Rotation of crops was practically unknown. A portion of
each farm was allowed to lie fallow once in a while, but
as these fallow fields were rarely ploughed and weeds
might grow without restraint, the rest from cultivation
was of little value. Even the cultivated fields were
ploughed but once a year and rather poorly at that, for
the land was ploughed in ridges and there was a good deal
of waste between the furrows. When Peter Kalm, the famous
Scandinavian naturalist and traveller, paid his visit to
the colony in 1748 he found 'white wheat most commonly
in the fields.' But oats, rye, and barley were also grown.
Some of the habitants grew maize in great quantities,
while nearly all raised vegetables of various sorts,
chiefly cabbages, pumpkins, and coarse melons. Some gave
special attention to the cultivation of flax and hemp.
The meadows of the St Lawrence valley were very fertile,
and far superior, in Kalm's opinion, to those of the New
England colonies; they furnished fodder in abundance.
Wild hay could be had for the cutting, and every habitant
had his conical stack of it on the river marshes. Hence
the raising of cattle and horses became an important
branch of colonial husbandry. The cattle and sheep were
of inferior breed, undersized, and not very well cared
for. The horses were much better. The habitant had a
particular fondness for horses; even the poorest tried
to keep two or three. This, as Catalogne pointed out,
was a gross extravagance, for there was no work for the
horses to do during nearly half the year.
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