The chief grains of northern Europe were wheat, rye, oats, barley,
and buckwheat. The common grasses, clover and turnips, were raised
for forage. It should be noted that all of these crops were
broad-cast seeded, none required row planting or intertillage.
A few American products had been brought to England prior to the
settlement at Jamestown. They apparently came by the way of Asia.
Maize was first called Turkey wheat. The great American bird was
named Turkey. Thomas Tusser in 1573 in his "Five Hundred Pointes of
Good Husbandrie" enumerates the meats suitable for a Christmas dinner
with the following verse:
"Beef, mutton and pork.
Shred pies of the best
Pig, veal, goose and capon
And Turkey well drest."
No earlier mention of anything strictly American in English
literature has come to light.