Garden to Table - Early Cookbooks on Google Books for Free

Google Books has these free, digitized books completely searchable. Simply open a book, enter a word in the search window, and the search engine will show you the word’s occurrences in that book.  

18th Century Cookbooks

The Whole Duty of a Woman, (London). First published in 1701. Free editions available on Google Books: 1707, 1737.

A Collection of Above Three Hundred Receipts, Mary Kettilby, (London). First published in 1714. Free editions available on Google Books: 1714, 1734.

The Compleat Confectioner, Mary Eales, (London). First published in 1718. Free editions available on Google Books: 1742, 1767.

The Cook’s and Confectioner’s Dictionary, John Nott, (London). First published in 1723. Free editions available on Google Books: 1723, 1724.

The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director, R. Bradley, (London). First published in 1727. Free editions available on Google Books: 1732, 1736.

The Compleat Housewife, Eliza Smith, (London). First published in 1727. Free editions available on Google Books: 1739.

The Compleat City and Country Cook, Charles Carter, (London). First published in 1732. Free editions available on Google Books: 1732, 1736.

The House-Keeper’s Pocket-Book, Sarah Harrison and Mary Morris, (London). First published in 1733. Free editions available on Google Books: 1739, 1760.

The Complete Family Piece, M.L. Lemery, (London). First published in 1736. Free edition available in Google Books: 1737.

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, (London). First published in 1747. Free editions available on Google Books: 1774, 1780, 1784, 1805,

The London and Country Cook, Charles Carter (London). First published in 1749. Free editions available on Google Books: 1749.

English Housewifery, Elizabeth Moxon, (London). First published in 1749. Free editions available on Google Books: 1764.

The Art of Confectionary, Edward Lambert, (London). First published in 1750. Free editions available on Google Books: 1761.

The Prudent Housewife, Mrs. Fisher, (London). First published in 1750. Free editions available on Google Books: 25th Edition.

A New and Easy Method of Cookery, Elizabeth Cleland, (Edinburgh). Free editions available on Google Books: 1755.

 A Complete System of Cookery, William Verral, (London). First published in 1759. Free editions available on Google Books: 1759.

The Complete Confectioner, Hannah Glasse & Maria Wilson (London). First published in 1760. Free editions available on Google Books: 1800.

The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, (Manchester). First published in 1769. Free editions available on Google Books: 1769, 1803, 1806.

The Lady’s, Housewife’s, and Cook-maid’s Assistant, E. Taylor, (Berwick Upon Tweed). First published in 1769. Free editions available on Google Books: 1769.

The Professed Cook, B. Clermont, (London). First published in 1769. Free editions available on Google Books: 1812,

The Court and Country Confectioner, Mr. Borella, (London). First published in 1770. Free editions available on Google Books: 1770.

Cookery and Pastry, Susanna MacIver, (Edinburgh, London). First published in 1773. Free editions available on Google Books: 1789.

The Lady’s Assistant, Charlotte Mason (London). First published in 1777. Free editions available on Google Books: 1777, 1787.

The London Art of Cookery, John Farley, (London) First published in 1783. Free editions available on Google Books: 1783, 1785, 1792, 1797, 1800.

The English Art of Cookery, John Briggs, (London). First published in 1788. Free editions available on Google Books: 1788, 1798.

The Complete Confectioner, Frederick Nutt (London). First published in 1789. Free editions available on Google Books: 1790, 1807, 1819.

The Practice of Cookery, Mrs. Frazer, (Edinburg). First published in 1790. Free editions available on Google Books: 1791, 1820.

Every Woman Her Own Housekeeper, John Perkins, (London). First published in 1790. Free editions available on Google Books: 1796.

The Universal Cook, Francis Collingwood and John Woollams, (London). First published in 1792. Free editions available on Google Books: 1792, 1797, 1806.

The New Experienced English Housekeeper, Sarah Martin, (London). First published in 1795. Free editions available on Google Books: 1795.

The Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter, (Philadelphia). Free editions available on Google Books: 1796, 1822.

The Accomplished Housekeeper, T. Williams, (London). First published in 1797. Free editions available on Google Books: 1797.

Early 19th Century Cookbooks

The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, John Mollard, (London). First published in 1801. Free editions available on Google Books: 1802, 1808.

The New Practice of Cookery, Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Donat, (Edinburgh). First published in 1804. Free editions available on Google Books: 1804.

Culina Famulatrix Medicinae, Alexander Hunter, (York). First published in 1804. Free editions available on Google Books: 1804.

The Housekeeper’s Instructor, William Henderson (London). First published in 1804. Free editions available on Google Books: 1805.

A Complete System of Cookery, John Simpson, (London). First published in 1806. Free editions available on Google Books: 1806, 1816.

A New System of Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell, (Exeter). First published in 1807. Free editions available on Google Books: 1808, 1840,

The Female Economist, Mrs. Smith (London). First published in 1810. Free editions available on Google Books: 1810.

Apicus Redivivus; or, The Cook’s Oracle, William Kitchiner (London). First published in 1817. Free editions available on Google books: 1817, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1827, 1836, 1845, 1860,

American Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell, (New York). Free editions available on Google Books: 1823.

The Art of French Cookery, A.B. Beauvilliers, (London). Free editions available on Google Books: 1827.

Houlston’s Housekeeper’s Assistant, (Wellington, Salop). Free edition available on Google Books: 1828.

The Cook’s Dictionary and Housekeeper’s Directory, Richard Dolby (London). Published in 1830. Free editions on Google Books: 1830.

Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, Eliza Leslie, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1830, 1836.

The Cook’s Own Book, N.K.M. Lee, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1832, 1840, 1842, 1854.

The Complete Economic Cook, Mary Holland, (London). First published in 1836. Free editions available on Google Books: 1837.

A Treatise on Bread and Breadmaking, Sylvester Graham, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1837.

The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, (Baltimore). First published in 1838. Free editions available on Google Books: 1838.

The Good Housekeeper, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1839.

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Richard Henry Lee 1732-1794

Richard Henry Lee. National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.
  
Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), planter and Virginia statesman, the originator of the resolution for independence in the Continental Congress and a Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Lee was born at Stratford Hall, Westmoreland County, Virginia.  

Lee was educated at Wakefield Academy in England. From 1758-1775, he served in the House of Burgesses, and sat in the Continental Congress from 1774-79, 1784-85, and 1787. He also sat in the Virginia legislature in 1777, 1780, and 1785. He sat in the Virginia constitutional ratification convention in 1788 (opposing ratification), and was elected to the first U.S. Senate, serving from 1789 until 1792. 

Dating to the late 1730s, Lee's birthplace Stratford Hall and its outbuildings are remarkable examples of colonial Virginia architecture. The site of a large 18C tobacco plantation was the home of 2 signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Below is The Octagon from Stratford Hall.

Lee had 4 surviving children with his 1st wife, Anne Aylett (1738-1768) and 5 children by his 2nd wife, Anne Gaskins Pinckard. Lee died at his Westmoreland County plantation Chantilly in 1794. Listings for Lee's library are taken from the probate inventory of his estate on 1 August 1794. 

Lee's Books on Landscape, Garden, & Farm

The gardeners dictionary ... containing the methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit and flower garden by Philip Miller

The gardeners kalendar; directing what works are necessary to be performed every month in the kitchen, fruit, and pleasure-gardens, as also in the conservatory and nursery by Philip Miller

New principles of gardening or, The laying out and planting parterres, groves, wildernesses, labyrinths, avenues, parks, &c. after a more grand and rural manner, than has been done before; ... by Batty Langley

Clavis Anglica linguae botanicae; or, A botanical lexicon; in which the terms of botany, particularly those occurring in the works of Linnaeus, and other modern writers, are applied, derived, explained, contrasted, and exemplified by John Berkenhout

Georgical essays: in which the food of plants is particularly considered. And a new compost recommended upon the principles of vegetation by Alexander Hunter

Medicina Britannica; or A treatise on such physical plants, as are generally to be found in the fields or gardens in Great Britain ... Together with the observations of the most learned physicians ... communicated to the late ... Mr. Ray, and Dr. Sim. Pauli by Thomas Short

Botanic Garden - Philip Miller & the Chelsea Physic Garden

The practical English gardener, author, and experimental horticulturalist Philip Miller was the curator of Chelsea Physic Garden. Miller learned his profession in the paternalistic pattern so familiar in the 18th century. He worked in his father's market garden before becoming a florist in Pimlico. On leaving school young Miller assisted his father but soon went on his own as a florist, garden planner, and nurseryman specializing in ornamental shrubs. Hans Sloan noticed his work, and he soon was asked to assist the foreman of the botanic garden at Chelsea. In 1722, Miller was appointed curator of the Physic Garden of the London Apothecaries at Chelsea, where he served for 48 years.

The Chelsea garden under his direction attained an international reputation boosted by his various publications, especially The Gardeners Dictionary. Carl von Linne (Linnaeus), the great Swedish botanist and organizer, made several visits to the Physic Garden in the 1730s, meeting with the garden's curator Philip Miller.

Miller's Dictionary went into 8 updated editions to 1768 , with the 7th edition of 1756 including the new nomenclature details of Linnaeus; it was translated into several European languages.

Because he became so well known, Miller received propagation material from around the world and his practical and experimental work earned him an unparalleled horticultural reputation. He became famous throughout Europe for all of the plants sent from North America, which he grew at the garden. He redistributed many of his horticultural successes throughout Europe and America. Miller remained at the Physic Garden, until he was nearly 80, finally retiring on 6 February 1771 .

Chelsea Physic Garden still exists today as one of Britain's oldest botanical gardens, a unique piece of living history with a collection of more than 5,000 medicinal and unusual plants. Over 30,000 people visit the 4 acre site each year.

The first physic garden was established in Italy in 1543, and the Chelsea Physic Garden was planted in London in 1673. Only the physic garden in Oxford preceded it in England. The 4 acre Chelsea site sat on the banks of the River Thames.

The Chelsea Physic Garden was founded as the Apothecaries' Garden, with the purpose of training apprentices in identifying plants. The location was chosen as the proximity to the river created a warmer microclimate allowing the survival of many non-native plants during harsh British winters. The river was also important as a transportation route facilitating easy movements of both plants and botanists.

In 1722, Dr. Hans Sloane, Lord of the Manor, after whom the nearby locations of Sloane Square and Sloane Street were named, purchased the Manor of Chelsea from Charles Cheyne. This purchase of about 4 acres was leased to the Society of Apothecaries for £5 a year in perpetuity. That amount is still paid each year to the heirs of that owner, Dr. Hans Sloane.

I know this blog is about American gardens, but I just can't resist including photos of the Chelsea garden which had so much influence on colonial gardens. The lovely little garden, which sits smack in the middle of busy London, is a beautiful, fragrant retreat from the near frantic bustle of the 21st century clattering around it.
19th Century Map of London showing Chelsea Physic Garden.
19th Century view of London's Chelsea Physic Garden from the south showing the famous cedars of Lebanon planted here in 1683. They were among the first to be planted in England. The last cedar died in 1903.
21st Century photo of Chelsea Physic Garden in London
21st Century photo of Chelsea Physic Garden in London
21st Century photo of Chelsea Physic Garden in London
21st Century photo of Chelsea Physic Garden in London
21st Century photo of Chelsea Physic Garden in London
21st Century photo of Chelsea Physic Garden in London.

Joseph Prentis (1754-1809) His Monthly Garden Kalender 1775-1779 - Williamsburg, Virginia

Joseph Prentis (1754-1809) was a Virginia politician who loved to garden. He represented Williamsburg in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as that body's Speaker from 1786 until 1788.

The Monthly Kalender [1775-1779]

January
In the beginning of this month, if the weather is open, sow Almans Hotspur Pease, Hotspur Beans or the long podded Bean;
In frost weather break the dead wood, from your Raspberry Bushes, and get in Dung,

February
The first of this month, sow Ormans Master Hotspur, Charltons Hot Spur and Marrow fat Peas, and plant Windsor Beans, Flip Currant and Gooseberry Bushes, and set out the flips.
On the day that the Moon fulls, sow Onions and throw Lettuce, and Rhadish with your Onions.
In the Decrease of the Moon, sow carrots, Parsnips, Spinach, Parseley, Celery, Garden Crefses white Mustard, Cabbage and Colworts.
In the Middle of this Month plant out Cabbages and Colworts, In the last week set out flips of Box.
This is too early for Carrots they will many of them go to seed, ---even if sowed in February. About the 12 or 15 of March I think the best time for sowing Carrots and Parsnips.

March
Sow all kinds of Peas and Beans, and all forts of feeds. Plant Broad and French Beans, set out Cabbages and Colworts, the flips of Raspberries and Currants, and Gooseberries,
Thyme, fage Baum, Winter favory HySsop, Featherfew Rue, Wormwood, Pot Marjoram, Mint, Tansey, Lavender, Burnett, Scellendine, and Rosemary.
After a rain plnat out Cucumber feed.
Set out Asparagus as follows,
Dig a trench as wide as you intend your beds to be, and two feed deep, lay a layer of Oyster Shells, six Inches, then lay on Six Inches of Horse Dung, and as much Mould, continue so to do, till the Bed is done. Take your Roots raised from feed, and set them out in Rows, a foot Wide let there be a space of about a foot between each Row.

April
The first of this Month sow, your last Crop of Peas; plant French Beans; Spade up your Artichoak Bed and flip the Plants; leaving two of the Strongest in a Hill.
Sow Cabbage, Lettuce, Rhadish, White Mustard and Cresses Seeds.
Plant our your Cabbages. Sow Colliflower Seed Celery, Cresses, Nasturian Lettuce. Salsafy early in the Month.

May
Sow Colliflower, and Cabbage Seeds. Last of this month sow Brocoli, Celery, Cucumbers for Pickles Endive: Featherfew Le Melons, Peas, Radishes -twice- , Kidney Beans.

June
Plant Cucumbers and Broad Beans---or french Beans.
About the Middle of this Month sow Brocoli Seed. Sow Cabbages, also Rhadishes twice, transplant your Cabbages, prick out Colliflowers, and Brocoli. Draw up all your Weeds by the Roots.

July
The first of this month plant out Cabbages, and Celery; observing to Water to Ground if it is dry.
About the middle of this Month plant Colliflowers 3 ½ feet distances in very rich Ground. The last of this month sow Carrots and Peas. Transplant your Brocoli to stand, take up your onions. Sow Turnep Seed, plant Kidney Beans.

August
Sow Onion Seed, the first day of this Month with Rhadish and Lettuce, also Garden Cresses and White Mustard, Carrots may now be sown.
12th August, Sow peas for the Fall, about the same time sow Spinach, Turneps, Rhadishes.

September
The first of this Month sow Colliflower and Cabbage Seed, and also some Rhadish. After the full of the Moon, sow Spinage. The last of this Month, take your Colliflowers, and plnat them on Beds, to stand till November. This will prevent their flowering.
About the 10th sow your Colliflower Seed, plant cuttings of Currants, also of Gooseberrys, plant layers of Raspberries, plant out Strawberries dress your Strawberry Borders.

October
Dung your Ground, in order to plant Cabbages set them out on Beds to prevent the Waters standing. Dress your Borders.
20th transplant your Colliflowers, Last of this Month cut down your Asparagus and cover the Beds well with Manure.

November
In the beginning of this Month lay up the Earth to your artichokes, and fill the space between with Horse Dung, and Litter.
The first Week in this Month, plant out your Colliflowers as follows; Prepare your Ground as for as Hot Bed, then dig a trench Spade Deep; and two feed and a half Wide, make holes at convenient distances, set five Plants in each hole, put your Glasses on, raise them on the South side, when it is warm; plant out three of these plants in the first week in March.
During this month cut your asparagus close to the Ground, cover the Beds, with Horse Dung, then throw the Earth, out of the Vallies over the Horse Dung. Fork them up in March, and fill the allies again from the Beds.
Plant every thing of the Tree or Shrub kind. Prune your Trees and Vines. Take up your Colliflowers, if flowered, and House them.

December
The first of this Month, take up your Carrots, cut the tops off; and put them in a hole. When the Frost has bit your Parsnips; dispose of them in the same Manner.
If the weather be open, about the 20th of this Month, sow Almans Hotspur Peas, when they come up, earth them up to the Tops, don’t cover them.
Cover your Celery and every thing else that can be destroyed by the Frost.

Books/Herbals/Manuscripts - Tho Jefferson (1743-1824) to Bernard M'Mahon 1806

Thomas Jefferson by Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kosciuszko (1746 - 1817)

The American gardener's calendar; adapted to the climates and seasons of the United States. Containing a complete account of all the work necessary to be done in the kitchen-garden, fruit-garden, orchard, vineyard, nursery, pleasure-ground, flower-garden, green-house, hot-house, and forcing frames, for every month in the year; with ample practical directions for performing the same… by Bernard M'Mahon

"Th: Jefferson returns his thanks to mr McMahon for the book he has been so kind as to send him. from the rapid view he has taken of it & the original matter it appears to contain he has no doubt it will be found an useful aid to the friends of an art, too important to health & comfort & yet too much neglected in this country . . . " — Thomas Jefferson to Bernard McMahon, 25 April 1806

Research & images & much more are directly available from the Monticello.org website. 

Books/Herbals/Manuscripts in Early America - Botanist Jacob Bigelow 1817

Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817-20. Iris versicolor, Blue flag, or flower de luce

The author of American Medical Botany Jacob Bigelow (1787-1879) graduated as a doctor but pursued his interest in botany leading him to publish the first systematic plant survey of the flora indigenous to Boston, in 1814. Along with William Barton's Vegetable Materia Medica, publication of which was almost simultaneous, Bigelow's book was one of the first two American botanical books with colored illustrations. American Medical Botany: being a collection of the native medicinal plants of the United States, containing their botanical history and chemical analysis, and properties and uses in medicine, diet and the arts was published in 6 parts, later bound into 3 volumes, appearing in 1817-1820.

Bigelow taught botany at Harvard University while maintianing his medical practice. He also was the botanist & landscape architect for Mount Auburn Cemetery. Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831, as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain. The use of this gentle of landscape coincides with the rising popularity of the term cemetery, as opposed to graveyard. Cemetery evolves from the Greek term for "a sleeping place." The 174 acre Massachusetts cemetery is important both for its historical precedents & for its role as an arboretum.
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. , Datura stramonium, Thorn apple.
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Apocynum androsaemifolium (dog's bane)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Datura stramonium (thorn apple)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Euphorbia ipecacuanha
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Geranium maculatum (common cranesbill)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Ictodes foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Illicium foridanum (starry anise)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Laurus sassafras (sassafras tree)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Magnolia glauca - small magnolia
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Menyanthes trifoliata (buck bean)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Nicotina tabacum (tobacco)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Nymphea odorata - sweet scented water lily
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Rhododendron maximum (american rose bay)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Rubus villosus (tall blackberry)
Jacob Bigelow. American Medical Botany. 1817. Sanguinaria canadensis (blood root)

Gardening Books in Early America - Classic Roman Garden & Farm Writings

During the late colonial & early federal period, Roman works on farming were recorded in several 18th century colonial libraries including:

~Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 b.c.) De Agricultura,
~Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius (4th century a.d.) Secondus' Naturalis Historiae Libri, the letters of Pliny the Younger "translated by Melmoth,"
~Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 b.c.), Rerum Rusicarum Libri Tres, and many volumes of 
~Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (approx. 4 b.c. – 65 a.d.), including Of Husbandry and "his book concerning trees translated from the Latin"

Agriculture in ancient Rome was not only a necessity, but it was idealized among the social elite as the most honorable way of life.  Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43 BC), usually called Cicero, considered farming the best of all Roman occupations. In his treatise On Duties, he declared that "of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a free man."  Cicero defended country life as "the teacher of economy, of industry, and of justice." 

Of course, much Roman advice from the elite about farming was theoretical.  Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person, and the more country land a Roman gentleman owned, the more important he would be in the city.  The ideal Roman farm would depend on slave labor overseen by freemen, a system familiar in the American south.  The Romans had 4 systems of farm management: direct work by owner & his family; sharecropping in which the owner & a tenant divide up a farm's produce; forced labor by slaves on land owned by aristocrats & supervised by slave managers; & farms leased to tenants.  One way to acquire land was as a reward for going to war.  High ranking soldiers returning from war would often be given small pieces of public land or land in provinces as a way of paying them for their services.  After the American Revolution, the newly formed government instituted a similar plan for those who had fought for their country.

In 18th-century America, most of the personal & public repositories containing these works in the original language also housed either Littleton's Latin Dictionary, Ainsworth's Latin, or Floru's Latin and English to assist in translation.*

Marylander Charles Carroll of Carrollton referred to "Addison's Cato" when writing to a friend in London in 1775.  Cato's writings are a miscellaneous collection of notes rather than an an organized text, giving directions for the care of a farm seemingly based on Cato’s own experience.  But one might question Cato's first-hand experience, as he claimed such a farm should have "a foreman, a foreman's wife, ten laborers, one ox driver, one donkey driver, one man in charge of the willow grove, one swineherd, in all sixteen persons; two oxen, two asses for wagon work, one ass for the mill work."  Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men and the sturdiest soldiers come." 

Cato writes on diverse farm topics from growing asparagus to curing hams. His general advice on transplanting trees & shrubs would be familiar to 18th-century American planters, “In transplanting olives, elms, figs, fruit trees, vines, pines, and cypresses, dig them up carefully, roots and all, with as much of their own soil as possible … When you place them in the trench, bed them in top soil, spread dirt over them to the ends of the roots, trample it thoroughly and pack with rammers and bars as firmly as possible."

Varro was renowned for the depth of his knowledge in diverse disciplines. He was said to be a prolific writer, but only 6 incomplete books on the Latin language & 3 books on agriculture seem to have survived.  He began his work on agriculture late in life writing it in the form of instructions addressed to his wife, Fundania, for their recently purchased a farm. Varro says that his remarks are "derived from three sources: what I have myself observed by practice on my own land, what I have read, and what I have heard from experts."  He divides the planting year into 8 periods, enumerating tasks for each period. For example, during the 7th period, autumn, he recommends "Planting of lilies and crocus."  He also gives directions for propagating roses: "A rose which has already formed a root is cut from the root up into twigs a palm breadth long and planted; later on the same twig is transplanted when it has made a living root."

Columella, born in Spain, spent much in his youth with his uncle who was a farmer. He warns that reading about agriculture can be instructive, but that to become a farmer it is necessary to put theory  into actual practice. His 12 books on agriculture, Rei rusticae, plus one on trees, De arboribus, constitute the most comprehensive & ordered of all the Roman farm & garden texts. De Rei Rustica begins with a list of his predecessors & makes a point of the importance of agriculture, he speaks of general husbandry & farm management in Book 1. Book 2 is on the cultivation of the land. Books 3, 4 and the 1st part of Book 5 are on viticulture. The last half of Book 5 is dedicated to arboriculture.  Book 6 is on cattle.   Book 7 is devoted to smaller animals, sheep, goats, et al.  Book 8 tells of fowl & fish.  Book 9 is devoted to game & bees.  Later on, Columella added 2 more books.  Book 11 gives information on the tasks of the farm manager & more on horticulture.  Book 12 continues to define the jobs of the villa. Columella defined the 3 main elements of the villa. These include the pars urbana, where the owner lived together with his familia; the pars rustica, where laborers, animals & farm tools were located; & the pars fructuaria, which held the equipment for processing & preserving the harvest. Columella uses the term circa villam to describe the surrounding area, thus emphasising that the villa was associated with agricultural lands. A villa rustica may be thought of as a simple farm, & a villa urbana as a manor – the master's residence.

Columella also writes one book specifically on gardening. Book 10, De cultu hortorum, probably intented to be the last one, has horticulture as its subject. In it Columella becomes a poet treating his garden in verse, following Vergilius. Columella explains that this book is meant to supplement Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BC-19 BC), usually called Virgil, Georgica, 4 books on agriculture in which Virgil describes life & work of the countryman. Agriculture, viticulture, lifestock, & apiculture are all examined by Virgil. 

Virgil's Georgics (Book IV) cites the life of bees as a model for human society + the story of Aristaeus and the bees. 1502

In Book 10, Columella gives advice on tilling, manuring, watering & weeding gardens. At the first sign of spring the gardener,

Should with rich mould or asses’ solid dung
Or other ordure glut the starving earth …
Now let him with the hoe’s well-sharpened edge
Again attack the earth’s surface packed with rain
And hard with frost; then with the tooth of rake
Or broken mattock mix the living turf
With clods of earth and all the crumbling wealth
Of the ripe field set free …

Despite the practical advice in Columella’s work, he also repeats local customs & superstitions. One could ward off pests by having a barefoot girl experiencing her first menstruation walk 3 times around a field, & then a shower of smooth skinned apples or of bark-thatched acorns rains down when the tree is shaken, so writhing caterpillars are tumbled to earth.  Columella also warns that "grain offers little profit compared to wine."  Perhaps it was a matter of personal preference of wine over bread.

Palladius' manual is entirely arranged in calendar form, giving agricultural hints for each month of the year, beginning with January.  The 1st printed work on agriculture is the 1471 Ruralia commoda by Pietro de Crescenzi (c 1230–c 1320) issued just a year before the editio princeps of the 4 classical era agricultural texts. Crescenzi’s is a much more practical approach to agriculture, actually based on hands-on experience on his own country estate near Bologna. It incorporated advice from classical authorities such as Palladius & Columella, supplemented with detailed information on general plant & animal husbandry, with some ornamental gardening as well.  Originally written in Latin, it was quickly translated into Italian, French, & German.

The 4 Roman writers on agriculture were frequently found published together in a single volume, under the general title Scriptores rei rusticate.  The 1735 edition of the 4 Roman texts by Johann Matthias Gesner (1691–1761), a German language & literature scholar, is considered to be one of the best, including commentaries & even notes.

In 1742, Eliza Lucas Pinckney in South Carolina, wrote a letter to her friend Miss Bartlett, "I have got no further than the first volume of Virgil but was most agreeable disappointed to find myself instructed in agriculture as well as entertained by his charming pen, for I am persuaded tho' he wrote in and for Italy, it will in many instances suit Carolina...the calm and diction of pastoral and gardening agreeably presented themselves, not unsuitably to this charming season of the year, with which I am so much delighted."  Eliza was writing the letter on a glorious Carolina spring day.

Growing interest in classical farming techniques & theories spurred Adam Dickson to write Husbandry of the Ancients published in Edinburgh in 1788.  Virginian George Wythe (1726 –1806), law professor, classics scholar, & judge, owned a copy of the essays of Cato, Varro, & Collubella in Adam Dickson's Husbandry of the Ancients.  Although he was not a farmer or a gardener, he thought this collection was so important, that he left it to Thomas Jefferson in 1806.

Boy holding a platter of fruits & what may be a bucket of crabs, in a kitchen with fish & squid, on the June panel from a mosaic depicting the months (3rd century)

~Linguae latinae liber dictionarius quadripartitus: Dr. Adam Littleton's (1627-1694) Latin dictionary, in four parts. An English-Latin. A Latin-classical. An Latin-proper. A Latin-barbarous D. Brown, 1715
~Thesavrvs Lingvae Latinae Compendiarivs Or, A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue: Designed Chiefly for the Use of the British Nations. Robert Ainsworth (1660-1743) W. Mount and T. Page, 1751
~John Clarke's Florus, Latin and English. 1774

For more information on Roman agriculture, see

~Bakels, Corrie & Stefanie Jacomet, “Access to Luxury Foods in Central Europe during the Roman Period: The Archaeobotanical Evidence.” In World Archaeology, Vol. 34, No. 3, Luxury Foods (February, 2003), 542-557.
~Dalby, Andrew (2003), Food in the ancient world from A to Z, London, New York: Routledge,
~Erdkamp, Paul .The Grain Market in the Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005
~Garnsey, Peter. Food and Society in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
~Garnsey, Peter and Richard P. Saller, The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture. Berkley: University of California Press, 1987.
~Garnsey P.  Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press. 1988
~Giacosa I.G. 1992. A Taste of Ancient Rome. University of Chicago Press.
~Grant, Michael. History of Rome. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978.
~Haywood, Richard Mansfield. Ancient Rome. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1867.
~Killgrove K. Migration and mobility in Imperial Rome. 2010 PhD dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
~Spurr, M. S. Arable Cultivation in Roman Italy – c.200 B.C.-C.A.D. 100. London: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1986.
~Vogt, Joseph. The Decline of Rome: The Metamorphosis of Ancient Civilisation. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965.
~White, Kenneth D. “The Efficiency of Roman Farming under the Empire.” In Agricultural History, Vol. 30, No. 2 (April, 1956), 85-89.

Gardening Books in Early America - Overview

Practical farming & gardening books far outnumbered books devoted exclusively to pleasure gardening on the bookshelves of colonial & early American gardeners. Agriculture was the main source of income for most colonial families. Once a landowner was producing enough off of his land to support his family, he might have the time & the extra funds to begin to transform some of his land, closest to his house, into a pleasure garden. It was his art.

Often the necessary agricultural instruction books contained information on gardening as well. We can learn which farming books were in use in the colonies from death inventories. Marylanders were fairly faithful inventory recorders. Although scattered estate inventory records dating back to 1674, do exist in the state, these documents are nearly complete after a 1715 law required all executors to make an estate inventory within 3 months of death.

Unfortunately inventory takers were not often very specific when recording book titles & seldom listed authors, so the interpretation of precisely what book was recorded in early property lists is difficult. The 1718 inventory of William Bladen, who was Secretary of Maryland in 1701, & Attorney General in 1707, listed John Evelyn's (1620-1706) The Complete Gardener published in London in 1693. It was a translation of a French work by Jean de la Quintinie (1629-1688). The "Art of Gardening" which appears in several early inventories was probably the work of the English author, Leonard Meager. His book, actually titled The New Art of Gardening, was published in London in 1697.

The extant letters of 18th century Marylanders Henry Callister & Charles Carroll the Barrister (of Mount Clare) often mention farming books. Henry Callister (1716-1765) spent several years in a Liverpool counting house, before his employers sent him to manage their store at Oxford on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Evidence of the frequent exchange of books among gardening readers on the Eastern Shore is found scattered throughout his letterbooks.

After his arrival in Maryland, Callister became acquainted with a prosperous planter William Carmichael, who lived near Chestertown. Callister borrowed Carmichael's copy of Jethro Tull's (1647-1741) Horse-Hoeing Husbandry: Or, an Essay on the Principals of Tillage and Vegetation published in 1733. The book was a classic, and Tull came to be called the "father of modern husbandry." Callister also owned a copy of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort's (1656-1708) History of Plants Growing about Paris, With Their Use in Physick, and a mechanical account of the operation of medicines. Translated into English, with many additions, & accommodated to the plants growing in Great Britain by John Martyn, it was published by C. Riverington in London in 1732.

Callister offered to sell this particular book to a fellow gardener in 1765, "I have a small posthumous work of Tournefort...it gives the description & use of plants in medicine, with their chymical analysis; it is an 2v. 12 degree worth 12/6 Currency. I shall send it if you like. I would now, as it might be return'd if not wanted, but there are a few things in it which I would read first."

The book's author Joseph Pitton de Tournefort became professor of Botany at the Jardin du Roi botanic garden in Paris in 1683, and later made various expeditions in Europe & the Near East in search of plants. In 1688, he took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at the University of Orange. The book's English translator, John Martyn (1699-1768) was Professor of Botany at Cambridge from 1732 until 1762.

By 1766, Charles Carroll the Barrister was ordering his seeds for Mount Clare from his British factors by noting specific seed types directly from the English gardening books on his shelves. That year he copied a long list of seeds "from Hale's Complete Body of Husbandry," first published in London in 1755/56, asking his English agents to send as many of them as possible to Maryland.

Another book referred to by the Barrister was Thomas Hale's Eden: or a compleat body of gardening...(or ratehr by Sir. J. Hill) published in London in 1756-57. John Hill (1716-1775) was the son of a Lincolnshire clergyman brought up to be an apothecary. During his apprenticeship he attended the lectures on botany of the Chelsea botanic garden. In 1750, he was granted a degree as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of St. Andrews. In 1760, he assisted in laying out a botanic garden at Kew & was a gardener at Kensington Palace. Carroll's copy of Hale's Complete Husbandry still exists in the library at Mount Clare.

The Barrister was also interested in the agricultural reforms sweeping England. He not only knew which specific books he wanted his English agents to buy but was able to direct them to the specific publishing houses in London that stocked the desired works. He ordered, "A new and Complete System of Practical Husbandry by John Mills Esquire, Editor of Duhamels Husbandry printed by John Johnson at the monument... Essays on Husbandry Essay the first On The Ancient and Present State of Agriculture and the Second On Lucern Printed for William Frederick at Bath 1764. Sold by Hunter at Newgate Street or Johnston in Ludgate Street."

The Barrister's distant cousin who signed the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), also ordered farming & gardening books from England. By the mid 1760s, his family's library in Annapolis contained Miller's Dictionary & Richard Bradley's (1686-1732) New Improvement of Planting and Gardening published in London in 1726. Bradley's work appeared in several Maryland inventories in the 1730's. Bradley studied gardening in France and Holland; and in 1724, he was appointed the first professor of Botany at Cambridge.

Another popular English publication in Carroll's library by the mid-1760s was Batty Langley's (1696-1751) New Principles of Gardening... with Experimental Directions for Raising several kinds of Fruit Trees, Forest Trees, Evergreens and Flowering Shrubs. Later the Carrolls added to their library Richard Weston's (1733-1806) Gardener's and Planter's Calendar published in Dublin in 1782. Weston was a thread hosier in Leicester who had travelled in France & Holland as Secretary of the Leicester Agricultural Society.

The letters of Henry Callister & the several Maryland Carrolls show that many of the books owned by Marylanders were imported directly from London in exchange for the annual tobacco shipment or goods such as iron ore. Before the Revolution wealthy planters & merchants depended on their own private libraries often exchanging books with one another. When literate farmers & planters died, their books were passed to others with deliberate care. At the death of Virginian gentleman William Ludlow in the mid 1760s, his books were offered for sale directly to Charles Carroll of Carrollton who chose two gardening books from the Virginian's collection including Batty Langley's treatise.

Direct trade with London booksellers gradually decreased, as tobacco became less important in the economic life of Maryland and as trade was curtailed during the Revolution. As a result, bookstores & circulating libraries began to appear in Annapolis & Baltimore. Their appearance coincided with the rise of a literate merchant class. Before the Revolution, there were a few booksellers in colonial Maryland. William Aikman was an early bookseller in Annapolis who imported quantities of books from London for sale directly to colonial readers. In the Maryland Gazette of June 23, 1774, he advertised for sale "Adam Dickson, A Treatise on Agriculture...2 vol. Edinburgh, 1770."

Several Maryland booksellers quickly realized that not all readers in the new nation could afford to buy books for their personal use & started offering less costly circulating library services to expand their businesses. By 1783, Annapolis had its own circulating library offering a few farming & gardening books to subscribers. These included Richard Weston's Gardener's and Planter's Calendar (published only a year earlier in Ireland) and Thomas Mawe's Everyman His Own Gardener published in London by W. Griffin in 1767. Mawe was the gardener to the Duke of Leeds who only lent his name to give an air of authenticity to the publication actually written by John Abercrombie (1726-1806).

The largest collection of 18th century gardening & agricultural books owned in Maryland is referred to in earliest catalogue of the Library Company of Baltimore. These books formed the nucleus of information for Baltimore farmers for many years. In the December 1780 Maryland Journal, William Prichard advertised that he was opening a bookstore & establishing a circulating library of 1000 volumes in Baltimore. By 1784, a 2nd literary entrepreneur William Murphy opened a circulating library in the city, but the most information remains about the Library Company of Baltimore, which had 60 subscribers & 1300 volumes when it was chartered in 1796. By 1809 when the first catalogue was prepared, the library had over 400 members & 7000 volumes. By the next year there were about 35,000 people living in Baltimore, many visiting the Library Company to borrow an English or classical book on gardening.

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Geo Washington (1732-1799)

George Washington (22 February 1732 - 14 December 1799), Virginia surveyor, landowner, military leader and statesman. Commander of the Continental Army, President of the Constitutional Convention, and first President of the United States.

1790s  Christian Gullager 1759-1826 George Washington.

George Washington's library at the time of his death ran to some nine hundred volumes, which passed into the possession of his nephew Judge Bushrod Washington along with Washington's papers and Mount Vernon. When Bushrod Washington died in 1826, he willed parts of the library to his nephews George C. and John A. Washington and to his grand-nephew Bushrod Washington Herbert.  Around 1847, a large portion of the books which remained at Mount Vernon were sold to bookseller Henry Stevens, who announced his intention to send them to the British Museum. A group from Boston and Cambridge, MA responded by raising $4,250 and purchased the books for the Boston Athenaeum (along with items to accompany the collection). This collection comprises the major portion of George Washington's library as we know it today.  Other Washington books were sold at auctions in 1876 and in the early 1890s. Information on the books sold in those sales has been included where possible.

Books on Landscape, Garden, & Farm

Title: The hot-house gardener on the general culture of the pine-apple, and methods of forcing early grapes, peaches, nectarines, and other choice fruits, in hot-houses, vineries, fruit-houses, hot-walls, &, with directions for raising melons and early strawberries
Author: John Abercrombie
Info: London : Printed for J. Stockdale, 1789.

Title: Hints on vegetation : and questions regarding the nature and principles thereof addressed to farmers, nurserymen and gardeners
Author: Great Britain (Board of Agriculture)
Other authors: Sir John Sinclair (Author)
Info: London : Printed by B. McMillan ..., 1796.

Title: A treatise upon planting, gardening, and the management of the hot-house
Author: John Kennedy
Info: London, S. Hooper, 1777. 2d ed.

Title: The gardeners kalendar : directing what works are necessary to be performed every month in the kitchen, fruit, and pleasure-gardens, as also in the conservatory and nursery ...
Author: Philip Miller
Info: London : Printed for the author, and sold by John Rivington ... [and 15 others], 1762.

Title: Planting and rural ornament
Author: William Marshall
Info: London, Printed for G. Nicol ... G.G. and J. Robinson ... and J. Debrett ..., 1796.

Title: Le jardinier solitaire the solitary or Carthusian gard'ner, being dialogues between a gentleman and a gard'ner. Containing the method to make and cultivate all sorts of gardens; ... Written in French by Francis Gentil, ... Also The compleat florist: ... By the Sieur Louis Liger d'Auxerre. In three parts. Newly done into English
Author: François Gentil
Info: London : printed for Benj. Tooke, 1706.

Title: New principles of gardening: or, The laying out and planting parterres, groves, wildernesses, labyrinths, avenues, parks, &c. after a more grand and rural manner, than has been done before; with experimental directions for raising the several kinds of fruit-trees, forest-trees ... To which is added, the various names, descriptions, temperatures, medicinal virtues, uses and cultivations of several roots, pulse, herbs, &c. of the kitchen and physick gardens
Author: Batty Langley
Info: London, A. Bettesworth and J. Batley [etc.] 1728.

Title: The universal gardener and botanist or, a general dictionary of gardening and botany. Exhibiting in botanical arrangement, according to the Linnæan system, every tree, shrub, and herbaceous plant, ... By Thomas Mawe, ... And John Abercrombie
Author: John Abercrombie
Other authors: Thomas Mawe (Author)
Info: London : printed for G. Robinson; and T. Cadell, 1778.

Title: The abridgement of the Gardeners dictionary: containing the best and newest methods of cutlivating and improving the kitchen, fruit, flower garden, and nursery; as also for performing the practical parts of husbandry: together with the management of vineyards, and the methods of making wine in England. In which likewise are included, directions for propagating and improving, from real practice and experience, pasture lands and all sorts of timber trees
Author: Philip Miller
Info: London, Printed for the author, 1763. 5th ed.

Title: Catalogue of plants, exotic and indigenous, in the Botanical Garden, Jamaica
Author: Thomas Dancer
Info: St. Jago de la Vega : Printed by Alexander Aikman, printer to the Honourable House of Assembly, [1792].

Title: An heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers knight, comptroller general of His Majesty's works, and author of a late dissertation on oriental gardening. Enriched with explanatory notes, chiefly extraced from that elaborate performance
Author: William Mason
Info: London : printed for J. Almon, 1776.

Title: Descriptions of some of the utensils in husbandry rolling carriages, cart rollers, and divided rollers for land or gardens, mills, weighing engines
Author: James Sharp
Info: [London? : s.n., 1777?]

Title: The Botanical magazine; or Flower-garden displayed: in which the most ornamental foreign plants, cultivated in the open ground, the green-house, and the store, are accurately represented in their natural colours
Info: London: printed by S. Couchman, for W. Curtis, 1793-1800.

Title: The hot-house gardener on the general culture of the pine-apple, and methods of forcing early grapes, peaches, nectarines, and other choice fruits, in hot-houses, vineries, fruit-houses, hot-walls, &c., with directions for raising melons and early strawberries
Author: John Abercrombie
Info: London : Printed for J. Stockdale, 1789.

Title: Essays relating to agriculture and rural affairs
Author: James Anderson
Info: Edinburgh : Printed for John Bell and for G. Robinson, 1784-1796.

Title: A practical treatise on draining bogs and swampy grounds : illustrated by figures : with cursory remarks upon the originality of Mr. Elkington's mode of draining : to which are added directions for making a new kind of strong, cheap and durable fence, for rich lands, for erecting at little expense, mill-dams, or weirs upon rivers ... As also, disquisitions concerning the different breeds of sheep, and other domestic animals : being the principal additions that have been made to the fourth edition ...
Author: James Anderson
Info: London : Printed for G.G. and J. Robinson, 1797.

Title: A practical treatise on peat moss, considered as in its natural state fitted for affording fuel, or as susceptible of being converted into mold capable of yielding abundant crops of useful produce; with full directions for converting it from the state of peat into that of mold, and afterwards cultivating it as a soil
Author: James Anderson
Info: Edinburgh, Printed for Robinson and Sons, 1794.

Title: Prospectus of an intended new periodical work, to be called the Bee, or Universal literary intelligencer to be published weekly ...
Author: James Anderson
Info: Edinburgh : Printed by Mundell and Son ..., 1790.

Title: Recreations in agriculture, natural-history, arts, and miscellaneous literature
Author: James Anderson
Info: [S.l. : s.n.], 1799-1800.

Title: Charles Baker's Treatise for the preventing of the smut in wheat
Author: Charles Baker
Info: Bristol : Printed, by John Rose, for the author ..., 1797.

Title: A summary view of the courses of crops, in the husbandry of England & Maryland : with a comparison of their products; and a system of improved courses, proposed for farms in America
Author: John Beale Bordley
Info: Philadelphia : Printed by Charles Cist, 1784.

Title: Purport of a letter on sheep : Written in Maryland, March the 30th, 1789
Author: John Beale Bordley
Info: [Philadelphia : Daniel Humphreys, 1789].

Title: Sketches on rotations of crops
Author: John Beale Bordley
Info: Philadelphia : Printed by C. Cist, 1792.

Title: Sketches on rotations of crops, and other rural matters : To which are annexed Intimations on manufactures; or the fruits of agriculture; and on new sources of trade interfering with products of the United States of America in foreign markets
Author: John Beale Bordley
Info: Philadelphia: Printed by Charles Cist, 1797.

Title: Queries selected from a paper of the Board of Agriculture in London : on the nature and principles of vegetation: with answers and observations
Author: John Beale Bordley
Info: [Philadelphia : Charles Cist, 1797].

Title: A treatise on watering meadows
Author: George Boswell
Info: London, J. Debrett, 1792.

Title: Treatise on agriculture and practical husbandry. Designed for the information of landowners and farmers. With a brief account of the advantages arising from the new method of culture practised in Europe
Author: Metcalf Bowler
Info: Providence, Printed by Bennett Wheeler, 1786.

Title: The orchardist, or, A system of close pruning and medication for establishing the science of orcharding : as patronized by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
Author: Thomas Skip Dyot Bucknall
Other authors: Manufactures Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and Commerce (Great Britain)
Info: London : Printed for G. Nichol ..., 1797.

Title: A treatise, shewing the intimate connection that subsists between agriculture and chemistry : addressed to the cultivators of the soil, to the proprietors of fens and mosses, in Great Britain and Ireland, and to the proprietors of West India estates
Author: Earl Archibald Cochrane of Dundonald
Info: London : Printed by the author, and sold by R. Edwards, 1795.

Title: An account of the culture and use of the mangel wurzel, or root of scarcity
Author: Abbé de Commerell
Other authors: John Coakley Lettsom (Translator)
Info: London : Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultrey; and J. Phillips, George-Yard, Lombard-Street, 1787.

Title: Mémoire sur la culture, l'usage et les avantages du chou-à-faucher
Author: Abbé de Commerell
Info: A Paris : chez Petit, [1789]

Title: Lettres d'un cultivateur américain addressées à W.m S...on ecq.r depuis l'année 1770, jusqu'en 1786
Author: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
Info: Paris, Chez Cuchet Libraire, Rue et Hôtel Serpente, 1787.

Title: The case of labourers in husbandry stated and considered, in three parts. With an appendix containing a collection of accounts, shewing the earnings and expenses of labouring families in different parts of the Kingdom
Author: David Davies
Info: Bath, Printed by R. Cruttwell for G. G. and J. Robinson, London, 1795.

Title: The farmer's compleat guide, through all the articles of his profession; the laying out, proportioning, and cropping his ground; and the rules for purchasing, managing, and preserving his stock
Author: John Ball
Info: London, G. Kearsly, 1760.

Title: Compleat body of husbandry. : Containing rules for performing, in the most profitable manner, the whole business of the farmer and country gentleman, in cultivating, planting and stocking of land; in judging of the several kinds of seeds, and, of manures; and in the management ... To which is annexed, the whole management of the orchard, the brewhouse, and the dairy.
Author: Thomas Hale
Info: London: : Printed for Tho. Osborne, in Gray's-Inn ; Tho. Trye, near Gray's-Inn Gate Holbourn ; and S. Crowder and Co. on London-Bridge., 1758-1759. 2d ed.

Title: The gentleman farmer : Being an attempt to improve agriculture, by subjecting it to the test of rational principles
Author: Lord Henry Home Kames
Info: Dublin : Printed by James Williams, 1779.

Title: A treatise upon planting, gardening, and the management of the hot-house
Author: John Kennedy
Info: London, S. Hooper, 1777. 2d ed.

Title: Observations in husbandry
Author: Edward Lisle
Info: London : Printed by J. Hughs ... for C. Hitch ... [and 7 others], 1757.

Title: Fourteen agricultural experiments, to ascertain the best rotation of crops : addressed to the "Philadelphia Agricultural Society"
Author: George Logan
Info: Philadelphia : Printed by Francis and Robert Bailey ..., 1797.

Title: A treatise on hemp : in two parts : containing I. its history ... II. the methods of cultivating, dressing, and manufacturing it ...
Author: M. Marcandier
Info: London : Printed for T. Becket, and P.A. De Hondt, 1764.

Title: Arbustrum americanum: the American grove, or, An alphabetical catalogue of forest trees and shrubs, natives of the American United States, arranged according to the Linnaean system. Containing, the particular distinguishing characters of each genus, with plain, simple and familiar descriptions of the manner of growth, appearance, &c. of their several species and varieties. Also, some hints of their uses in medicine, dyes, and domestic oeconomy
Author: Humphry Marshall

Title: The gardeners kalendar : directing what works are necessary to be performed every month in the kitchen, fruit, and pleasure-gardens, as also in the conservatory and nursery ...
Author: Philip Miller
Info: London : Printed for the author, and sold by John Rivington ... [and 15 others], 1762.

Title: A description of the soil, productions, commercial, agricultural and local advantages of the Georgia western territory: together with a summary and impartial view of the claims of Georgia and of the United States to this territory, and of the principal arguments aduced by the purchasers against these claims. Collected and stated from various authentic documents
Author: Jedidiah Morse
Info: Boston, Printed by Thomas & Andrews, 1797.

Title: Observations on the different breeds of sheep and the state of sheep farming in the southern districts of Scotland : being the result of a tour through these parts made under the direction of the Society For Improvement of British Wool
Author: John Naismyth
Other authors: Society for the Improvement of British Wool (Contributor)
Info: Edinburgh : Printed by W. Smellie, printer to the Society, 1795.

Title: Notes on farming
Author: Charles Thomson
Info: New-York : [s.n.], Printed in the year 1787.

Title: An account of the different kinds of sheep found in the Russian dominions, and among the Tartar hordes of Asia ... To which is added, five appendixes tending to illustrate the natural and economical history of sheep and other domestic animals
Author: Peter Simon Pallas
Other authors: James Anderson (Contributor)
Info: Edinburgh, Pkinted [sic] and sold by T. Chapman, 1794.

Title: Agricultural enquiries on plaister of Paris : also, facts, observations and conjectures on that subtance [sic], when applied as manure : collected, chiefly from the practice of farmers in Pennsylvania, and published as much with a view to invite, as to give information
Author: Richard Peters
Info: Philadelphia : Printed by Charles Cist ..., and John Markland ..., 1797.

Title: Observations on the different breeds of sheep : and the state of sheep farming in some of the principle counties of England drawn up from a report transmitted to Sir John Sinclair, chairman of the Society for the Improvement of British Wool
Author: William Redhead
Other authors: Robert Laing (Contributor), William Marshall (Contributor)
Info: Edinburgh: Printed by W. Smellie and sold by W. Creech [et al.], 1792.

Title: The compleat horseman, or, Perfect farrier; in two parts. Part I. discovering the surest marks of beauty, goodness, faults, and imperfections of horses ... The art of shoeing ... riding and managing the great horse. Part II. Contains the signs and causes of their diseases, with the true method of curing them
Author: Jacques de Solleysel
Info: London, for J. Walthoe [etc.] 1729. 4th ed.

Title: The practical farmer : being a new and compendious system of husbandry adapted to the different soils and climates of America, containing the mechanical, chemical, and philosophical elements of agriculture : with many other useful and interesting subjects
Author: John Spurrier
Info: Wilmington [Del.] : Printed by Brynberg and Andrews, 1793.

Title: Every farmer his own cattle-doctor : containing a full and clear account of the symptoms and causes of the diseases of cattle, with the most approved prescriptions for their cure ...
Author: John Swaine
Info: London : Printed for W. Richardson ..., 1786. 3d ed.

Title: An essay on draining and improving peat bogs; in which their nature and properties are fully considered
Author: Nicholas Turner
Info: London : Printed for R. Baldwin, and J. Bew, 1784.

Title: A new system of husbandry. From many years experience, with tables shewing the expence and profit of each crop
Author: Charles Varlo
Info: Philadelphia, The author, 1785.

Title: Wool encouraged without exportation, or, Practical observations on wool and the woollen manufacture : in two parts : part I. containing strictures on appendix no. IV. to a report made by a committee of the Highland Society, on the subject of Shetland wool : part II. containing a brief history of wool, and the nature of the woollen manufacture as connected with it ...
Author: Henry Wansey
Info: London : Printed for T. Cadell, 1791.

Title: A New system of agriculture; or, A plain, easy, and demonstrative method of speedily growing rich: proving ... that every land-owner, in England, may advance his estate to a double value .... Together with several ... instructions, how to feed oxen, cows and sheep
Author: Edward Weston
Info: London, printed for A. Millar, 1755. 2d ed.

Title: A treatise on the propagation of sheep : the manufacture of wool, and the cultivation and manufacture of flax, with directions for making several utensils for the business
Author: John Wily
Info: Williamsburg : Printed by J. Royle, 1765.

Title: Annals of agriculture and other useful arts
Authors: Arthur Young
Info: London : Arthur Young, 1784-1798.

Title: Rural economy : or Essays on the practical parts of husbandry : designed to explain several of the most important methods of conducting farms of various kinds, including many useful hints to gentlemen farmers, relative to the economical management of their business. To which is added The rural Socrates, being memoirs of a country philosopher
Author: Arthur Young
Other authors: Hans Kasper Hirzel (Contributor)
Info: Burlington : Printed by Isaac Neale, 1792. 3d ed.

Title: The country magazine. Calculated for the gentleman; the farmer, and his wife: containing every thing necessary for the advantage and pleasure of a country life. ...
Author: 
Info: London [England : printed for T. Waller, opposite Fetter-Lane, Fleet Street, and to be had of all booksellers and news carriers; and country shop-keepers, if orders are given for the same, MDCCLXIII. [1763]

Title: Essays and notes on husbandry and rural affairs
Authors: John Beale Bordley
Info: Philadelphia : Printed by Budd and Bartram for T. Dobson, 1799.

Title: The complete farmer or, a general dictionary of husbandry, in all its branches; containing the various methods of cultivating and improving every species of land, according to the precepts of both the old and new husbandry. ... Together with a great variety of new discoveries and improvements. ... Illustrated with a great variety of folio copper-plates, ... By a society of gentlemen
Info: London : printed for the authors; and sold by J. Cooke; and T. Hookham, 1767

Title: A practical treatise of husbandry wherein are contained, many useful and valuable experiments and observations in the new husbandry
Author: Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau
Other author: John Mills (Translator)
Info: London : Printed for C. Hitch [and 8 others], 1762. 2d ed.

Title: The practical husbandman being a collection of miscellaneous papers on husbandry, &c.
Author: Robert Maxwell
Info: Edinburgh : Printed by C. Wright and Company, for the author, 1757.

For more Legacy Libraries go to Library Thing.