Changes

===Native Americans===

===Native Americans===

Archaeologists and ethnohistorians have long been interested in quantifying potential maize productivity for late-prehistoric and early-historic Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands. Maize (corn) yields obtained by Native Americans using traditional farming techniques in the 19th century can be compared to yields obtained by 19th-century Native Americans using plows and with modern farmers. The mean yield of maize for 19th-century Native American groups who did not use plows was 18.9 bushels/acre. Yields on the order of 10 bu/acre probably are closer to the average prehistoric yields that were available for subsistence purposes. The mean size of gardens cultivated by 19th-century Native American families without plows was .59 acre.<ref>Sissel Schroeder, "Maize Productivity in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains of North America." ''American Antiquity'' 1999 64(3): 499-516. 0002-7316</ref>  

Archaeologists and ethnohistorians have long been interested in quantifying potential maize productivity for late-prehistoric and early-historic Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands. Maize (corn) yields obtained by Native Americans using traditional farming techniques in the 19th century can be compared to yields obtained by 19th century Native Americans using plows and with modern farmers. The mean yield of maize for 19th century Native American groups who did not use plows was 18.9 bushels/acre. Yields on the order of 10 bu/acre probably are closer to the average prehistoric yields that were available for subsistence purposes. The mean size of gardens cultivated by 19th century Native American families without plows was .59 acre.<ref>Sissel Schroeder, "Maize Productivity in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains of North America." ''American Antiquity'' 1999 64(3): 499-516. 0002-7316</ref>  

===Before 1840===

===Before 1840===

To keep house in colonial Boston usually involved growing a garden.  Almost all houses known to historians in detail prior to 1700 have one or two gardens and space for livestock. English tastes in food and gardening dominated Boston's three horticultural districts. Backyard nursery businesses were common. By the 1770s, the selling of plots for housing reduced the available local propagating stock, and the space in which to grow it, and seed importers became the dominant force shaping Boston's gardens.  

To keep house in colonial Boston usually involved growing a garden.  Almost all houses known to historians in detail prior to 1700 have one or two gardens and space for livestock. English tastes in food and gardening dominated Boston's three horticultural districts. Backyard nursery businesses were common. By the 1770s, the selling of plots for housing reduced the available local propagating stock, and the space in which to grow it, and seed importers became the dominant force shaping Boston's gardens.  

[[Thomas Jefferson]] paid great attention to his gardens at Monticello, and wrote about them extensively. Jefferson's visions of landscape architecture were informed by several popular 18th-century guides to landscaping and gardening, by a tour of famous English gardens he undertook in 1786, and by his belief in the importance of agrarian values and the virtuous [[yeoman]] farmer to a healthy republic.  Jefferson grew 170 fruit varieties, including apples, peaches, and grapes, in Monticello's two orchards, and cultivated over 330 vegetable varieties in his 1000-foot-long garden terrace. He made his gardens into a botanic laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world.<ref>see [http://www.monticello.org/gardens/index.html Monticello: Gardens and Grounds]</ref>

[[Thomas Jefferson]] paid great attention to his gardens at Monticello, and wrote about them extensively. Jefferson's visions of landscape architecture were informed by several popular 18th century guides to landscaping and gardening, by a tour of famous English gardens he undertook in 1786, and by his belief in the importance of agrarian values and the virtuous [[yeoman]] farmer to a healthy republic.  Jefferson grew 170 fruit varieties, including apples, peaches, and grapes, in Monticello's two orchards, and cultivated over 330 vegetable varieties in his 1000-foot-long garden terrace. He made his gardens into a botanic laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world.<ref>see [http://www.monticello.org/gardens/index.html Monticello: Gardens and Grounds]</ref>

[[File:Shaker-seeds.jpg|thumb|290px]]The [[Shakers]], a New England Protestant sect, developed the seed industry in their community gardens. By the 1830s they financed their church by selling paper packets of high quality seeds, branded with the Shaker logo, for national distribution.

[[File:Shaker-seeds.jpg|thumb|290px]]The [[Shakers]], a New England Protestant sect, developed the seed industry in their community gardens. By the 1830s they financed their church by selling paper packets of high quality seeds, branded with the Shaker logo, for national distribution.