Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/212

 that they were regarded as the least expensive food on the table of the planter; the goose, the mallard, the canvas-back, the red-head, the plover, and other species of the most highly flavored marine birds were more frequently cooked in his kitchen than domestic poultry. Fish of the finest varieties were as easily obtained. Sheepshead, shad, breme, perch, soles, bass, chub, and pike swarmed in the nearest waters. Oysters could be procured in quantities as large as in the first years after the settlement of the country, while other species of shellfish were found in almost equal abundance.

It was thought by many good judges, that the fruit of Virginia was superior in flavor to that of England. This was in the most marked degree the case with the peach and quince, the quince of the Colony, unlike that of the mother country, being sufficiently palatable to be eaten raw, while the difference between the English and Virginian peach was said to be as great in favor of the latter as that between the best relished apple and the crab. There were grapes, plums, and figs in all of the gardens, and in season, large quantities went to decay because there was no way of using the superfluity. Strawberries grew in such abundance in the deserted fields that it was considered unnecessary to cultivate the plant; baskets were with little difficulty filled with the wild berries. Apple orchards were numerous and furnished a supply of this fruit both for the summer and the winter. There were ten varieties of peas and two varieties of potatoes, the sweet and the Irish; there were pumpkins, cymblins,