It was the natural result of these handy
occupations in so limited a space, that the
whole population, with the exception of that
supported by the expenditure of the garrison,
was occupied in building, or rigging, or
manning, or loading, vessels of some kind, if not
whaling or fishing. White or black, they
were all sailors and sea-faring to a man, almost
to a woman. The real mermaid still lingers
round Bermuda's coast. Breechless babies
swaggered along with a mixture of long and
short steps in true jack-tar style. Bermudian
young ladies directed their maids to let out
a reef in a petticoat, and officers driving
tandem were bid "put yer helm down," by
native guides.

There are no records to show when first in
Bermuda sea-faring arts began to devour all
others; certain it is that just as the
manufacture of glass and porcelain, purple dye,
and other signal utilities and ornaments have
been more than once discovered, lost, and
re-discovered, so were agriculture and
horticulture in the year 1839 of the islands of
perpetual spring, among the lost arts. If in
that year some convulsion had for ever
separated them from external communications,
the process of food-growing among a British
race would have been left as rude in theory,
more imperfect in practice, than among the
New Zealanders or South Sea Islanders.

There were in that year two persons in the
islands who could plough, but they did not.
Haymaking and mowing was a theory learned
in books, just as curious inquirers in
Lancashire may have read of cotton cultivation. As
for the state of gardening, it was about parallel
with British gardening in the time of Queen
Bess, who used to send to Holland for a
salad.

So there was neither corn nor hay, and very
little fruit, of the worst quality. A sort of
bitter orange-tree abounded through the
islands. Inquisitive strangers asked "Why
not graft or bud sweet oranges on these
luxuriant stocks, or why not sow sweet seeds?"
But the natives were positive that buds would
not take, and seeds would not grow.

Such was Bermuda in 1839; somewhat
depressed in its fishing, whaling, ship-building,
sea-carrying commerce, by the
competition of New Brunswick and the United
States. Although less affected than the
sugar-growing islands by negro emancipation,
still whites, who had lived easily although
barely by hiring out a few black artisans,
were reduced to sore straits.

It was in this year there arrived a new
Governor. He travelled the length and
breadth of his islands, and found all green
and all barren; a light, but fertile soil,
bearing fine timber, and luxuriant weeds.
Round the government-house was a waste
of eight acres, within sight a great swamp.
According to popular opinion, Colonial
Governors are gentlemen of broken fortunes,
and strong political connections, who endure
temporary evils for the sake of future case
and dignity.

At any rate, among military martinet
Governors; naval bashaw Governors;
didactic despatch-writing Governors; Governors
landing with crotchets all ready-cut and dry;
Governors who support the Royal
Prerogative by quarrelling with all their subjects,
and Governors whose whole soul is in
quiet and domestic economy, the popular
Governor, the wise, conciliating Governor, is
indeed a rare bird. According to stereotyped
precedent, our Bermoothean Governor ought
to have first sat down and written a flaming
despatch home, painting the misery of the island,
detailing his plans, and asking for money.
Next he should have filled up a scheme on a
scale large enough to satisfy the ideas of a
Paxton in horticulture, or a Smith of Deanston
in agriculture, and applied to his little
parliament for a vote, in order to make a garden
for himself, and a model farm for his own
amusement and the benefit of the islanders.

But it happened that our "good" Governor
as he was afterwards called with good reason,
was not a stereotyped Governor, so that the
people he was sent to rule became happy and
prosperous. He cared not to become either
rich or famous. Therefore, all his proceedings
were on a humble, commonplace scale. Seeing
that the climate was admirably adapted
for oranges; which, if of good quality, would
afford a valuable export, he sent for slips and
seeds of the best kinds.

In front of Government House stands a
bitter citron-tree: on this, with his own hands,
he budded a sweet orange. The bud, contrary
to all Bermudian opinions, sprouted, and grew,
and flourished. After the living example of
the Governor's tree, it became a fashion a
rage to bud sweet oranges; so by this simple
and short cut an horticultural revolution was
effected. Still working out the maxim that
example is better than precept, our good
Governor beat up for gardener recruits,
accepting those who knew a little as well as
those who knew nothing, but were willing to
learn. With their aid, and at his own
expense, the eight acres of waste round his
residence, Mount Langton, were converted into
a pleasure-ground, adorned with plants and
shrubs of the tropical and temperate zones,
which he threw open freely to the inhabitants
without distinction of colour.

The next step was to drain the great marsh,
the Langton Marsh, and grow hay upon it, so
as to give the Bermudians a hint on the
oddness of importing hay, while fine grass land
lay waste. Two men who could plough were
discovered, and pupils put tinder their hands;
at the same time ploughs were imported.
Having, out of his own pocket, offered prizes
for garden flowers and vegetables, for corn
and hay, for the best ploughman, and the best
scytheman, the performances of these two
being as wonderful to the islanders as skating
to an Indian prince, or wine-making to a