brought from the mother country. Byrd is discovered in 1684 writing to his brother in England, and thanking him for the gooseberry and currant bushes which had just been received; in the salve year, he expresses to a second correspondent his appreciation of a gift of seeds and roots, which had been planted and had safely flowered.[1] The summer-houses, arbors, and grottoes, which Beverley declares were to be found near the residences were doubtless generally situated in the garden, and were erected to afford a cool place of retreat in the warmest hours of the summer day; the garden itself was always protected by a paling to keep out the hogs and cattle which were permitted to wander without restraint. In the immediate vicinity of the dwellings of the wealthy landowners, there were as a rule grouped the dove-cot, stable, barn, henhouse, cabins for the servants, kitchen, and milk-house,[2] the object of this in the last instances being to remove from the mansion the operations of cooking, washing, and dairying. In many yards, a tall pole with a toy house at the top was erected, in which the bee martin might build its nest, this bird bravely attacking the hawk and crow, and thus serving as a guardian of the poultry.[3] In some cases, wells were dug as a means of procuring drinking water, but the natural springs were so numerous that the use of the former was comparatively rare.
- ↑ Letters of William Byrd, May 21, 1684; Ibid., May 20, 1684. The seeds and roots were the iris, crocus, tulip, and anemone. Flower-pots are sometimes included in the inventories of personal estates. See, for instance, Records of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 284, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 22, 1686; Beverley’s History of Virginia, p. 235.
- ↑ Such a pole stood in the yard surrounding the house of Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr.
