1734 Plants as Healing Medicines in Virginia & Maryland

Health care usually was a do-it-yourself venture for most colonial British Americans, who depended on homemade medicines & traditional family healing practices. Some immigrants carried medical books with them across the Atlantic, & others ordered them sent from Britain after their arrival. The medical book brought to the colonies was usually Nicholas Culpeper's English Physician; and Complete Herbal on botanical and astrological medicine which was reprinted scores of times after its original compilation in 17C England. American editions of the classic book in the 1820s still retained the Culpepper's astrological orientation. Lay herbalists/apothecaries, midwives, physicians & other colonials often used traditional techniques such as bloodletting & purging. To counteract colonial epidemics of smallpox, yellow fever, influenza, & other diseases, most traditional  medicine was impotent; but many everyday maladies could be treated low-cost, homemade remedies. As printing expanded in colonial America in the 1700s, home medical guides written in the New World offering remedies became bestsellers.

In 1734, Dr. John Tennent published his Every Man His Own Doctor; Or, The Poor Planter's Physician. PreScriring Plain & Easy Means For Persons To Cure Themselves Of All, Or Most Of The Distempers Incident to this Climate, With Very Little Charge, The Medicines Being Chiefly Of The Growth & Production of This Country.  Printed & Sold By Will(iam) Parks, At His Printing Offices In Williamsburg & Annapolis. in 1734 & 1736. 

Benjamin Franklin reprinted & sold Tennent's book in Philadelphia, in 1734 & 1736, third & fourth editions of this work, & in 1737.  Another edition appeared from Franklin's press.  reprinted Every Man his own Doctor in The American Instructor (Philadelphia, 1748), & a German translation was published by Franklin & Johann Boehm in 1749. (For Tennent’s later publications, most of which emphasized his crusade for snakeroot see Wyndham B. Blanton, Medicine in Virginia in the Eighteenth Century Richmond, Va., 1931).

John Tennent (c 1700–1748), a physician, was born to James Tennent(1679-1730) and his wife Mary Boydzeys(1683-1730) in Cadder, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  He sailed for Virginia about 1725.  Tennent, (or Tennant) practicing in Spotsylvania & Caroline County in Virginia, became a prominent physician in the Chesapeake colonies, who married Dorothy Paul in Spotsylvania, June 27, 1730.  They reportedly had a son John in 1731 who died in 1794, in Caroline County, Virginia. The elder John gained considerable note by his advocacy of the virtues of the Seneca Rattle Snake Root as a specific for many diseases; but especially for pleurisy. The Virginia Gazette, 1736-40, contains many references to him. He appears from a letter in the Virginia Gazette  to have commenced the practice of medicine in Virginia about 1725, & to have visited England about 1735. 

There Tennent worked with distinguished physicians as Mead & Monro.  English physician Dr. Richard Mead(1673-1754) wrote on the prevention and treatment of plague, smallpox, measles, and scurvy.  His Mechanical Account of Poisons (1702) includes original observations on the action of snake venom.  Dr Alexander Monro (1697-1767) was a Scottish surgeon & professor.  These gentlemen authorized Tennent's credentials for a formal doctor's degree at Edinburgh. 

In 1736, Tennent published An Essay on the Pleurisy. In the Virginia Gazette of October 1-8, 1736, is a letter dated Williamsburg, October 1, 1736, to Sir Richard Mead, M. D., giving an account of his success in the use of Rattlesnake Root in cases of gout & pleurisy. 

In the Virginia Gazette of January 30, & July 7, 1738, & succeeding dates, appears a lengthy advertisement by John Tennent, giving proposals for printing by subscription A Treatise on the Diseases of Virginia & The Neighboring Colonies. His ideas in regard to the Rattlesnake Root gained popular favor (and some disapproval) in the Virginia Assembly, which resolved on December 22, 1738, "That the Sum of One Hundred Pounds, be paid to Mr. John Tennant, for publishing his Discovery of the Use of Seneca Rattle-Snake Root." He actually received no monetary benefit from this resolve. Returning to London in 1737, he began to prepare a book on the diseases of Virginia.  His proposals for printing it, issued when he returned to America, 1738, appeared in Pennsylvania Gazette, August 3, 1738, & later; but subscriptions for the proposed publication fell short of the required 1,000, & it did not appear.  Tennent sailed to Jamaica in 1740. but soon returned to England, where he died October 27, 1748.

The majority of Tennant’s medicines are botanical.  Of these, the wild, Native plant varieties outnumber the domestic herbs, vegetables, & fruits.  Several “new drugs” introduced to the readers in this book include mistletoe, prickly pear & ash-root.  Tennant notes that “The Remedies I have presrib’d, are amost all of our own Grown, there being no more than 5 or 6 foreign Medicines; & they so very cheap, that if I happen not to cure my Patient, I am sure I shan’t ruin him.”  He recommends the patients not be “crammed” with Physick.  He makes use of prescriptions which are not single remedies.  He avoids the use of foreign Opium, Ipecac, & Peruvian bark.  His final mention of his choice of drugs discourages the use of the drugs being imported: “Neither do I ransack the Universe for such outlandish Drugs, which must waste & decay in long Voyages; not import the Sweepings of the Shops, which I am sure are decay’d; but am content to do all my Execution with the Weapons of our own Country.”  

His Essay on the Pleurisy (Williamsburg, Va., 1736), advocating seneca rattlesnake root, excited lively controversy in America & abroad.  He is known for his popularization of the Native American remedy Indian Rattlesnake Root (Virginia serpentaria) through his medical & social writings.

In 1734, Dr. John Tennrnt began Every Man His Own Doctor; Or, The Poor Planter's Physician with the following:

I publish this Treatise to lead the Poorer Sort into the pleasant Paths of Health, & when they have the Misfortune to be sick, to show them the cheapest & easiest Ways of getting well again.

 OUR Country is unhappily subject to several very sharp Distempers [diseases/conditions]. The Multitude of Marshes, Swamps, & great Waters send forth so many Fogs & Exhalations that the Air is continually damp with them

 This, in Spite of all our Precautions, is apt to shut up the Pores at once & hinder insensible Perspiration. From hence proceed FEVERS, COUGHS, QUINSIES, PLEURISIES, & CONSUMPTIONS, with a dismal Train of other Diseases, which make as fatal Havoc here, in Proportion to our Number, as the PLAGUE does in the Eastern Parts of the World.

 IN the mean Time, this is a cruel Check of the Growth of an Infant Colony, which otherwise, by the Fruitfulness of our Women & the great Number of Recruits sent from our Mother Country, would, in a few Years, grow populous & consequently considerable.

 IT is impossible to see these Calamities return every Year without the tenderest Commiseration. Certainly nothing can be more melancholy than to have so many poor People [erish, purely for want of using timely Means for their Preservation. They neglect to take any Remedy ’til their Case is grown desperate & Death begins to glare them in the Face. They consider not that a moderate Skill may recover a Patient in the Beginning of a Distemper while he has Strength to go through all the necessary Operations [procedures], when the whole College would not be able to save him after his Spirits are sunk & all the Principles of Life near extinguished.

 THIS unhappy Temper occasions a great deal of Mortality: & what makes the Misfortune the greater is that it falls heaviest on the Younger Sort who are the most liable to hurrying Distempers. Indeed, some would be glad of Assistance if they did not think the Remedy near as bad as the Disease, for our Doctors are commonly so exorbitant in their Fees, whether they kill or cure, that the Patient had rather trust his Constitution [body] than run the Risk of beggaring [impoverishing] his Family.

THESE considerations made me account it a Work of great Charity & Public Spirit to communicate to the poor Inhabitants of this Colony [Virginia] a safe Method of curing themselves when they shall be so unhappy as to fall into any of our common Maladies. & for their greater Encouragement, the Remedies I shall prescribe may be procured with little Trouble & Expense, being, for the most Part, such as grow at their own Doors, or may be easily propagated.

 BUT notwithstanding this well-meaning Essay has really no other View than the Love of Mankind, yet it could not escape being grossly attack’d by some FISTS of the Faculty.  However, like Æsop’s Viper, while they endeavoured to make a venomous Impression on the File, they only broke their own Teeth. In the mean Time, whatever my Obligations may be to ’em for their Scurrility, the honest Printer has Reason to thank them, because nothing contributes so certainly to the quick Sale of any Performance as a stupid Answer to it...

 I SHALL begin with a COUGH, which is the Foundation of many bad Distempers & therefore should be taken Care of as soon as possible. It may be cured in the Beginning with riding moderately on Horseback every Day, & only taking a little Ground Ivy Tea sweeten’d with Syrup of Horehound at Night when you go to Bed. But in case it be violent, it will be proper to bleed Eight Ounces  & be constant in the Use of the other Remedies. In the mean while, you must use a spare & cooling Diet, without either Flesh or strong Drink. Nor should you stove yourself up in a warm Room, but breathe as much as possible in the open Air. & to prevent this Mischief, don’t make yourself tender [“soft”], but wash every Day in cold Water, & very often your Feet...(Recommends riding on Horseback to experience the “Change of Air” & allow “Nature to throw off the Evil.”  Calming the blood, opening of the pores, & promoting perspiration were considered healthy processes.  To clean the chest of bad humours capable of causing consumption to ensue, it was felt the armpits must be shaved.  Impostumes or Boils, & Poutlices, were two other ways to treat this condition during its early stages.) ...

 PALSY comes suddenly upon us with dreadful Symptoms, not easy to be mistaken. We are bereft of Sense & Motion, either in one or more Parts of the Body; or at least we find them numb’d & disabled: & where the Disease is extreme, one Side is taken quite motionless & insensible. At the first Appearance of these melancholic Tokens, purge [vomit] with Indian Physic  every other Day, for 3 times. The Mornings you don’t purge, cause yourself to be plung’d over Head & Ears into cold Water; & this should be repeated thrice every Week for 3 Months together. You are also to mix equal Quantities of Spirit of Scurvy-grass, & Hungary Water, & dipping a stiff Comb-brush therein, cause your Head, being close-shav’d, to be well brush’d with it several Times a Day; Likewise let the Palms of your Hands, the Soles of your Feet, & Nape of your Neck, be often rubb’d with the same Mixture. After this has put some Sense & Motion into your Limbs, beat Rosemary in a Mortar & make a little Ball of it, which you must roll & work about in your Hands, continually renewing the same every Day.  Now & then, too, put Tobacco up your Nostrils, letting it lie there for some Time, in order to drive the clammy Phlegm from your Brain.  These easy Remedies will, by the Grace of GOD, do great Good in the Beginnings of the Disease by restoring the Nerves to their natural Tone, & giving new Vigour to the Animal Spirits, which have been clogg’d & obstructed. . . . To prevent this Distemper, feed seldom on salt or high-season’d Dishes, nor eat much Milk or other phlegmatic Food. Never sleep in the dangerous Dew or on the moist Ground, or continue long in a Cellar or other damp Situation. Use much Exercise & let your Motion be always nimble, in order to quicken the Circulation & frisk your sluggish Spirits.. . . Bleeding, or releasing a specified amount of blood from the body, had been a standard medical treatment for centuries.  A perennial herb, known as Bowman’s root & other names, used as an emetic to induce vomiting...

THERE’s no Disease puzzles Physicians more than the VAPOURS, & HYSTERIC FITS. These Complaints are produced by so many Causes & appear in so many various Shapes that ’tis no easy Matter to describe them. However, some of the Symptoms are a Thumping at the Heart, a Croaking of the Guts, & a Fullness of the Stomach, which the Patient endeavours to ease as much as she can by Belching.  Every now & then, too, something seems to rise up to her Throat that almost stops her Breath. She has, moreover, a great Heaviness & Dejection of Spirit, & a Cloud seems to hang upon all her Senses. In one word, she has no Relish for anything, but is continually out of Humour, she knows not why, & out of Order, she knows not where. THIS is certainly a miserable Condition, & the more so because the Weakness of the Nerves makes the Cure exceeding difficult.  BECAUSE the Stomach is suspected to be much in Fault, I would have That cleansed in the first Place with a Vomit of Indian Physic. The next Day purify the Bowels by a Purge of the same, which must be repeated two Days after. [The regimen continues with herbal medicines, diet restrictions, & the plunging in cold water several times weekly, which will “brace the Nerves & rouse the sluggish Spirits surprisingly.”] . . . TO escape this Disorder, she must suffer none of the idle Disturbances or Disappointments of an empty World, to prey upon her Mind or ruffle her sweet Temper. Let he use just Exercise enough to give a gentle Spring to her Spirits, without wasting them, & let her be cheerful in Spite of a churlish Husband, or cloudy Weather. ( “Vapours & hysteric fits” were considered a woman’s malady. Many of the symptoms are consistent with depression. THE best Way to prevent this impure Distemper is for those that have it never to marry, nor so  worse, that they may not transmit their Misfortunes to Posterity...)

Stone HEAVEN be prais’d there is little Occasion to say anything of the STONE IN THE BLADDER, in the there being few Instances of it in this Colony. Among the Gentry [wealthy landowners] the Bladder Madeira Wine, which has but little Tartar in it, & the Molasses Beer, being soft & cleansing,  are happy Defenses against this Scourge of Luxury & Laziness. & then, for the common Planters [land-owning farmers], their Pone & other Preparations of Indian Corn, being smooth & slippery,  are likewise excellent Preservatives...

Gravel NEVERTHELESS, some few of us, by sitting too long either at our Book, or our Bottle, have now & then some Touches of the GRAVEL, OR STONE IN THE KIDNEYS. This makes itself known by a Pain across the Loins, by Urine ting’d with Blood & mix’d with Sand & jagged little Stones. The Stomach too is sometimes affected & inclin’d to vomit.  WHEN you find these concurring Symptoms, drink 3 or 4 Quarts of Whey as fast as you can, wherein the Root of Prickly Pear has been boil’d. When that has all passed, squeeze the Juice of Wild Garlic into clean sound Cider, & drink a moderate Glass of it Night & Morning, for 6 or 7 Days. . . . & the Way to ward off this painful Disease is to be temperate in all your Enjoyments, to eat a great deal of Milk, & Meats made of Indian Corn; but above all Things, be cautious of sittingstill too much...

King’s THE KING’s EVIL [tuberculosis of the lymph glands in the neck] proceeds from a foul & Evil obstinate Humour in the Body that breaks into Swellings & Sores & if often derived from our  Parents.  FOR this great Misfortune, take a clean Sponge & dry it well in an Earthen Pot, & having  reduced it to a fine Powder, take as much as will lie upon a Shilling, Morning & Evening, in  warm Ass’s Milk. This must be continued for Three Months to complete the Cure. In the mean Time, Care should be taken never to scorch the Sponge. While this Remedy is taking inwardly, apply a Poultice of Sassafras to the Sores that are broke, which will both draw & heal them...

Bite FOR the BITE OF A MAD DOG, which may be reckon’d among the greatest of Calamities, Dr. of a Mead has communicated the following Remedy to the World, which had tried on more than 500 Mad Persons with great & constant Success. The patient, as soon as possible after his Misfortune, Dog should bleed about 10 Ounces. Then let him take of Ash-colour’d Ground Liver Wort, dry’d &  powder’d, Half an Ounce, which grows on moist Sandy Barren Soils. He must mix with this Two  Drachms [one drachm=1/8 oz.] of powder’d black Pepper. Divide Those into Four Doses, & let  him take One every Morning fasting, in Half a Pint of warm Milk. After This, the Patient must be Plung’d over Head & Ears in very cold Water every Morning Fasting, for a Month together,  never staying longer than Half a Minute at a Time. When he has bath’d in this Manner so long, ne  need go in more than Three Times week for a Fortnight [14 days] longer, by which Time  the Cure, by the Grace of GOD, will be happily completed...

IN case a FILM shou’d grow over the Sight of the Eye, occasioned by a Blow, a sharp Humour, or other Accident, you may take it off with this easy & cheap Remedy. Dry Human Dung in the Sun that is Yellow & of a good Consistence, & having reduced it to a very fine Powder, blow it through a Quill Two or Three Times a Day into the Eye, & your Sight will be happily restored in a short Time...

Tennant ended his book Every Man His Own Doctor; Or, The Poor Planter's Physician. writing:

THUS I have run through most of the common Complaints, to which the Inhabitants of this Colony are subject; & prescribed such innicent Cures, as will generally succeed, if timely made Use of; yet am far from pretending, that any of them are infallible; We all known, that Death strikes so home in some Cases, that all Physick will be vain.  There are many Instances too, where the Diseases of the Pox, the Scurvy, or the Gout; & then they need a RATCLIFF, or a FRIEND, to get the better of them.

IN the mean Time, it may seem strange, that, among the Remedies I have prescribed, no Mention is made of Mercury, Opium, or the Peruvian Bark, which have almost obtain’d the Reputation of Specificks.  I acknowledge the powerful Effects of these Medicines; but am perswaded, they ought to be administered with the greatest Skill, & Discernment.  &, as I wrote only for the Service of the Poor, who are wholly lost to judge for themselves, I was fearful of putting such dangerous Weapons into their Hands.”

IF those of better Circumstances find any Thing here, that may be in any Manner deserve their Attention, I should be exceedingly glad; Tho’ I own, these Directions were not designed for such as are in Condition to purchase more learned Advice. It was only to those whom Fortune has placed below the Regard of our Doctors, that I address this short Essay: & if one single Person shall be recovered thereby, or receive the least Relief, I shall account my Pains happily bestow’d.”

IN the mean Time, there is no Question, but some of my Brother Quacks will make themselves merry with these Prescriptions.  Let them shoot their harmless Bolts.  I by no means envy those Gentlemen the only Way they have of appearing wiser that their Neighbours.  Tho’ after all, it is not impossible, but they may do by some of these, just as good People of England do by the French Fashions, laugh at the first, & then have the Humility to follow them.

An INDEX of Diseases mentioned in Tennent's book Every Man His Own Doctor: or The Poor Planter’s Physician included
Ague
Bite of a Rattle Snake
Bite of a Mad Dog
Bleeding at the Nose
Bleeding Piles
Blind Piles
Bloody Flux
Broken Shin
Cachexy
Cancer
Colic
Consumption
Cough
Deafness
Diabetes
Dropsy
Dry Gripes
Epilepsy, or Falling Sickness
Fever continual
Fever, with violent Purging  & vomiting
Fever, Pain in the Head, Eye,  or Ear
Film on the Eyes
Flooding
Flux immoderate of the  Courses
Gleet, or Running of the Reins
Gout
Gravel
Green Wound
Griping
Heartburn
King’s Evil
Lethargy
Looseness
Palsy
Pissing of Blood
Pleurisy
Pox
Quinsey
Rheumatism
Rupture
Slow Fever
Sore Eyes
Sore Throat
Spitting of Blood
Sprain
Stone in the Bladder
Stone in the Kidneys
Strangary
Suppression of the Courses
Suppression of Urine
Swelling to break
Swelling to discuss
Vapours, or Hysteric Fits
Vomiting & purging
Whites
White Flux
Whooping Cough
Worm Fever
Yaws
Yellow Jaundice

The “Distempers” in Every Man His Own Doctor include:

Ague. Fever & chills; malarial fever when severe.

Bloody flux. Bloody stools.

Bloody piles. Hemorrhoids.

Cachexy. Malnutrition, weight loss, weakness.

Consumption. Tuberculosis.

Dropsy. Swelling, edema, especially when related to heart or kidney disease.

Dry Gripes. Severe “lead colic” - intestinal affliction, including constipation, due to lead poisoning.

Flooding. Excessive uterine bleeding.

Flux: diarrhea.

Gleet. Discharge from a wound, especially related to chronic gonorrhea.

Gravel. Calcified matter in the kidneys (stones)

Green Wound. Infected wound, with pus.

Griping. Gripes. Colic; sharp bowel pains.

King’s Evil. Tuberculosis of the lymph glands in the neck.

Looseness. “Summer complaint”: diarrhea occurring in the summer.

Quinsy. Tonsillitis.

Strangary. Rupture.

Suppression of the Courses. Cessation of menstruation, due to pregnancy, ill health, or other causes.

Vapours, or Hysteric Fits. Emotional affliction, “nervousness,” with symptoms similar to clinical depression.

Worm Fever. Physical discomforts from intestinal worms.

Plant & Animal Based Medicines used by John Tennent included:
Allom
Ash-root 
Ass-Dung 
Bawm     
Bear Oyl 
Brimstone 
Burnet   
Centory   
Cinquefoil
Comfry   
Cow Dung 
Cresses   
Cinquefoil
Deers dung
Deers horn
Dittany 
Dogwood 
Elder
Farrow Tea–Yarrow
Garlick   
Ground Ivy, or Aloff 
Highland-flagg, or Bellyache root
Hog’s Feet
Honey
Horse-raddish   
Hungary-water   
James town weed 
Jerusalem-oak         
Indian Physick   
Pepper  aciac [Jamaica]
Iron 
Linseed 
Linseed oyl
Liquorice 
Mallows   
Mint     
Mistleto 
Mullein   
Mustard   
Nutmeg   
Oil       
Onion
Parsley   
Peach-blossoms 
Peach-leaves   
Pennyroyal
Pine     
Pelletary of Spain 
Plantain 
Prickley-pear   
Quince         
Raisins   
Roses
Rosemary 
Rue       
Sage     
Sassafras
Scurvy Grass

Most Commonly Mentioned in Tennent's book:
Indian Physick   
Mallows               
Peach-blossoms     
Bawm                 
Sassafras
Snakeroot

Mineral Drugs 
Allom
Brimstone 
Iron             

Animal Products 
Bear Oyl   
Ass-Dung 
Cow Dung 
Deers dung   
Deers horn       
Feathers
Hog’s Feet
Honey
Hungary-water   
Oil         

Domestic/Garden Plants 
Bawm                 
Burnet   
Comfry     
Horse-raddish         
Linseed     
Linseed oyl
Mallows                   
Mullein   
Mustard       
Nutmeg         
Onion
Parsley     
Peach-blossoms           
Peach-leaves     
Quince           
Raisins   
Rosemary   
Rue           
Sage             

Native Plants 
Ash-root   
Centory 
Cresses       
Cinquefoil   
Dittany   
Dogwood   
Elder
Garlick Juice     
Ground Ivy or Aloff       
Highland-flagg or Bellyache root   
James town weed 
Jerusalem-oak         
Indian Physick                               
Liquorice 
Mint       
Mistleto
Pelletary of Spain       
Pennyroyal
Pepper aciac [Jamaica]     
Pine           
Plantain       
Prickley-pear   
Roses
Sassafras
Scurvy Grass 22
Snake Root 19
Spanish Oak 50
Sumac Berries
Swamp Lilies
Tobacco
Tuckaho
Turpentine
Violets
Yarrow

Plants as Medicines - Ben Franklin's Afterword to Every Man His Own Doctor, 1736 by Dr. John Tennent

In 1734 Franklin reprinted John Tennent’s Every Man his own Doctor, which had been published earlier that year in Williamsburg, Virginia & Annapolis, Maryland. Franklin may have concluded this “third edition” with the address to his readers, which is reprinted below; but no complete copy is known. In 1736, he reprinted Tennent’s pamphlet in a “fourth edition” with the address to his readers and a postscript based on Tennent’s Essay on Pleurisy, published at Williamsburg in 1736. Following is the Afterword printed in John Tennent's, Every Man his own Doctor: or, The Poor Planter’s Physician.... The Fourth Edition. Philadelphia: printed and Sold by B. Franklin, near the Market.

The Printer to the Reader wisheth Health.

This Book entituled, Every Man his own Doctor, was first printed in Virginia, for the Use of which Colony it was written by a Gentleman residing there. Great Numbers have been distributed among the People both in Virginia and Maryland, and ’tis generally allow’d that abundance of Good has been thereby done: And as some Parts of Pennsylvania, the Jerseys, and the Lower Counties on Delaware, are by the lowness and moistness of their Situation, subject to the same kind of Diseases, I have been advised to reprint this Book here, for the Use and Benefit of such People in these Countries, as live at too great a Distance from good Physicians. It is necessary, however, to give the Reader this one Caution, that the Ipecacuania or Indian Physick so frequently prescribed by the Author, is much weaker in Virginia, than that which grows in Pennsylvania; so that whereas he prescribes 80 Grains for a Vomiting Potion, and 70 for a Purge; 12 Grains of our Indian Physick, or Ipecacuania, will be sufficient for a Vomit, and 10 for a Purge: There is another Sort which comes to us from Europe, and is to be found in the Apothecaries Shops, of which 30 or 32 Grains is commonly given for a Vomit, and 27 Grains for a Purge, which will work most Constitutions sufficiently.

Postscript.
A Physician in Virginia has lately published an Essay on the Pleurisy, in which he discovers a Method of treating that fatal Distemper, that he says he always found to succeed. The principal Part of the Cure depends on the Use of a Simple that begins to be known in this Country by the Name of Rattle-Snake Root, being the same that the Indians use in curing the Bite of that venemous Reptile. The Method which the Author practices and recommends, is as follows.

“Let the Patient first have 10 Ounces of Blood taken from the Arm of the well Side, or Foot if both Sides are affected; and every 6 Hours 3 Spoonfuls of the following Tincture is to be given, the first Dose immediately after, and continued ’till the Symptoms abate.

“Take of the Rattle-Snake Root, 3 Ounces, wild Valerian Root, an Ounce and a Half, let them be well bruised in a Mortar, then mix them with a Quart of old Canary, and digest in a proper Vessel in a Sand-Heat for Six Hours, afterwards decant for Use.

“Let fifteen Drops of Balsam Capivi, and as many of Sal volatile Oleosum, be given in a little ordinary Drink, twice between each Dose of the Tincture, beginning with the first Dose two Hours after the Tincture; and give the second Dose two Hours after.

“Let the ordinary Drink be a Tea made of Marsh-mallow Roots, always given warm.

“If the Patient has been ill some Days before any thing administered, the Balsom is to be continued for some Days after a considerable Amendment.

“Bloodletting is to be repeated the second Day, and in the same Quantity as the first, if the Patient is not much better, or the same Day unless something better in 4 Hours: But such is the Efficacy of this Medicine, that there is seldom Occasion. The Symptoms generally abate considerably in 24 Hours, and the Recovery Certain.”

But because every one may not have Conveniency for preparing this Tincture, nor have the other Medicines mentioned at hand, and do not live within reach of a Physician, it is necessary to acquaint the Reader with what the Author adds further, viz.

“A Decoction of the Rattle-Snake Root alone in Spring Water, 3 Ounces to about one Quart; together with Pectoral Teas sweetened with Honey will prove effectual, without any thing else; if the Patient has been let Blood as soon as taken, and this Decoction immediately given afterwards.”

This is to be understood of the genuine Pleurisy or Peripneumony attended with a Fever.

As for the other Disease, which often personates a Pleurisy in these Parts, the Symptoms of which are, that the Patient is cold in a somniferous State, and sometimes convulsed.

In this Case the Author omits Bloodletting as pernicious; but says the Tincture aforesaid is as effectual here as in the genuine Pleurisy, only advises that the Rattle-Snake Root and Valerian be in equal Quantities.

We have not room to add more out of the above mentioned Essay; and indeed the greatest Part of it being taken up in abstracted Reasonings on the Texture of the Blood, and the Operations of different Medicines, &c. to make a larger Extract would be of little Use to the unlearned Reader, for whom this Book was originally intended; and ’tis supposed that in Cases of Danger, the Patient will always consult a skilful Physician where it can possibly be done.

But while we are solicitous about the Health of the Body, let us not forget, that there are also Diseases of the Mind, which concern us no less to be thoroughly cured of. The divine Assistance and Blessing on our Endeavours is absolutely necessary in both Cases; which we ought therefore piously and devoutly to request. And being healed, let us gratefully bless and praise that Great Physician, from whose Goodness flows every Virtue, and the Discovery of every useful Medicine.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Woodland or Florentine Tulip

Woodland or Florentine Tulip (Tulipa sylvestris)

The Florentine or Woodland Tulip is a European native introduced very early into American gardens. Although Jefferson did not mention this species in his Garden Book, it is now naturalized through the West Lawn at Monticello. It blooms with the Virginia Bluebells in mid-April. Florentine Tulips have a distinctly sweet fragrance and multiply freely once planted, two qualities lost with the development of modern Tulip cultivars.

For more information & the possible availability
Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Garden to Table - Home-Made Beer & Ale from Pea Shells

 

John Greenwood (American artist, 1727-1792) Sea Captains Carousing, 1758.  Detail

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines Cordials & Liqueurs 1909 by Helen S. Wright

BEER & ALE FROM PEA-SHELLS
Fill a boiler with green shells of peas, pour on water till it rises half an inch above the shells, and simmer for three hours. Strain off the liquor, and add a strong decoction of wood-sage, or hops, so as to render it pleasantly bitter; ferment with yeast, and bottle.

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines is a cookbook for those who want to make their own wines & liqueurs from available ingredients, including fruits, flowers, vegetables, & shrubs from local gardens, farms, & orchards. It includes ingredients & instructions for making & fermenting spirits, from wine & ale to sherry, brandy, cordials, & even beer. 

Colonial Era Cookbooks

1615, New Booke of Cookerie, John Murrell (London) 

1798, American Cookery, Amelia Simmons (Hartford, CT)

1803, Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter (New York, NY)

1807, A New System of Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Rundell (Boston, MA)

1808, New England Cookery, Lucy Emerson (Montpelier, VT)

Helpful Secondary Sources

America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking/Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Colonial Kitchens, Their Furnishings, and Their Gardens/Frances Phipps Hawthorn; 1972

Early American Beverages/John Hull Brown   Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co 1996 

Early American Herb Recipes/Alice Cooke Brown  ABC-CLIO  Westport, United States

Food in Colonial and Federal America/Sandra L. Oliver

Home Life in Colonial Days/Alice Morse Earle (Chapter VII: Meat and Drink) New York : Macmillan Co., ©1926.

A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America/James E. McWilliams New York : Columbia University Press, 2005.

Thomas Jefferson & the great Pea competition

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

Thomas Jefferson was known to have a passion for peas.  For several years, he would organize a competition among his Virginia neighbors to see who could produce the 1st peas of the year. The winner would invite all the other competitors to his home for dinner, to eat peas, of course.

1782 William Redmore Bigg (1755-1828)  A Girl Shelling Peas

Thomas Jefferson was particularly fond of the English or Garden pea.  He mentions planting it frequently at Monticello devoting a relatively large amount of kitchen garden space (3 entire "squares") to his precious peas.  According to family accounts, every spring Jefferson competed with local gentleman gardeners to bring the first pea to the table.  The winner then hosting a community dinner that included a feast on the winning dish of peas. Among the 19 pea varieties Jefferson documented sowing were Early Frame, which was planted annually from 1809 until 1824; Hotspur, named for its quick, frantic growth; Marrowfat, a starchier, later variety; and Blue Prussian, which Jefferson obtained from Philadelphia seedsman Bernard McMahon.  Jefferson's pea consumption seemed to slump during his presidency, however.  Jefferson's butler, Lemaire recorded purchasing peas for the President's House only 6 times in 1806 for the elaborate state dinners Jefferson hosted.

Jefferson's eldest grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph recalled this competition in a letter to Mr. Randall, "A wealthy neighbor [Mr. George Divers], without children, and fond of horticulture, generally triumphed. Mr. Jefferson, on one occasion had them first, and when his family reminded him that it was his right to invite the company, he replied, "No, say nothing about it, it will be more agreeable to our friend to think that he never fails."

This is apparently the case in an April, 1815 letter from Mr. Divers to Jefferson: "We returned home yesterday from a visit of several days and I did not examine into the state of our peas till late in the evening, when I found them quite ready…We should be glad you will come up and partake of our first dish today & that Mr. Maddison would come with you."

1795 Fresh Gathered Peas Young Hastings after Giovanni Vendramini (1769-1839)

History Blooms at Monticello

‘Old Blush’ China, which appears in silk paintings dating to 1000 AD, remains one of the finest of the old garden shrub roses. Also called Parson’s Pink China & Pink Monthly, it became a parent of the Noisette Class of roses when it crossed with the European Musk Rose in the Charleston, SC, garden of John Champneys sometime after 1802.

Single moss rose (Rosa muscosa simplex), an 1807 Jefferson-era variety with deep pink flowers on an upright shrub.

Rosa ‘Belle Vichyssoise’ is a climbing Noisette rose, hybridized in 1858, with good reblooming qualities & medium fragrance.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Snowball Bush

Bare Root Snowball Bush (Viburnum opulus roseum)

This sterile garden form was known in Europe by 1554 and has been a favorite ever since. The flowers, described in 1770 as "balls of snow, lodged in a pleasing manner all over its head," have inspired other common names such as Whitsun-boss, Love-roses, and Pincushion-tree. On April 16, 1807, Jefferson planted V. opulus rosea on the "N.W. brow of the slope" of Monticello Mountain. That same day he also planted the species Gelder Rose or Cranberry Viburnum, V. opulus.

For more information & the possible availability
Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

1820 Pennsylvania Farmhouse & Garden

1820 William Schlicter possibly Montgomery County, PA.

Hand-drawn; hand-colored; hand-lettered. The drawing depicts a farm, with a two-story stone house to the left and a barn to the right. A stone wall with a path and gate is before the house, and a dirt road runs in front of the two buildings. The buildings are surrounded by a charming, rather formal garden on the side of the house, plus lawns, trees, fields, and fences. They are topped by a sky with clouds. Free Library of Philadelphia’s digital collection of Pennsylvania German Fraktur and Manuscripts.

Collecting America's Native Plants - Meriwether Lewis "No Regular Botanist"

"Like most people of his day, Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) was knowledgeable about plants. His mother was an herbalist, & as an agriculturist he was interested in plants of economic importance. Thus, when Jefferson assigned Lewis the task of naturalist it was natural that Lewis would focus, as Jefferson instructed him, on medicinal plants, plants of economic value such as corn, wheat, grasses, fodder, & plants that would have been of horticulture interest, as Jefferson had a large garden & was very much interested in horticulture plants.

"For Jefferson, the decision not to send a true naturalist, but rather one that was semi-trained was both fortunate & unfortunate. For the botanical community the fact that Jefferson did not send a naturalist meant that only a few select specimens were collected. Nonetheless, the more than two hundred specimens that reached Philadelphia, from the activities of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, signified the richness of the flora of the Pacific Northwest & particularly the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho & Western Montana.

"Lewis’s collection activities were limited to opportunities when he had a chance to collect. As captain he had many other duties besides looking for new plants. Thus it was, we know from his journals, that not only did he collect, but so did some of the other men. There are even indications that Sacagawea or Saka Kawea collected plants as well.

"Lewis's collecting activities were not described by him, but looking at contemporaries, it is clear that Lewis used a small hand press. This allowed him to collect small samples that he would then dry over a period of days. Because he had no other means of drying these plants other than sunshine he was very careful what he collected. For example; he avoided cactus & all kinds of succulent plants except for two—both sedums, or rock plants. He collected lots of grasses, because they were economically important as food. He collected crop plants that were grown by the native people. And he collected a bountiful number of wildflowers, particularly in 1806 as he crossed the Rocky Mountains.

"Some of the plants that Lewis collected were found along the Lolo Trail in late June of 1806, & then across Lewis & Clark Pass in early July of 1806. Many of those species are represented in his herbarium & may be seen even today along the Lewis & Clark Trail.

"Lewis's tendency was to collect specimens that he could, in a small sample, show all of the detail that he needed to show. Thus, he tended to collected plants in good flower & occasionally, if he felt it was important as a medicinal plant, in fruit, so he could then grow seeds from the plant once he returned the material to Philadelphia.

"Seeds were commonly collected in 1805 particularly along the Columbia River. Very few seeds were collected in 1806 on the return trip. Numerous specimens & seeds were collected as they ascended the Missouri River in 1804.

"Lewis's interest in the wildflowers of what we now call the Rocky Mountains was much as any individual's today. They are abundant & beautiful & easy to collect. The success of his collection resulted in the discovery of three new genera, one named for him, one named for Clark, & another named for the character of the plant. Several new species were collected. And, most that you see surrounding us here today were collected by Lewis & were named from his specimens.

"Lewis's plant press was probably in the form of a book. A very large book, probably twelve by eighteen inches. It may or may not have been bound on the one side. This is a traditional plant press that you find in China. It is made out of bamboo & consists of a flat strong surface that specimens can be placed in. Lewis used paper much like you used as a youngster in kindergarten. A kind of construction paper. It was folded in half & the specimen placed in between. Now, Lewis's paper was twelve by eighteen when folded, this is half that. You'll notice that the paper is absorbent. This way the specimen's moisture would go into the paper, be absorbed by the paper, & then the specimen could be slowly dried. But in drying, everyday Lewis had to open his press, remove the old pages that were damp, lay them in the sunshine, allow them to dry, & move his plants into new paper so they would continue to dry.

"Modern botany is quite different from Lewis's day. We use very large presses & in a good operation you'll run three to five presses, filling each during the course of a day. Each press consists of about room for one hundred different specimens. We are able to dry these very rapidly using what is known as a Holmgren drying frame, by putting a heat source underneath, a coleman stove or electric light bulbs. The heat rises through the corrugates, the holes in the corrugates, & will dry plants overnight, if not during the course of twenty-four hours.

"Today we are in Packer Meadow on the Clearwater National Forest. This was a lunch stop for the Lewis & Clark Expedition in late June of 1806. Very likely, because Lewis had collected so many plants coming up the Lolo Trail, he took time out during that lunch break to work his plant specimens. Lewis would open his press & open up, in his case, each individual page of his press. Coming on to his first specimen he would then take a look at it, make sure that the leaves were flat & that all the diagnostic characters of the flowers were shown so they could be studied. He would repeat this for each specimen &, if necessary, would replace the paper with new paper.

"This is the common camas that Lewis & his men experienced in 1805. Tradition says that Lewis & Clark & his men became ill from eating the bulbs. That's probably not true. More likely the culprit was salmonella poisoning associated with the dried—poorly dried—salmon.

"It's interesting that Lewis collected the Canadian Dogwood or Cornus candadensis. This is a plant he knew well from Virginia. It's interesting to speculate whether he collected it because he knew it, collected it because he wanted to show that something from Virginia also grew in the Rocky Mountains, or what. Maybe he was homesick. The other specimen that I have here is the new genus of mariposa lily collected by Lewis & Clark along the Lolo Trail in Idaho & Montana in late June & early July. This is Calicortis pulcella, or "beautiful mariposa lily".

"Two specimens that Lewis would have handled during the stop in Packer Meadow is a skyrocket, this little high elevation blue flower which occurs near the summit, & also near the summit is this species of menzesia, named for the surgeon naturalist Archibald Menzies who preceded Lewis & Clark in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1790's. Menzies collected only along the coast, & this is one of those species that goes from the coast to the high mountains in the Rockies. Lewis was very judicious in what he collected. He made only small specimens. Even though this is a large shrub he would have collected only a little bit of it. The reason is simple, someone had to carry it to Philadelphia.

"A specimen has three dimensions: odor, good color & a feel of surroundings, not seen on a flattened dried specimen. And yet, all the technical details necessary for identification, the number of petals, sepals, stamens, the condition of the ovary & fruit, the leaves, even the habitat of the plant can be nicely preserved in any specimen. Occasionally if you have a tree or a shrub it is necessary to make notes indicating the size of the tree or the shrub. This Lewis did on occasions, & we now have his original notes to go by.

"This plant has bulbs. They are thick & fleshy. Drying one of those would be very difficult. Thus, Lewis rarely collected any succulent plant & certainly none of the bulbs that would require days, if not years, to dry. In fact, the reason Lewisia rediviva is called Lewisia rediviva is the genus name honors Lewis but the species name, or epithet, rediviva means revived. That's because the specimen that Lewis made at Travelers' Rest July 1, 1806, was still alive when it reached Philadelphia in September of that year. The specimen that Lewis returned to Philadelphia with, that would later be called Lewisia rediviva, was removed from his collection paper & grown in Philadelphia. It was observed for almost a full year before it suddenly died. Very likely, as everyone knows, over watering plants can be dangerous & deadly, & certainly that's the case with Lewisia.

"Meriwether Lewis described his plants in his journals. He had his training from Barton in Philadelphia, but he also had with him two volumes of John Miller's book on Linnaeus's system of botany. One was an illustration of the terminology of the Linnaean system & the other was on the system itself. So what Lewis could do is, he could use these two books & write his descriptions in a very technical way, so botanists who read the journals would be able to have that information.

"As a naturalist, Lewis has been fairly highly regarded by the modern community. He worked under trying & difficult situations. While it is clear that he was only able to devote a portion of his time to the effort, what he did is widely respected. It should be noted however, that in 1811, Thomas Nuttall of England, went up the Missouri River & collected several hundred more specimens than Lewis & Clark did in 1804. In 1834 & 1835 Thomas Nuttall came to the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Oregon & Washington & collected hundreds of specimens. Many of the plants that Lewis & Clark found, that were not named in Lewis' time were subsequently named by Thomas Nuttall from his own collections."

By James L. Reveal, Professor Emeritus, Botany University of Maryland, Supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Governor's Lewis & Clark Trail Committee

History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello asks...

The Tuscany, or Old Velvet Rose, is a distinctive variety of the Apothecary Rose (Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’) with highly perfumed, velvet-textured, deep wine-red blossoms, dating to the 16C. Could this be the “Black Rose” Thomas Jefferson received in 1808 from his friend Margaret Bayard Smith? Margaret Bayard Smith (1778-1844) was a friend of Thomas Jefferson & chronicler of early life in Washington, D.C. She met Jefferson through her husband, Samuel Harrison Smith, a Republican newspaperman & founder of the National Intelligencer. Mrs. Smith's recollections of Washington society life in the early 19C constitute one of the major sources of information on Jefferson's social life as President. After Jefferson's retirement from political life, Smith visited him at Monticello. Her account of this visit is another source of information on Jefferson's daily life.

South Carolina - Arbor for Shelter from the Blazing Sun

1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Arbor for Gatherings. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Littleleaf Linden

Littleleaf Linden (Tilia cordata)

This European species has been cultivated as a shade tree since ancient times. It appeared on the nursery lists of John Bartram (Philadelphia) and William Prince (Long Island, NY) during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Jefferson mentions a related species, the native Tilia americana, in his book, Notes on the State of Virginia. The two magnificent specimens of the Littleleaf Linden that flank the entrance walk to Monticello today were probably planted around the turn of the 20th century.

For more information & the possible availability
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History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that 

In July 1791 Thomas Jefferson ordered three each of ten varieties of roses from the William Prince Nursery on Long Island, NY. In November of that year William Prince sent two each of the roses including Cinnamon Rose, Rosa cinnamomea. This spring flowering species has reddish-brown, cinnamon-colored stems and fragrant, pale pink, semi-double flowers.

Plant Lists - 1763 Thomas Sorsby's List

An orchard by a stream by Jonathan Skelton, c.1750s.  Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 

Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, Virginia, November 4, 1763
From Southern Garden History Plant Lists

To be SOLD by THOMAS SORSBY, Near Cabin Point, in Surry County,

SUNDRY kinds of the choicest And best APPLE TREES, viz.

Best cheese apple [Malus pumila ‘Cheese’]
Long stems
Pamunkey
Eppes
Newtown pippins
Bray’s white apples
Clark’s pearmains,
Lightfoot’s Father Abrahams
Sorsby’s Father Abrahams
Lightfoot’s Hughes
Sorsby’s Hughes
Ellis’s Hughes
New-York Yellow apples
Golden russeteens
Westbrook’s Sammons’s
Horse apples
Royal pearmains
A choice red apple
Best May apples
Sally Gray’s apple
Old England apple
Green apple
Harvey’s apple
Peach trees [Prunus persica]
Cherry trees [Prunus avium and cerasus]

Plants in Early American Gardens - Waterer Spirea

Bare Root Anthony Waterer Spirea (Spiraea japonica cv.)

The Japanese spirea was introduced from Japan around 1870, and is one more than 80 species found in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The well-known cultivar ‘Anthony Waterer’ was raised by 1890 at the Knap Hill nurseries in Great Britain and was admired by many garden writers. The earliest American reference to this cultivar was in 1901. The old-time herbaceous spireas are important heirloom plants and many garden and natural hybrids were available by the end of the 19th century. They were used for edging along walkways or borders and for the foreground of shrubbery.

For more information & the possible availability
Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

History Blooms at Monticello - "Papaver Rhoeas flor. plen. double poppy"

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

Corn poppies abound in the Monticello flower gardens, where they have reseeded for decades. Jefferson observed the "lesser" or "dwarf" poppy at Shadwell in 1767, and planted "Papaver Rhoeas flor. plen. double poppy" in a Monticello oval flower bed in 1807.

Plant Lists - Tho Jefferson's (1743-1824) Vegetables

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

Thomas Jefferson’s Plant List From His Garden Book, 1767-1821 Dates refer to first mention of a plant in Jefferson’s documents, which include Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book, edited by Edwin Betts, 1944, unpublished memoranda at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Library of Congress and Princeton University Library. Quotation marks designate varieties undescribed in the literature and are generally Jefferson’s personal names.
List compiled by Peter Hatch.

Vegetables

Artichoke, Globe 1794

 Cynara Scolymus 1808

 Green 1808

Red

Artichoke, Jerusalem 1794

Helianthus tuberosa

("Topinambours") 1767

Asparagus 1807

"Cooper's Pale Green" 1804

"East India"

Bean (6 species)

Asparagus Bean

Vigna unguiculata 1809

ssp. sesquipedalis

Broad Bean 1774

Vicia faba 1794

Early Mazagan ("Mazareen") 1794

Horse 1774

Windsor

Caracalla 1792

Vigna caracalla

Garbanzo ("garavance") 1814

Cicer arientium

Green 1774

Phaseolus vulgaris

"Snaps"

"Alexander" 1820

Arikara ("Ricara") 1807

 "Bess" 1813

"Blue speckled snap" 1794

 "dwarf" 1809

"dwarf beans of Holland 1786

 "forward" 1809

 "golden dwarf 1794

 "grey snaps" 1809

 "ground snap" 1794

 "Italian" 1820

 "red snaps" 1809

"Red speckled snap" 1794

Refugee ("Switzerland gray") 1786

 "Roman" 1820

 "Tuscan" 1820

 "White snap" 1794

"yellow snaps" 1809

"Haricots"

 "Alleghany" 1794

 "early Sesbon" 1794

French Kidney ("French dry haricot") 1814

Friholio ("the red bean called Friholio") 1813

 "haricots roussatres" 1810

 "hominy" 1812

 "long haricot" 1812

 "Julian" 1786

 "white haricot" 1819

Wild Goose ("red blossomed kidney bean") 1819

Lima Bean

Phaseolus lunatus 1777

 Carolina White 1794

 "large lima" 1815

Sugar or Bushel 1794

Scarlet Runner ("Arbor")

Phaseolus coccineus 1791

Beet

Beta vulgaris 1774

“Red" 1774

"Scarlet" 1809

"white" 1774

Black Salsify

Scorzonera hispanica 1812

Broccoli

Brassica oleracea 1767

Black 1824

Cauliflower, White 1809

"December" 1824

"Florence" 1824

"March" 1824

"October" 1824

"Palermo" 1824

Purple, Early Purple 1809

Roman (syn/ w/ "Purple"?) 1809

Brussels Sprouts

Brassica oleracea 1812

Cabbage

Brassica oleracea 1771

"Aberdeen" 1812

Battersea 1816

"Cattle" 1812

Dwarf Early 1813

“early" 1807

"Giant" 1809

"Large White" 1824

“May" 1812

"Neapolitan" 1777

"purple cabbage from Rome" 1777

Red 1774

Savoy 1811

"Curled Cabbage of Paisinetta" 1824

 "Curled Savoy" 1811

 "Curled Schiane" 1824

 Green-curled 1814

"Savoy Green" 1812

 Yellow Savoy 1812

Scotch 1794

"Spanish" ("Cavol Capuccio Spagnola di Pisa") 1774

Sugarloaf 1809

Turnip 1801

York, Early York 1809

Carrot

Daucus carota 1774

“early" 1812

“large” 1812

"orange" 1809

"yellow" 1811

Cauliflower

Brassica oleracea 1767

Early 1809

Celery

Apium graveolens var. dulce 1767

Red 1809

Solid 1774

Chives

Allium schoenoprasum 1812

Corn Salad

Valerianella locusta 1794

Cress

Lepidum sativum,

Barbarea sp. 1774

"English" 1794

"Italian" 1774

Upland ("mountain") Barbarea verna 1794

Cucumber

Cucumis sativus 1767

“early" 1794

"early green" 1812

"early white" 1812

"forward" 1794

Early Frame ("frame") 1818

Gherkin Cucumis anguria 1812

Long Green 1811

Serpentine ("mammoth") Trichosanthes anguina 1825

Eggplant ("Melonzoni") 

Solanum melongena 1809

Prickly 1812

Purple 1812

White 1812

Endive

Cichorium Endivia 1777

Broad-leaved, "broad" 1794

Green Curled 1809

"smooth" 1809

“winter" 1794

French Sorrel

Rumex acetosa 1774

Garlic

Allium sativum 1774

Gourd

Lagenaria sp. ? 1806

Hop

Humulus lupulus 1794

Horseradish 1794

Armoracia rusticana

Kale

Brassica oleracea 1809

"Buda" 1809

"Delaware" 1809

"Malta" 1809

"Russian" 1812

"Scotch" 1809

"sprout” 1812

Leek

Allium porrum 1794

"common" 1812

"flag" 1812

Lettuce

Lactuca sativa 1767

Brown Dutch ("Dutch brown") 1809

"cabbage" 1794

"Ice" 1809

"Loaf,” "White loaf” 1809

"long leaved" 1794

Marseilles 1809

Roman 1804

Silesia 1819

Tennis Ball 1809

"white" 1812

Melon

Cucumis melo 1774

Cantaloupe 1774

"Cette" 1812

"Egyptian" 1812

"Zatte di Massa" 1774

"Chinese" 1809

Citron, Citrullus lanatus 1794

“green" 1794

"Miami" 1811

"Pepone Arancini. di Pistoia" 1774

Persian 1812

Pineapple 1794

"Venice" 1794

"Winter" 1805

Mustard

Brassica sp. 1777

"Durham" 1812

Red, Brassica nigra 1774

White, Brassica hirta 1794

Nasturtium

Tropaeolum majus 1774

Okra

Hibiscus esculentus 1809

Onion

Allium cepa 1774

Madeira 1778

Tree, Allium cepa var. viviparum ("hanging") 1809

White Spanish 1774

Orach

Atriplex hortensis 1813

Parsley

Petroselinum crispum 1774

Common, plain-leaved 1809

Curled ("double") 1774

Parsnip

Pastinaca sativa 1774

Pea, Garden

Pisum sativum 1767

"cluster or bunch" 1774

Charlton (Hotspur) 1768

 "dwarf peas of Holland. for frames" 1786

"earliest of all" 1767

Early Pearl (Nonesuch) 1778

“early" 1794

"early dwarf" 1794

"forward" 1774

"forward peas of Marly" 1786

"forwardest" 1767

Frame, Early Frame 1809

Hotspur 1809

Leadman's Dwarf (Early Dwarf Sugar?) 1809

"middling" 1767

"latest of all," "latter," "latest" 1767

“Leitch’s pea” 1820

"Leitch' s frame" 1820

"Leitch's latter” 1821

Marrowfat 1773

“May" 1820

Prussian Blue ("blue Prussian") 1809

Spanish Morotto 1768

Pea, Field ("cow," "Crowder") 

Pisum sativum var. arvense

"African early" 1809

"Albany" 1808

Black-eye 1774

“early" 1809

“French" 1794

"Black Indian" 1794

Crowder, "gray" 1809

"pearl-eye" 1794

"Ravenscroft" 1807

"Ravensworth" 1808

White-eyed 1794

Peanut ("Peendars")

Arachis hypogaea 1794

Pepper, Bell

Capsicum annuum 1774

Bullnose 1812

“Major" 1812

Pepper, Cayenne

Capsicum annuum 1767

Texas Bird, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum ("Capsicum

Techas,” "minutissimum") 1814

Pepper Grass

Lepidum sativum 1774

Pumpkin

Cucurbita pepo var. pepo and C. maxima 1774

"black" 1774

"long pumpkin from Malta" 1809

Potato, C. moschata 1794

"solid pumpkin from S. America" 1809

"white" 1774

Radicchio

Cichorium intybus 1774

Radish

Raphanus sativus 1809

"black" 1812

"leather coal" 1824

Oil 1809

"Rose" 1786

"Salmon" 1774

Scarlet, Early Scarlet 1809

"summer" 1809

"violet N.Y." 1817

"White radish. round & forward" 1786

Rape

Brassica napus 1774

"green" 1794

Rhubarb ("esculent rhubarb")

Rheum rhabarbarum or Rheum sp. 1809

Rutabaga

Brassica napus 1795

Salsify

Tragopogon porrifolius 1774

"Columbian" 1812

"Missouri" 1807

Sea Kale

Crambe maritima 1809

Sesame

Sesamum orientale 1808

Shallot

Allium cepa 1774

Spinach

Spinacia oleracea 1771

Prickly-seeded ("winter,” "prickly") 1809

Smooth-seeded, ("Summer,” "Round-leaved") 1809

Squash

Cucurbita pepo vars. pepo and melopepo 1794

Cymbling 1795

“soft" 1809

"warted" 1813

"Cape du Verd" 1812

"Cape of Good Hope" 1812

"long crooked & warted" 1807

Summer 1812

 "Warted" 1809

"Winter" 1815

Winter Crooked Neck 1812

Sweet Potato

Ipomoea batatas 1786

Tomato

Lycopersicon lycopersicon 1809

"dwarf" 1817

"Spanish tomato 1811

Turnip

Brassica rapa 1774

Early Dutch 1812

"English" 1794

"forward" ("Raves hatives") 1786

"Frazer's new" 1808

Hanover 1794

Long French 1809

“rose” ("Raves conteur de rose”) 1786

"Summer" 1811

Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus 1774

"Cocomere di Pistoia" 1774

"Cocomere di seme

Neapolitane" 1774

"Mexican" 1820

"Roman" 1809

“Savannah” 1812

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

History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

English Peas are thriving in this year’s cool, moist Central Virginia spring. We will soon harvest from several historic varieties in the Monticello vegetable garden. Meanwhile the Prickly-seeded spinach, a rare variety Jefferson noted planting in 1809 and 1812, is forming valuable seed heads.

History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

Sweet William, Dianthus barbatus, was one of Jefferson's favorite ornamental flowers. He observed "sweet William began to open" at Shadwell on April 16, 1767, reported flowers in May and June of 1782, and also planted this biennial in an oval flower bed at Monticello in 1807.

A similar variety with the red auricula-eye was called Painted Lady Sweet William and was illustrated in William Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 1792

Plants in Early American Gardens - Wild Petunia

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

This wide-ranging wildflower is found from southern Pennsylvania west to Nebraska and south to Florida and Texas. It was identified and named by the early 19th century plant explorer Thomas Nuttall, who traveled and collected plants across the continent and who was commissioned by Philadelphia botanist Benjamin Smith Barton to re-collect many of the Lewis and Clark species. Several South American species were commercially available in the mid-19th century and this long-blooming North American species is likewise considered a desirable plant for borders, rock gardens, native gardens, butterfly gardens, and prairies.

For more information & the possible availability
Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello