In it there is a statement that all fruits which will grow in Netherland will also thrive in New Netherland, without requiring as much care as must be given in the former. All garden fruits succeed likewise very well there, but are drier, sweeter, and better flavoured than in Netherland. As a proof of this we may properly instance melons and citrons or watermelons, which readily grow, in New Netherland, in the fields, if the briars and weeds be only kept from them, whereas in Netherland they rec|uire particular attention in gardens.
The same optimistic writer says in regard to the varieties of grapes to be found in New Netherland : Some are white, some blue, some very fleshy and fit only to make raisins of; some again juicy, some very large, others on the contrary small; their juice is very pleasant and some of it white like French or Rhenish wines ; that of others again very deep red, like Tent; some even paler. The vines run up far into the trees and are shaded by their leaves so that the grapes are slow in ripening and a little sour, but were cultivation and knowledge applied here doubtless as fine wines could be made here as in any other wine-growing countries.
18 The Hudson River
Either this writer, or another of his tribe, was overjoyed to report that " indigo silvestris grows spontaneously here without any human aid or cultivation." Experiments with this plant were made in the extensive gardens of Rensselaerwyk and promised great things. We find added to that report a statement that madder would " undoubtedly ' ' thrive well ; " even better than in Zealand in regard to the land and other circumstances." O, those old gardens and plantations, in which were planted wheat and apple trees, madder and indigo and great expectations; that yielded now a crop of fruit and now a har\est of disappointment!