquisition for the poultry yard we call home.  The following is an exact account of the lovely chickens published in 1920.

“In color they resemble the Barred Plymouth Rock.  In size they are not so large, they have a longer tail, and a rose comb.  Dominiques are one of the oldest varieties and a pure American breed.  They are very hardy; chicks grow rapidly and mature early.  The pullets often begin laying when five to six months old.  The hens not being clumsy and heavy, make excellent setters and splendid mothers.  They seldom break an egg while setting.

American Dominiques are excellent layers of eggs.  The color of the shells is from a light to a dark brown, and the eggs are of good size.  The birds make splendid table fowls, many claiming them superior to all others.  They have a fine yellow skin, dress well, and are plump at all ages.  The birds are active, and are very gay, stylish and fine in appearance.

They are well adapted for confinement in yards, or if left to roam at will they are good foragers.  On account of their old-fashioned ‘dominecker’ color, they are adapted for city, country or village poultry keepers; the soot, smoke or dirt will not mar their appearance; their homespun clothes are always clean and attractive.

For general utility they have few, if any superiors.  In weight they are large enough for most people not as heavy as the Plymouth Rock and heavier than the Leghorns.  Having a rose comb and being a rugged and hardy fowl the American Dominiques are a splendid fowl for our northern climate.

Many people want a rose combed bird; they also want an intermediate one in size—something between the Leghorn and the Rock—one as active and prolific a layer as the Leghorn, yet carrying some of the meat properties of the Plymouth Rock.  To these people I would recommend the old Dominiques which have been my favorites for years.  As chicks they feather more quickly than the Rock, mature more quickly and are more active.

The present day Barred Rock is the result of crossing a Dominique male on Black Cochin hens.  The barring of the Dominique is not the same straight across the feather barring found in the Rock, nor does it show the same black and white contrasts between the light and dark bar.  The Standard calls for irregular barring and the color should be of a bluish tone.  On full blooded birds, the last bar at the tip of the feather is shaped like a new moon.

Double mating is not required as the Standard calls for a male one or two shades lighter than the female.  The Standard under color is slate.

The Standard weights are cock, 7 lbs.; cockerel, 6 lbs.; hen, 5 lbs.; pullet, 4 lbs.  The Dominique has red earlobes and lays brown shelled eggs like the Rock, but has much more plumage—more like the Leghorn.  W. F. Gernetzky.”  – “American Poultry Journal”.  July 1920.  Please do not republish without permission and inclusion of credit. ©

A History of Tame Rabbits

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rabbit recipes, raising rabbits, tame rabbits

Early writers claimed the Romans found rabbits in Spain about 200 BC and may have been the first to keep rabbits, putting them in large walled pens and letting them breed freely. They supposedly introduced rabbits to Britain when they invaded in AD 43. By the 5th century, Catholic monks in France were raising rabbits for meat. On days when Catholics were not allowed to eat meat they could eat fish, but it wasn’t always available so, in the absence of fish, Pope Gregory I officially proclaimed laurice (unborn and newborn rabbit) to be classed as fish so it could be eaten on those days. Oddly enough, the oldest sources on cookery and rearing livestock often include rabbits in the category of poultry.

Tame rabbits in Britain date from roughly the 12th century and through the Middle Ages the practice spread into other parts of Europe. The Ghent Giant (later called the Flemish Giant) was a distinct breed by the 16th century.

Should one consider rabbits in their historical context, it would be natural to wonder what a tame rabbit looked like in the early to mid-1700’s. “Those tame rabbits vary in colour, as all other domestic animals; black, white, and grey are, however, the only which this sport of nature seems limited to. I call grey that mixture of sallow, black, and ash-colour, which forms the usual colour of rabbits and hares. Black rabbits are the most rare; but there are many quite white, many quite grey, and many of a mixed colour. All wild rabbits are grey, and, among the tame, it is also the prevailing colour; for in most litters there are frequently grey rabbits, and even in greatest number, though the sire and dam are both white, or both black, or one black and the other white.”

Such is the case with mine. They are a cross of a New Zealand Black and a New Zealand White and all are a lovely shade of “grey”, though the parents have produced all white, all black, or black and white mixed.

Various books indicate tame rabbits should be ready to butcher at 12 weeks old provided they’ve received adequate and regular food up to that point, feeding them longer resulted in the cost of the meat per pound exceeding the value of the animal.

Disease was avoided “in great measure” by keeping the cages clean and not allowing the bedding, usually hay, to become soiled and sodden in urine. Mesh on the bottom of the hutch allowed the waste to drop through into trays that could be removed and cleaned. Doing so prevented the ammonia from the urine irritating the rabbits’ eyes, and droppings soiling their fur.

In-breeding generation after generation often resulted in poor quality offspring and was to be avoided; by replacing breeding does every three to four years. The breeding season lasted from February through October or into November. Giving birth was called kindling. Just before a doe was ready to kindle she prepared a nest and lined it with fur she pulled out of her own coat.

The same writer claimed that once the young were two or three weeks old the doe should be allowed access with the buck again on two consecutive days so that no time was lost in bringing on a second litter. When the young were one month of age they were taken away from the mother and housed in their own compartment. If timed right, that gave the doe time to prepare for the birth of the next litter. Ames told his readers a rabbit could breed eleven times per year producing six to eight rabbits in each litter. “Thus at the end of four years a pair of Rabbits would produce nearly a million and a half”.

Writers noted does were capable of rearing young by the time they reached five to six months of age and that the gestation period for rabbits was thirty to thirty one days. Does were to be put with bucks only for mating to prevent fighting and injury.

Feeding costs were controlled by growing produce on a small scale to feed them and the rabbit manure so nourished the soil that a small space yielded a maximum amount of vegetables. A writer in the late Victorian era advised that a pound of hay per week was sufficient for a doe with a couple of tablespoons of oats or barley and a little green food or a root such as a parsnip, carrot, Jerusalem artichoke, potato, or turnip. This was increased somewhat after having a litter and he advised adding a little skim milk with the dry food.

He thought food like cabbage leaves that contained a great deal of moisture caused diarrhea in rabbits and advised air-drying it somewhat before offering it. Recommended dry food included hay, clover-hay, oats, barley, bran, peas and beans. He also approved of chicory in the rabbits’ diet. Ames told his readers feed could include fresh clover, corn leaves, apples, beets, and lettuce.

Methods of cooking rabbit varied, some authors indicating any recipe for chicken worked equally well with rabbit. The earliest recipes refer to rabbit as coney so don’t limit yourself to too narrow a search. The meat was simmered and served with onion sauce, made into pies, curried, or roasted. Tame rabbits were larger than wild ones and their flesh considered delicate and nutritive, “very little inferior to chicken…”.

The illustrious Hannah Glasse included in her The Art of Cookery how to roast them, how to sauce them, fricassee them, how to make Rabbit Surprise, and how to dress rabbits in casserole. Her FRICASSEE of RABBIT recipe instructed the cook to simmer the rabbits with sweet herbs and an onion until tender then remove the rabbit to a platter. To the pan juices was to be added a little butter rolled in flour to thicken the sauce and a half pint of cream and the yolk of an egg beaten well, some fresh or pickled mushrooms, and lastly the juice of half a lemon. It was necessary to stir well after adding the lemon juice so that the mixture didn’t curdle and remove it from the heat. When served, the fricassee was garnished with sliced lemon. Another version contained mace, nutmeg, and a glass of white wine.

Mrs. Frazer and Susanna MacIver’s SMOTHERED RABBIT:
Truss them as you do a roasted hare; put them into as much boiling water as will cover them; peel a good many onions, and boil them in water whole; take some of the liquor the rabbits are boiled in, and put in a good piece of butter knead in flour; then put in the onions amongst it, keeping them breaking until the sauce be pretty thick; dish the rabbits, and pour the sauce over them all, except the heads. The same sauce serves for boiled geese or ducks.

RABBITS EN CASSEROLE. (1823)
Cut your rabbits into quarters…then shake some flour over them, and fry them in lard or butter. Then put them into an earthen pipkin, with a quart of good broth, a glass of white wine, a little pepper and salt, a bunch of sweet-herbs, and a small piece of butter rolled in flour. Cover them close, and let them stew half an hour; then dish them up and pour the sauce over them. Garnish with Seville oranges cut into thin slices and notched.

John Perkins’ RABBITS PULLED. (Pulled referred to taking meat off the bone)
Half boil your rabbits, with an onion, a little whole pepper, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a piece of lemon-peel; pull the flesh into flakes, put to it a little of the liquor, a piece of butter mixed with flour, pepper, salt, nutmeg, chopped parsley, and the liver boiled and bruised; boil this up, shaking it round.

Good luck to anyone with an interest in raising rabbits and as for eating them, I wish for you Blissful Meals. – The Historic Foodie

Bib:
“Bees, Rabbits, & Pigeons”. Ward, Lock & Co. London. 1882.
Ames, D. F. “Cottage Comforts”. New York. 1838.
Perkins, John. “Every Woman Her Own Housekeeper”. 1796. London.
“The Universal Magazine”. Vol. 46. April 1770.
“Cassell’s Household Guide”. 1869.
“An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy”. 1845.
Farley, John. “The London Art of Cookery and Housekeeper’s Complete Assistant”. 1785.
Henderson, William Augustus, Schnebbelie, Jacob Christopher. “The Housekeeper’s Instructor”. 1823. London.
Radcliffe, M. “A Modern System of Domestic Cookery”. 1823.
“The Complete Farmer, Or a General Dictionary of Husbandry. 1793.
“The Complete Farmer”. 1767, 1777, and 1810.
Hale, Thomas. “A Compleat Body of Husbandry”. 1758.
Huish, Robert. “The Female’s Friend”. 1837.
McIver, Susanna. “Cookery and Pastry”. 1789. London.
Frazer, Mrs. “The Practice of Cookery, Pastry, Pickling, Preserving, etc.” 1795.
Glasse, Hannah. “The Art of Cookery”. 1788 and 1791. London.

Pemmican: It Wasn’t Just for Native Americans

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Pemmican

I love the idea of any food that is billed as coming from the wilds of North America.  Pemmican was just such a survival food.  “The word is from Cree pĭmĭkân, manufactured grease”, or one who makes grease.  “The word is cognate with Abnaki pĕmĭkân.   It was made from whatever meat was the most abundant in a particular region.  In the northernmost areas reindeer was used, in milder climates buffalo was usually specified as being prevalent although deer and other animals were used.

The process was pretty much the same regardless of the type of meat used. After removing fat and gristle the meat was sliced, hung to dry, perhaps smoked as it dried, and then pounded to a powder.  The meat powder was mixed with fat, many accounts specify the fat came from marrow in the bones of the animal, and dried fruit was sometimes incorporated.  Once well mixed the mass was packed into skin bags and the bags sewn shut.  It kept several years as long as it was stored away from excess moisture.  Natives also stored it away in woven baskets.

An account published in 1860 stated that the pemmican was packed tightly into tin canisters leaving a little space at the top, and allowed to cool after which the tin was filled to the brim with hot melted lard.  A lid was then soldered onto the canister sealing in the pemmican.  – The Household Monthly.  March 1860.

Any berries that were available were probably added to sweeten the pemmican, but a few of the fruits I was able to document as an ingredient included June Berry (also called pemmican berry because it was frequently used in that manner), choke cherry, Saskatoon, Service berries, cranberries, Manzanita, blueberries, Juniper berries, currants, etc.

“Sweet pemmican is a superior kind of pemmican in which the fat used is obtained from marrow by boiling broken bones in water.  Fish pemmican is a pemmican made by the Indians of the remote regions of the N. W. by pounding dried fish and mixing the product with sturgeon oil.  The Eskimo of Alaska make a pemmican by mixing chewed deer meat with deer suet and seal-oil.”

Pemmican was made into soup by hunters, trappers, arctic explorers, etc. called Robbiboe, or by the Canadian French rababou.  To make it the pemmican was mixed with a little flour and water and boiled.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie can be consulted for an idea of the weight of the packs of pemmican.  For a journey from Montreal south on the St. Lawrence River he noted the party carried four bags and a half of pemmican, weighing from eighty-five to ninety pounds each in addition to other supplies.  – Mackenzie, Alexander, Sir.  Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence Through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the Years 1789 and 1793.  1814.  New York.

Robert Huish wrote of a party that carried along an amazing sixty bags each weighing ninety pounds.  Gould tells us that, “one bison cow in good condition furnished dried meat and fat enough to make a bag of pemmican weighing ninety pounds”.  Given that, it becomes clear how much less the meat weighed after processing having removed the bones, skin, etc. and through evaporation in the drying process.

– A Narrative of the Voyages and Travels of Captain Beechey:  To the Pacific and Behring’s Straits and The Travels of Capt. Back, R. N. to the Great Fish River and Arctic Seas.  1836.  London.  Gould, Augustus Addison.  The Naturalist’s Library:  Containing Scientific and Popular Descriptions of Natural History.  1833.  Massachusetts.

Hamilton reckoned one pound of pemmican was equal to five pounds of meat.  – Hamilton, William.  My Sixty Years on the Plains.  1905.  NY.

The following recipe came from Frances Owens’s book, Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book, 1903.  “Pemmican is made of the lean portions of venison, buffalo, etc.  The Indian method is to remove the fat from the lean, dry the lean in the sun; then make a bag of the skin of the animal, and put the lean pieces in loosely.  To this must be added the fat of the animal, rendered into tallow, and poured in quite hot.  This will cause the spaces to be filled.  When cold, put away for future use.  In civilized life, a jar can be used in place of the bag.  Pemmican may be cooked same as sausage, or eaten as dried beef.  It is invaluable in long land explorations, and is of great use in sea voyages.”

For those who prefer more of an actual recipe than a method summary, Mrs. Saray Tyson Rorer offered one, although it varied in method.  ¼ pound of lean beef put twice through a meat chopper, ¼ pound of marrow from the leg or shin bone of an ox.

Chop the marrow with a silver knife and remove the fibre.  Mix the beef and marrow thoroughly, a half saltspoonful of salt and stand at once in a cold place.  – Mrs. Rorer’s Diet for the Sick.  1914.

Blissful meals, yall.  – thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com©

See:  Hodge, Frederick Webb.  Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico.  Washington Government Printing Office.  1912.

ROASTIT BUBBLY JOCK©

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18th century Scottish food, bubbly-jock, roasted bubbly-jock

For those who haven’t studied historic foods, a bubbly-jock is a turkey – that traditional bird of the holiday table. To be precise, it is a turkey-cock, and it has been found on Scottish tables since the 17th century, and probably before. A meal served in the presence of King James I while on his way to Scotland included roast turkey in 1617. In the Calendar of State Papers as related to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scotts, is found mention of “turkey cockis”.

References are found in early Scottish publications to a person acting as a bubbly-jock. Such is to ridicule someone whose behavior resembles the strutting and noisy displays of a male turkey. For those who have seen a male turkey drop his wings, fan out his tail, ruffle his feathers, and make his drumming sound, the reference will be abundantly clear.

The term bubbly-jock dates from at least as early as the 1700’s. Earlier references from the Scottish Historical Review talk about a “twrkie” [1671] or “turkie cock” [1688], therefore, Outlander fans may wisely choose to serve a, “roastit bubbly-jock” for Christmas dinner this year.

For an idea what was served with the roastit bubbly-jock we look to Susanna MacIver [1789]. She operated a cooking school from her home in Edinburgh during the 18th century. Her “Cookery and Pastry” as taught and practiced by Mrs. MacIver was first published in 1773. She claimed to have frequently made every dish in the book. Not much else is known about her except Florence White said in “Good Things in England” that her father was an impoverished Highland laird. She sold the book from her home for use by the middle and upper classes. The Bills of Fare were added after the first edition at the request of her students and were mere suggestions of what one might find in a dinner served in courses.

In one Bill of Fare she suggested boiled pork, roast turkey, greens, soup, and pease pudding. For a more elaborate dinner with roast turkey she advised potatoes, pickles, and stewed celery along with jugged hare, saddle of mutton, and a variety of tarts and puddings.

Vegetables she included in her Bills of Fare with other meats, and which many a maid or housewife may have served up with turkey as well, included kidney beans, broccoli, spinach, peas, carrots, salad, cauliflower, mushrooms, stewed lettuce and peas, asparagus, artichokes, and sorrel with poached eggs. In her list of garden fare she listed additionally coleworts, sprouts, cardoons, parsnips, turnips, endive, leeks, cresses, mustard, onions, beets, salsify, scorzonera, Jerusalem artichokes, purslane, radishes, cucumbers, cabbages, skirrets, “all sorts of small salad”, and a long list of pot herbs.

Before one might enjoy, “a bubbly-jock garnished with links of sausages”, the cook might boldly ask, “have ye killed the auld bubbly-jock, as ye threatened this morning?” Once the bird has been dispatched and cleaned it would have been prepared as follows or it was often boiled, especially if the turkey was older and tougher than might be desired.

Mary Eaton instructed her readers to stuff the turkey with sausage meat unless sausages were to be served separately in a dish in which case it could be stuffed with bread stuffing. “As this makes a large addition to the size of the fowl, observe that the heat of the fire is constantly to that part for the breast is often not done enough. A little strip of paper should be put on the bone, to prevent its being scorched while the other parts are roasting. Baste it well…serve with gravy in the dish and plenty of bread sauce in a sauce tureen. Add a few crumbs and a beaten egg to the stuffing of sausage meat.”

TO ROAST TURKEY POU[L]TS. Mary Smith. “The Complete House-keeper”. 1772. Newcastle.
Take young turkeys, rather larger than a half-grown fowl, scald and draw them clean, skewer them with their heads down to their sides, spit them, and lay them down to a clear fire for twenty minutes; baste them well with butter, and dust them with flour, let them be plump, and of a nice brown, lay them in a dish, with some brown gravy under them, and serve them up hot for a second course, with some bread sauce in a boat.

For the BREAD SAUCE.
Put the crumbs of a halfpenny roll into a sauce-pan with some water and some peppercorns, one onion cut in slices, two ounces of butter, let it boil ‘till the bread is soft, beat it up, and add three spoonfuls of thick cream to make it white, let it just simmer, pour it in a boat, and serve it up. This is a proper sauce for roast turkey, pheasant, or partridge.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & may God Bless.
– TheHistoricFoodie is a copyrighted site.©

See:
Galt, John. “The Last of the Laird”. 1826. Edinburgh.
“Tait’s Edinburgh Matazine. Oct. 1834.
Whittle, Peter. “A Topographical, Statistical, & Historical Account of the Borough of Preston”. 1821. Preston.
Eaton, Mary. “The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary”. 1822. Bungay.
MacIver, Susannah. “Cookery and Pastry”. 1789. London.

Lord Bacon’s essay on plantations in the New World©

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colonies, Lord Bacon, plantations

The following is Lord Bacon’s essay on plantations. I found it to be remarkably insightful as to what was important for the earliest colonists when coming to America. One can tell from his comments that knowledge has been gained from prior failures at colonization and efforts were being made to avoid those mistakes again. Now, for your reading pleasure:

PLANTATIONS are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young it begat more children; but now it is old it begets fewer: for I may justly account new plantations to be the children of former kingdoms. I like a plantation in a pure soil; that is, where people are not displanted to the end to plant in others. For else it is rather an extirpation than a plantation. Planting of countries is like planting of woods; for you must make account to leese almost twenty years’ profit, and expect your recompense in the end. For the principal thing that hath been the destruction of most plantations, hath been the base and hasty drawing of profit in the first years. It is true, speedy profit is not to be neglected, as far as may stand with the good of the plantation, but no further. It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people, and wicked condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant; and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation. The people wherewith you plant ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, laborers, smiths, carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, surgeons, cooks, and bakers. In a country of plantation, first look about what kind of victual the country yields of itself to hand; as chestnuts, walnuts, pineapples, olives, dates, plums, cherries, wild honey, and the like; and make use of them. Then consider what victual or esculent things there are, which grow speedily, and within the year; as parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, radish, artichokes of Hierusalem, maize, and the like. For wheat, barley, and oats, they ask too much labor; but with pease and beans you may begin, both because they ask less labor, and because they serve for meat as well as for bread. And of rice likewise cometh a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. Above all, there ought to be brought store of biscuit, oat-meal, flour, meal, and the like, in the beginning, till bread may be had. For beasts, or birds, take chiefly such as are least subject to diseases, and multiply fastest; as swine, goats, cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, housedoves, and the like. The victual in plantations ought to be expended almost as in a besieged town; that is, with certain allowance. And let the main part of the ground employed to gardens or corn, be to a common stock; and to be laid in, and stored up, and then delivered out in proportion; besides some spots of ground that any particular person will manure for his own private. Consider likewise what commodities the soil where the plantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way help to defray the charge of the plantation (so it be not, as was said, to the untimely prejudice of the main business), as it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. Wood commonly aboundeth but too much; and therefore timber is fit to be one. If there be iron ore, and streams whereupon to set the mills, iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. Making of bay-salt, if the climate be proper for it, would be put in experience. Growing silk likewise, if any be, is a likely commodity. Pitch and tar, where store of firs and pines are, will not fail. So drugs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot but yield great profit. Soap-ashes likewise, and other things that may be thought of. But moil not too much under ground; for the hope of mines is very uncertain, and useth to make the planters lazy in other things. For government, let it be in the hands of one, assisted with some counsel; and let them have commission to exercise martial laws, with some limitations. And above all, let men make that profit of being in the wilderness, as they have God always, and his service, before their eyes. Let not the government of the plantation depend upon too many counsellors and undertakers in the country that planteth, but upon a temperate number; and let those be rather noblemen and gentlemen, than merchants; for they look ever to the present gain. Let there be freedom from custom, till the plantation be of strength; and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their commodities where they may make their best of them, except there be some special cause of caution. Cram not in people, by sending too fast company after company; but rather harken how they waste, and send supplies proportionably; but so as the number may live well in the plantation, and not by surcharge be in penury. It hath been a great endangering to the health of some plantations, that they have built along the sea and rivers, in marish and unwholesome grounds. Therefore, though you begin there, to avoid carriage and other like discommodities, yet built still rather upwards from the streams than along. It concerneth likewise the health of the plantation that they have good store of salt with them, that they may use it in their victuals, when it shall be necessary. If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain them with trifles and gingles, but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless; and do not win their favor by helping them to invade their enemies, but for their defence it is not amiss; and send oft of them over to the country that plants, that they may see a better condition than their own, and commend it when they return. When the plantation grows to strength, then it is time to plant with women as well as with men; that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be ever pieced from without. It is the sinfullest thing in the world to forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness; for besides the dishonor, it is the guiltiness of blood of many commiserable persons.

The Historic Foodie is a copyrighted site.©