Cucumbers grow well, and, I believe, are more wholesome than in England, and far more productive.
Parsley and radishes thrive; and, I believe, lettuce, but I have seen but few of them; horse-raddish is very scarce. Capsicum is cultivated for seasoning soups, &c.
The woods round the prairies are not so thick, nor the timber so large, as on the river bottoms, but they contain a great variety of trees; viz. oak of many sorts, as, white, black, red, post, swamp, laurel, pin, Spanish, and blackjack, and some others; three kinds of hiccory; two of ash; two of elm; two of maple; black-walnut, cherry, sycamore, persimon, gum, hack-berry, cotton-wood, mulberry, serve, honey-locust, sassafras, dog-wood, crab, &c. On the creek bottoms, coffee-berry, poplar, pecan, white walnut, &c. &c. The undergrowth { 225} in the woods is, hazel, spice-wood, red-bud, haws, sumach, plum, and brambles. Willows grow on the water-courses.
The woods and prairies produce many fruits; some of them excellent, others but indifferent: I will briefly describe them. The grape-vines run over the tallest trees in a very extraordinary manner, sometimes reaching from the ground to the boughs of trees forty or fifty feet high, without touching the bodies of the trees. I suppose they must have first fixed to the boughs when the trees were very young, and continued growing with them; otherwise I cannot think how they could reach so great a height without support. These vines are of so strong a nature, that I have frequently seen them fixed on a high sweep to draw water from wells, some of them 30 feet deep, and they seem to answer as well as a rope. This method of drawing water is common with the Americans near us, and is the same that is practised by the market-gardeners in the neighbourhood of London. { 226} There are several sorts of grapes, but not in general very good; soon after our arrival we found some, nearly dried to raisins, good eating, and we used some for tarts and sweet-sauce. I suppose they would make wine, with sugar; but I do not know that any one has tried the experiment. Pomegranates grow on a vine much like a cucumber, the size of an orange or rather larger: a beautiful fruit, of a yellow or orange colour, of a most fragrant smell, but I have never tasted one; they are said to be most delicious when preserved. There are many sorts of sweet melons, and much difference of size in the various kinds. I have only noticed musk, of a large size; and nutmeg, a smaller one; and a small pale-coloured melon of a rich taste; but there are other sorts with which I am unacquainted. Watermelons are also in great plenty, of vast size; some, I suppose, weigh twenty pounds: they are more like pumpkins, in outward appearance, than melons; they are round or oblong, generally green, { 227} or a green and whitish colour on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with many black seeds in them; very juicy; in flavour, like a rich water; not sweet and mawkish, but cool and pleasant. After people are accustomed to them, they generally prefer them to sweet melons; they are considered extremely wholesome in warm climates, as they quench thirst, and are not feverish.