What were the cash crops in colonial Connecticut?

Answer 1

Colonial Connecticut's crops included herbs, flax, Maize (corn), beans, squash, oats, barley, lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, beets, carrots, radish, parsnip, pumpkin, tobacco, & small fruits & apples.

"Some typical foods were the root crops, under-growing crops such as potatoes that were gathered and stored,... fruits that were pickled and preserved-a favorite for kids was cowcumber pickle,... strung and hung from rafters to dry along with onions, corn and herbs for medicine and seasoning, marigolds which are yellow flowers and used to color butter, flavor food and strengthen hearts."

The Connecticut Paugaussett indians showed the settlers how to plant and sow corn, called Maize, using companion planting, called "three sisters". This planting method produced a highly balanced and nutritious crop of beans, corn and squash, all from the same mound. They showed them how to tap sugar maple trees in order to boil the sap to produce maple syrup.

The English migrated out of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony into Connecticut which is "one of the richest agricultural areas probably in the world." They no doubtly would have brought their garden layout & practices with them.

"To guarantee high yields in such small spaces, the soil was carefully enriched. All wastes - human, animal and vegetable - were carefully hoarded, composted in piles and added to the gardens when ready. Another common practice was one we would today call "over-seeding." For example, onions, which are slow to germinate, were overseeded with lettuce, which is quick to mature. As the lettuce grew, it was removed, allowing space for the onions and providing a double harvest from a single space...

Although the colonists greatly appreciated their beauty, blooms were incidental in these first gardens; plants were chosen for their usefulness, not their aesthetic value. If flowers occurred, all the better. (One of the most striking, by the way, is elecampane [inula helenium], a 6-foot stately plant with velvety leaves and lovely, daisy-like flowers.) It wasn't until much later that more prosperous circumstances permitted the luxury of planting solely for beauty's sake."

Scroll down this page to find a Schematic Layout of a 1627 Kitchen Garden at Plimoth Plantation & a listing of plants:

"Tobacco has been a cash crop in Connecticut since colonial times, whether it was grown shaded under netting or with no cover as in Brookfield."

Answer 2

Tobacco and rice. Also, they grew corn, and some types of beans, too. Carrots were another common staple. Corn was made into basically everything back in colonial times, because it was the most abundant crop. There were limited supplies that existed in colonial Connecticut.

Answer 3

In modern Connecticut the most important crops are dairy, poultry, forest and nursery, tobacco, vegetables and fruit. The most important crop in colonial Connecticut was tobacco, the second most important being rice.

Answer 4

Tobacco became a major crop in the 1830's and today the high-grade broadleaf variety, used in making cigar wrappers, is grown in the valley.

Answer 5

Tobacco Tobacco Tobacco and rice

Answer 6

Tobacco and rice

Answer 7

Tobbaco

Answer 8

Tobacco.