Tho Jefferson (1743-1824) America’s Pioneering Gourmand

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

Thomas Jefferson: America’s Pioneering Gourmand

by Laura Schumm on History.com 9/4/2018

... Of the numerous extraordinary contributions Thomas Jefferson made to the United States of America, one that is often overlooked is his legacy of gourmet cuisine & sustainable horticulture.

In the mid-18th century, the American diet was still largely influenced by English traditions. Meats were often boiled, baked or stewed, while less-frequently-consumed vegetables were typically boiled. Baked breads, sweet pies & alcohol—usually hard cider, ale & fortified port or Madeira wines—were readily consumed. In 1784, two years after his wife had died, Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister plenipotentiary by Congress & set off for France. It was during this time in Paris, & while traveling throughout southern France & northern Italy, that he developed an enduring appreciation of fine cuisine.

Jefferson arranged for one of his slaves, James Hemings, to accompany him to Europe so that he could be trained in the art of French cooking. Under the tutelage of a few well-known chefs & caterers, Hemings soon acquired the skills necessary to assume the role of chef de cuisine at Jefferson’s private residence on the Champs-Elysees, where Jefferson maintained a garden that included Indian corn from American seeds, along with other fruits & vegetables. The scientific gardener enjoyed exchanging plants with his French companions & experimenting with the most unusual vegetables he could obtain.

While touring the country & soaking up epicurean delicacies, Jefferson recorded careful notes & drafted detailed sketches of local farming techniques & tools as well as cooking methods & utensils. One such observation depicted a macaroni machine for making pasta, a version of which he later procured & had shipped back to Monticello. Although he may not have been the first person to bring pasta to America, Jefferson certainly helped to spread its popularity by presenting macaroni & cheese to dinner guests while serving as president of the United States, & while hosting numerous lavish dinner parties in his home at Monticello.

Another indulgence that Jefferson enjoyed while living abroad was ice cream. By 1796, he had established two “freising molds” back home in his Monticello kitchen to facilitate its production, & several accounts exist of the frozen treat being served within a warm crust or pastry at the President’s House (now known as the White House) during his term in office. A recipe written in his hand for vanilla ice cream is considered to be the first known recipe recorded by an American.

According to food historian Karen Hess, it’s also possible that Jefferson initiated America’s love affair with french fries. Long before American soldiers encountered them in Europe during World War I, Jefferson reportedly served the addictive fare while entertaining guests at the President’s House. Having hired a maître d’hôtel & chef from France to manage provisions & food preparations, Jefferson & his guests likely benefitted from an imported knowledge of deep-fried slices of potatoes.

Upon returning home from France in 1789, Jefferson had some of his favorite delicacies shipped to the U.S., along with 680 bottles of wine. His repeated attempts to plant various European grape varieties in his vineyards at Monticello were unsuccessful, but his knowledge of wine & advocacy of American viticulture earned him a reputation as a distinguished wine connoisseur. It was his experimental kitchen garden at Monticello, however, which gave Jefferson the ultimate satisfaction. Cultivating 330 varieties of 89 species of vegetables & herbs & 170 varieties of fruits while emphasizing the importance of fostering rich soil through organic matter, Jefferson was determined to introduce new crops that might help American farmers prosper & expand the country’s palate. Although his horticultural diary, “Garden Book,” details numerous failures, Jefferson wrote of his retirement, “I am constantly in my garden or farm, as exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors when at Washington, & I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.”

Garden to Table - Home-Made Rhubarb Champagne

 

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

RHUBARB CHAMPAGNE
To every five pounds of rhubarb, when sliced and bruised, put one gallon of cold spring water. Let it stand three days, stirring two or three times every day; then press and strain it through a sieve, and to every gallon of liquor, put three and one-half pounds of loaf sugar. Stir it well, and when melted, barrel it. When it has done working, bung it up close, first suspending a muslin bag with isinglass from the bung into the barrel. To eight gallons of liquor, put two ounces of isinglass. In six months bottle it and wire the bottles; let them stand up for the first month, then lay four or five down lengthways for a week, and if none burst, all may be laid down. Should a large quantity be made, it must remain longer in cask. It may be colored pink by putting in a quart of raspberry juice. It will keep for many years.

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.

History Blooms at Monticello - Victoria Rhubarb

Victoria Rhubarb (Rheum x coltorum cv.)

Thomas Jefferson first planted a row of “rheum undulatum, esculent rhubarb” in his vegetable garden on his April 13th birthday in 1809. He added that “the leaves [are] excellent as Spinach” (Note: rhubarb leaves are now considered poisonous and only the leaf stem should be consumed). In 1811 he planted it in the submural beds below the garden wall. 

Rhubarb has a long history in cultivation, dating back to 2700 BC in China where it was grown for medicinal purposes. It is believed a Maine gardener first grew it in America between 1790 and 1800. ‘Victoria’ is a cultivated variety that dates to at least the mid-1800s and New England horticulturist Fearing Burr described it in Field and Garden Vegetables of America, 1863.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Garden to Table - 1st American Cookbook

In 1796, New Englander Amelia Simmons published the first truly American cookbook, American Cookery: The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Puff-Pastes, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards, and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes From the Imperial Plumb to plain Cake, Adapted to this Country, and All Grades of Life.
There were 13 known editions of this book, all published between 1796 to 1831. Simmons devoted a section of her cookbook to the cultivation & cooking of vegetables, fruits, and herbs giving us an immediate look at the produce of the period.

Amelia Simmons on Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits...
We proceed to ROOTS and VEGETABLES--and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed .

Potatoes take rank for universal use, profit and easy acquirement. The smooth skin, known by the name of How's Potato, is the most mealy and richest flavor'd; the yellow rusticoat next best; the red, and red rusticoat are tolerable; and the yellow Spanish have their value--those cultivated from imported seed on sandy or dry loomy lands, are best for table use; tho' the red or either will produce more in rich, loomy, highly manured garden grounds; new lands and a sandy soil, afford the richest flavor'd; and most mealy Potato much depends on the ground on which they grow--more on the species of Potatoes planted--and still more from foreign seeds--and each may be nown by attention to connoisseurs; for a good potato comes up in many branches of cookery, as herein after prescribed.--All potatoes should be dug before the rainy seasons in the fall, well dryed in the sun, kept from frost and dampness during the winter, in the spring removed from the cellar to a dry loft, and spread thin, and frequently stirred and dryed, or they will grow and be thereby injured for cookery.

A roast Potato is brought on with roast Beef, a Steake, a Chop, or Fricassee; good boiled with a boiled dish; make an excellent stuffing for a turkey, water or wild fowl; make a good pie, and a good starch for many uses. All potatoes run out, or depreciate in America; a fresh importation of the Spanish might restore them to table use.

It would swell this treatise too much to say every thing that is useful, to prepare a good table, but I may be pardoned by observing, that the Irish have preserved a genuine mealy rich Potato, for a century, which takes rank of any known in any other kingdom; and I have heard that they renew their seed by planting and cultivating the Seed Ball , which grows on the tine. The manner of their managing it to keep up the excellency of that root, would better suit a treatise on agriculture and gardening than this--and be inserted in a book which would be read by the farmer, instead of his amiable daughter. If no one treats on the subject, it may appear in the next edition.

Onions --The Madeira white is best in market, esteemed softer flavored, and not so fiery, but the high red, round hard onions are the best; if you consult cheapness, the largest are best; if you consult taste and softness, the very smallest are the most delicate, and used at the first tables. Onions grow in the richest, highest cultivated ground, and better and better year after year, on, the same ground.

Beets grow on any ground, but best on loom, or light gravel grounds; the red is the richest and best approved; the white has a sickish sweetness, which is disliked by many.

Parsnips are a valuable root, cultivated best in rich old grounds, and doubly deep plowed, late sown , they grow thrifty, and are not so prongy; they may be kept any where and any how, so that they do not grow with heat, or are nipped with frost; if frosted, let them thaw in earth; they are richer flavored when plowed out of the ground in April, having stood out during the winter, tho' they will not last long after, and commonly more sticky and hard in the centre.

Carrots are managed as it respects plowing and rich ground, similarly to Parsnips. The yellow are better than the orange or red; middling fiz'd, that is, a foot long and two inches thick at the top end, are better than over grown ones; they are cultivated best with onions, sowed very thin, and mixed with other seeds, while young or six weeks after sown, especially if with onions on true onion ground. They are good with veal cookery, rich in soups, excellent with hash, in May and June.

Garlicks, tho' used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery.

Asparagus --The mode of cultivation belongs to gardening; your business is only to cut and dress, the largest is best, the growth of a day sufficient, six inches long, and cut just above the ground; many cut below the surface, under an idea of getting tender shoots, and preserving the bed; but it enfeebles the root: dig round it and it will be wet with the juices--but if cut above ground, and just as the dew is going off, the sun will either reduce the juice, or send it back to nourish the root--its an excellent vegetable.

Parsley, of the three kinds, the thickest and branchiest is the best, is sown among onions, or in a bed by itself, may be dryed for winter use; tho' a method which I have experienced, is much better--In September I dig my roots, procure an old thin stave dry cask, bore holes an inch diameter in every stave, 6 inches asunder round the cask, and up to the top--take first a half bushel of rich garden mold and put into the cask, then run the roots through the staves, leaving the branches outside, press the earth tight about the root within, and thus continue on thro' the respective stories, till the cask is full;it being filled, run an iron bar thro' the center of the dirt in the cask and fill with water, let stand on the south and east side of a building till frosty night, then remove it, (by slinging a rope round the cask) into the cellar; where, during the winter, I clip with my scissars the fresh parsley, which my neighbors or myself have occasion for; and in the spring transplant the roots in the bed in the garden, or in any unused corner--or let stand upon the wharf, or the wash shed. Its an useful mode of cultivation, and a pleasurably tasted herb, and much used in garnishing viands.

Raddish Salmon coloured is the best, purple next best-- white -- turnip --each are produced from southern seeds, annually. They grow thriftiest sown among onions. The turnip Raddish will last well through the winter.

Artichokes --The Jerusalem is best, are cultivated like potatoes, (tho' their stocks grow 7 feet high) and may be preserved like the turnip raddish, or pickled---they like.

Horse Raddish once in the garden, can scarcely ever be totally eradicated; plowing or digging them up with that view, seems at times rather to increase and spread them.

Cucumbers are of many kinds; the prickly is best for pickles, but generally bitter; the white is difficult to raise and tender; choose the bright green, smooth and proper sized.

Melons --The Water Melons is cultivated on sandy soils only, above latitude 41 1/2, if a stratum of land be dug from a well, it will bring the first year good Water Melons; the red cored are highest flavored; a hard rine proves them ripe.

Muskmelons are various, the rough skinned is best to eat; the short, round, fair skinn'd, is best for Mangoes.

Lettuce is of various kinds; the purple spotted leaf is generally the tenderest, and free from bitter--Your taste must guide your market.

Cabbage requires a page, they are so multifarious. Note, all Cabbages have a higher relish that grow on new unmatured grounds ; if grown in an old town and on old gardens, they have a rankness, which at times, may be perceived by a fresh air traveller. This observation has been experienced for years--that Cabbages require new ground, more than Turnips.

The Low Dutch only will do in old gardens.

The Early Yorkshire must have rich soils, they will not answer for winter, they are easily cultivated, and frequently bro't to market in the fall, but will not last the winter.

The Green Savoy with the richest crinkles, is fine and tender; and altho' they do not head like the Dutch or Yorkshire, yet the tenderness of the out leaves is a counterpoise, it will last thro' the winter, and are high flavored.

The Yellow Savoy takes next rank, but will not last so long; all Cabbages will mix, and participate of other species, like Indian Corn; they are culled, best in plants; and a true gardener will, in the plant describe those which will head, and which will not. This is new, but a fact.

The gradations in the Savoy Cabbage are discerned by the leaf; the richest and most scollup'd, and crinkled, and thickest Green Savoy, falls little short of a Colliflour .

The red and redest small tight heads, are best for slaw , it will not boil well, comes out black or blue, and tinges, other things with which it is boiled.

BEANS

The Clabboard Bean is easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell--must be poled.

The Windsor Bean is an earlier, good string, or shell Bean.

Crambury Bean is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two.

Frost Bean is good only to shell.

Six Weeks Bean is a yellowish Bean, and early bro't forward, and tolerable.

Lazy Bean is tough, and needs no pole.

English Bean what they denominate the Horse Bean, is mealy when young, is profitable, easily cultivated, and may be grown on worn out grounds; as they may be raised by boys, I cannot but recommend the more extensive cultivation of them.

The small White Bean is best for winter use, and excellent.

Calivanse are run out, a yellow small bush, a black speck or eye, are tough and tasteless, and little worth in cookery, and scarcely bear exportation.

PEAS-- Green Peas.

The Crown Imperial takes rank in point of flavor, they blossom, purple and white on the top of the vines, will run, from three to five feet high, should be set in light sandy soil only, or they run too much to vines.

The Crown Pea is second in richness of flavor.

The Rondeheval is large and bitterish.

Early Carlton is produced first in the season--good.

Marrow Fats , green, yellow, and is large, easily cultivated, not equal to others.

Sugar Pea needs no bush, the pods are tender and good to eat, easily cultivated.

Spanish Manratto is a rich Pea, requires a strong high bush.

All Peas should be picked carefully from the vines as soon as dew is off, shelled and cleaned without water, and boiled immediately; they are thus the richest flavored.

HERBS useful in Cookery.

Thyme is good in soups and stuffings.

Sweet Marjoram is used in Turkeys.

Summer Savory, ditto, and in Sausages and salted Beef, and legs of Pork.

Sage is used in Cheese and Pork, but not generally approved.

Parsley good in soups, and to garnish roast Beef , excellent with bread and butter in the spring.

Penny Royal is a high aromatic, altho' a spontaneous herb in old ploughed fields, yet might be more generally cultivated in gardens, and used in cookery and medicines.

Sweet Thyme is most useful and best approved in cookery.

FRUITS

Pears, There are many different kinds; but the large Bell Pear, sometimes called the Pound Pear, the yellowest is the best, and in the same town they differ essentially.

Hard Winter Pear are innumerable in their qualities, are good in sauces, and baked.

Harvest and Summer Pear are a tolerable desert, are much improved in this country, as all other fruits are by grafting and innoculation.

Apples are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful in families, and ought to be more universally cultivated, excepting in the compactest cities. There is not a single family but might set a tree in some otherwise useless spot, which might serve the two fold use of shade and fruit; on which 12 or 14 kinds of fruit trees might easily be engrafted, and essentially preserve the orchard from the intrusions of boys, &c. which is too common in America. If the boy who thus planted a tree, and guarded and protected it in a useless corner, and carefully engrafted different fruits, was to be indulged free access into orchards, whilst the neglectful boy was prohibited--how many millions of fruit trees would spring into growth--and what a saving to the union. The net saving would in time extinguish the public debt, and enrich our cookery.

Currants are easily grown from shoots trimmed off from old bunches, and set carelessly in the ground; they flourish on all soils, and make good jellies--their cultivation ought to be encouraged.

Black Currants may be cultivated--but until they can be dryed, and until sugars are propagated, they are in a degree unprofitable.

Grapes are natural to the climate; grow spontaneously in every state in the union, and ten degrees north of the line of the union.

The Madeira, Lisbon and Malaga Grapes, are cultivated in gardens in this country, and are a rich treat or desert. Trifling attention only is necessary for their ample growth.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Spiny Bear's Breeches

Spiny Bear's Breeches (Acanthus spinosus)

This handsome perennial, native to Italy through W. Turkey, was first documented in 1629, although it was grown much earlier by the Romans and Greeks. But, like its cousin, Acanthus mollis, it is not known to have been cultivated commonly in American gardens before the mid 19th century. The British garden writer William Robinson revived interest in the Acanthus by extolling its virtues in his classic book, The Wild Garden, 1870. New Jersey nurseryman Peter Henderson admired both Acanthus spinosus and A. mollis as “stately” and remarkably beautiful ornamentals in his Handbook of Plants, 1890. Large, dramatic flowers are attractive to bees.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

South Carolina - A View on Mepkin

A View on Mepkin.

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 - Baltimore Belle Rose

Baltimore Belle Rose (Rosa cv.)

‘Baltimore Belle’, developed in 1843 by Baltimore, Maryland rose-breeder Samuel Feast, is considered one of the best hybrid forms of the North American Prairie Rose. It produces a sumptuous display of highly perfumed red-tinged buds and pale blush, fully-double blossoms in small clusters of a dozen or more and it grows into a massive shrub with vigorous, arching stems. With the exception of ‘Baltimore Belle’, most of the Prairie Rose hybrids developed by Feast have virtually disappeared, but they were especially popular in the 19th century on pillars and arches or grown as hedges.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Primary Source - 1738 Runaway Gardener

RAN away...Two English Convict Servants; one named Robert Shiels, a gardener ; is a lusty, well-set Fellow, about 26 Years of Age, with long, black Hair; but it's suppos'd may cut it off...They went away in an old great Canoe.

Virginia Gazette (Parks), Williamsburg , From November 10 to November 17, 1738.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Obedient Plant

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginianum)

This native perennial, also known as False Dragon Head and Virginia Dragon Head, was introduced to gardens in 1683. The corolla of Physostegia will stay indefinitely in whatever position it is turned (hence the common name "obedient plant"), which makes it very popular for floral arrangements. It was recommended by many garden writers of the early 20th century as a companion plant in the back of the perennial border. Heirloom cultivars of this plant include: 'Alba', a white form offered in 1908; and 'Vivid', a bright rosy pink form introduced in 1931. Flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

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.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Climbing Old Blush China Rose

'Climbing Old Blush' China Rose (Rosa chinensis cv.)

This is a climbing sport of the ancient ‘Old Blush’ China, which was first introduced to America in 1752 and reintroduced in 1793. ‘Old Blush’, also known as ‘Parson’s Pink China’ and Monthly Rose, was one of the first repeat-blooming roses brought to the West, and consequently was very popular in the early 19th century. Considered one of the most garden worthy of the old Chinas, this important cultivar provided part of the parentage of rose hybrids to come.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Nurseryman - Charles Briggs 1824-aft 1880

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New York native Briggs was the proprietor of the Briggs Seed House, Rochester, New York. In 1877 he had 20,000 merchants and dealers who sold his seeds. He had a large payroll with most of his employees being girls who filled orders, made paper bags, then labeled and filled them, and worked the printing presses.

Charles Briggs...commenced business here as a clerk about thirty years ago, & today has one of the largest seed houses in the city. His immense business is thoroughly systematized, each floor being devoted to some particular branch. In passing through the establishment one is likely to become astonished at the magnitude of the concern. His trade in vegetable seeds is enormous; but not to that alone is it confined, as flower seeds & bulbs form an important feature. He does a very large trade among merchants & dealers, of whom there are about twenty thousand who sell his seeds. Mr. Briggs' payroll is very large; the greater number of the employees, however, are girls, who do such work as filling the orders, making paper bags, labeling, filling, & packing them for market, besides operating tbe printing presses. The space used for this business amounts to over one hundred & thirty-six thousand feet. He has a large seed store in Chicago, & also a seed farm at Clinton, Iowa. Mr. B. has passed an active life in this business, & is justly entitled to the rank this establishment holds among the leading seed houses in this country.
From History of Monroe County, New York by W. H. McIntosh & W.E. Morrison, 1877
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Plants in Early American Gardens - 'Cramoisi Supérieur' Rose

'Cramoisi Supérieur' Rose (Rosa chinensis cv.)

Also known as ‘Agrippina’ and ‘Lady Brisbane’, this stunning China rose was first bred by unknown Belgian breeders before 1823, then in France by M. Coquereau of Angers (1832), and finally introduced by Jean Baptist-Paillet as ‘Cramoisi Supérieur’ in 1834. It was celebrated by early 20th-century British garden writer Gertrude Jekyll and an old garden favorite in America’s Deep South and in Bermuda where it has naturalized. This rose is drought and heat tolerant.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

1714 Purple Martins in Gourds

John Lawson records in History of Carolina (1714) “the planters put gourds on standing poles on purpose for these fowl to build in, because they are a very warlike bird and beat the crows from the plantations.”

Plants in Early American Gardens - Lady's Mantle

Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

This is the popular cottage garden Lady’s Mantle introduced from the Caucasus in 1874. Like its European relative, Alchemilla vulgaris, its felt-like leaves curiously hold water like beads of mercury. This property made it a favorite of the early apothecaries or alchemists, hence its scientific name. The delicate, airy blossoms are popular as cut flowers and for drying, and the fuzzy leaves are deer and rabbit resistant.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Fruits & Vegetables by James Peale (1749-1831)

James Peale (1749-1831). c 1824 Still Life with Chinese Export Basket.

This time of year, when the gardens in our part of the country are just past & the local fruit and vegetable stands are closed, I think of James Peale's still lifes; where he captures forever the Mid-Atlantic freshness, that we are about to lose.
1795 Detail. James Peale (1739-1741). The Artist & His Family. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.


In 1771, American painter Charles Willson Peale wrote to his London teacher, Pennsylvania expatriate artist Benjamin West, about his youngest sibling Jemmie,the Youngest will be a painter, he coppys very well, and has painted a little from life." James Peale (1749-1831) was 23, and the die was cast.
James Peale (1749-1831). A Porcelain Bowl with Fruit.

James, who lost his father when he was an infant, was raised by his widowed mother & trained by his oldest brother Charles, to be a saddle maker & a painter. Charles Willson Peale had completed his apprenticeship in saddlery in 1762, just as James was reaching the age when a colonial boy might enter his apprenticeship. Charles had married, opened his saddle shop, and then fled creditors for Boston, leaving James to be apprenticed to a cabinetmaker-carpenter in Charlestown, Maryland, in 1765.
James Peale (1749-1831). c 1820 Still Life Balsam Apples and Vegetables.

James Peale began working in his brother’s painting studio about 1769, when Charles returned to Annapolis after 2 years of training in London under Benjamin West. James' carpentry skills made him indispensable in making frames for his brother’s paintings. In return Charles gave his brother lessons in keeping a sketchbook for drawing & in painting.
James Peale (1749-1831). c 1824 Still Life with Watermelon.

James Peale continued working in his brother’s Annapolis studio; until January 14, 1776, when he accepted a commission as an ensign in the army. Within 3 months he was promoted to captain, and after 3 years in the Revolutionary army, he received a personal letter from George Washington asking him to remain in service.\
James Peale (1749-1831). c 1824 Still Life with Chinese Basket.

But in 1779, James Peale resigned his commission and moved to Philadelphia. He rejoined his brother Charles, who had moved there with his wife and family, & once again lived & worked in his brother’s studio. James Peale lived with his brother until 1782, when he married Mary Claypoole (1753–1829), sister of artist James Claypoole, Jr. (c 1743–1800).
James Peale (1749-1831). c 1824 Still Life.

During the 18th century, James continued to make frames for Charles’s oil paintings & began painting his own delicate miniature portraits as well as landscapes dotted with people, especially his family members. The brothers worked together painting & on a variety of projects such as making floats for the 1788 Federal Procession, the grand parade held in Philadelphia to commemorate the new United States Constitution. And the brothers worked apart developing their own distinctive styles & projects.
James Peale (1749-1831). c 1829 Still Life with Fruit on a Tabletop.

By the turn of the century, James began painting successful history paintings & exquisite neoclassical fruit still-life paintings. He continued to paint ivory miniatures, until his eyesight began to fail about 1820. Toward the end of his life, James Peale explored the romantic sublime in landscapes including thunderstorms, violently uprooted trees, & grand mountains.
James Peale (1749-1831). c 1829 Still Life

Just like his brother Charles Willson Peale, James Peale taught his children to paint. Three of his gifted daughters became accomplished painters. Anna Claypoole Peale (1798–1871) became a miniaturist & still-life painter. Margaretta Angelica Peale (1795–1882) painted trompe l’oeil subjects (similar to those of her cousin Raphaelle), fruit still lifes, & oil portraits. Sarah Miriam Peale (1800–1885) also became a fine portraitist & still-life painter.
James Peale (1749-1831). Fruit in a Basket.

James Peale painted miniatures, portraits, & historical paintings in his early career when he was working with his brother Charles Willson Peale.
James Peale (1749-1831). Fruits of Autumn

By the turn of the century, he began to explore still lifes & landscapes on his own. These are the still lifes from that period.
James Peale (1749-1831). Still Life with An Abundance of Fruit.

Between the period Peale began painting these still lifes & the end of his life, when he painted the fearsome sublime in landscapes of thunderstorms, violently uprooted trees, & towering mountains, Peale painted continued to paint these exquisite neo-classical still lifes. 
James Peale (1749-1831). Still Life with Apples, Grapes, Pear.

James Peale (1749-1831). Still Life with Grapes and Apples on a Plate.

James Peale (1749-1831). Vegetable Still Life.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Stowell's Evergreen White Corn

Stowell's Evergreen White Corn (Zea mays variety)

Regarded as the “king of all white sweet corn varieties,” this home-garden favorite was developed in 1848 by Nathaniel Newman Stowell of Burlington, New Jersey, who crossed the Menomony Soft Corn with Northern Sugar Corn. It was later marketed by Grant Thorburn & Co. in 1856. As its name implies, Stowell’s Evergreen White Corn matures slowly, remaining in the milk stage over a long period, and is considered one of the best heirloom, open-pollinated varieties for table, canning, and freezing.

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1806 M'Mahon's Work to be Done in the Kitchen Garden in January

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Bernard M'Mahon's 1806 American Gardener's Calendar published in Philadelphia

Work to be Done in the Kitchen Garden in January

IN such parts of the Union, where the ground is not at this time bound up with frost, continue to dig the waste quarters of your kitchen garden, first giving them such manure as they require; laying them in high sloping ridges, to sweeten and be improved by the frost, &e. more especially if the soil be of a stiff nature: by which method, its adhesion is destroyed, the pores are opened for the admission of air, frost, rain and dews, all of which abounding with nitrous salts, contribute, in a high degree, towards its melioration and fertility ; and besides a great quantity of ground thus prepared, can be soon leveled in the spring for sowing or planting; which, if neglected, would require much time to dig in a proper manner, and that at a period, when the throng of business requires every advantage of previous preparation.

When the ground at this time is frozen so hard as not to be dug, which is generally the case in the middle and eastern states, you may carry manure into the different quarters and spread it, repair fences, rub out and clean your seeds, prepare shreds, nails and twigs, for the wall and espalier trees, which are to be pruned in this and the next month; get all the garden-tools in repair, and purchase such as are wanting; provide from the woods a sufficient quantity of pea-rods, and poles for your Lima and other running beans; dress and point them, so as to be ready for use when wanted.

Here it may be well to remark, that many people who neglect to provide themselves with pea-rods at this season, when it can be so conveniently done, are necessitated, when the hurry of business overtakes them in spring, to sow their peas and let them trail on the ground ; in Which situation they will never produce, especially the tall growing kinds, one third as many as if they were properly rodded.

The various kinds of Early-Hotspur Peas, will require rods from four to five feet high, the Marrowfat, Glory of England, White and Green Rouncival, Spanish Morotto, and other tall growing kinds; will require them to be from six to seven fcet high, exclusive of the part to be inserted in the earth ; they ought to be formed or dressed fan fashion, the lower ends pointed, for the ease of pushing them into the earth, and laid by, either under some shed, or in any convenient place till wanted; one set of rods, will with care last for three years. The same kind of rods, that the tall growing peas require, will answer for the generality of running Kidney-Beans; the Lima-Beans require strong poles from eight to nine feet high.

If in this, and the next month, you neglect forwarding every thing that can possibly be done, in and for the garden, you will materially find the loss of such inattention, when the hurry and pressure of spring business overtake you. Every active and well inclined gardener will find abundant employment in the various departments of the garden at this season, and need not be idle, if disposed to be industrious, or to serve either himself or his employer.
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History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

In March 1804, at the start of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Meriwether Lewis sent "some slips of the Osage Plums, and Apples" to Jefferson from a garden in St. Louis owned by Pierre Choteau. On his return journey in 1807 Lewis collected seed and personally brought them back to Washington and Philadelphia. These were distributed to Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon and wealthy plantsman William Hamilton, and were successfully grown and distributed.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bare Root Bottlebrush Buckeye

Bare Root Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

Philadelphia botanist and plant explorer William Bartram first discovered this handsome shrub of the southeastern United States during his travels in Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in 1773-78; a specimen, believed planted by William, still grew in the Bartram’s nursery in 1930. John Fraser introduced the shrub to England in 1785; by 1820, the bottlebrush buckeye was “to be met with in most of our nurseries” in Great Britain. It has outstanding spring and autumn foliage color and is very attractive to butterflies.

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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.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bear's Breeches

Bear's Breeches (Acanthus mollis)

This elegant Mediterranean perennial was first documented in Italian gardens by 1548 but was grown much earlier by the Romans and Greeks. The bold leaves of this species inspired the architectural crown of Corinthian columns. It was not likely common in America, however, before the mid 19th century. The British garden writer William Robinson revived interest in the Acanthus by extolling its virtues in his classic book, The Wild Garden, 1870. New Jersey nurseryman Peter Henderson admired both Acanthus mollis and A. spinosus as “stately” and remarkably beautiful ornamentals in his Handbook of Plants, 1890. Large, dramatic flowers are attractive to bees.

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Garden to Table - Mary Randolph (1762-1828)

Biography of 1838 Virginia Cookbook Author Mary Randolph 1762-1828

Mary Randolph was born in Virginia, the daughter of Anne Cary and Thomas Mann Randolph, a legislator and wealthy plantation owner. Her tombstone lists Ampthill, her mother's family home near Richmond, as her birthplace, though some genealogists believe she may have been born at her father's plantation called "Tuckahoe," in Goochland County. The oldest of thirteen children, "Molly," as she was called, grew up among southern aristocracy. Her father (1741 - 1793), orphaned at infancy, was raised by Thomas Jefferson's parents; the Randolphs were distant cousins of the Jeffersons, and the families saw each other often. Her father served Virginia in the colonial house of burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776, and later in the state legislature. Her mother was the daughter of Archibald Cary, plantation owner and statesman. Her brother, Thomas Mann Randolph, became a Congressman and governor of Virginia and married Martha Jefferson, daughter of Thomas Jefferson.

Mary Randolph's education consisted of reading, writing, arithmetic, training in the household arts, and lessons in dancing, music, and drawing. In December 1780, at age eighteen, Randolph was married to a first cousin once removed named David Meade Randolph (1760 - 1830), a revolutionary war officer and tobacco planter. They settled at Randolph's James River plantation called "Presqu'Ile" in Chesterfield County, and the couple had eight children, four of whom lived to adulthood. Around 1795 President George Washington appointed David Randolph the U.S. marshal of Virginia (a federal court official), and the couple moved to Richmond. There, at the turn of the century, the Randolphs built Moldavia, an elegant residence named after the two of them. They held sparkling social gatherings that quickly made Mary Randolph a celebrated hostess, known for her well-set table and her knowledge of cooking. David Randolph, however, was a champion of Federalism and an open critic of Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson removed Randolph from his post in 1801, and the Randolph family was forced to sell Moldavia and many of their plantation lands as a result of their declining fortunes.

Eventually, in 1807, Mary Randolph opened a tasteful boardinghouse in Richmond to supplement their income. At the time, boardinghouses were particularly popular in cities, where large numbers of workers and visitors were in need of meals and lodging. Restaurants barely existed at the time. Randolph's boardinghouse was known as "the Queen," after the name her boarders gave her. It was one of the most popular places in Richmond. As chronicler Samuel Mordecai attests in 1856, "There were few more festive boards . . .Wit, humor and good-fellowship prevailed, but excess rarely." They closed the boardinghouse in 1820 and moved to Washington D.C. In 1824, just four years before her death, Randolph published her one and only cookbook, The Virginia Housewife. She writes in the Preface:

The greater part of the following receipts have been written from memory, where they were impressed by long continued practice. Should they prove serviceable to the young inexperienced housekeeper, it will add greatly to that gratification which an extensive circulation of the work will be likely to confer.

Randolph's hope for success was fully realized. A second edition was published in 1825, and it was often republished - in Baltimore in 1831 and 1838, in Philadelphia in 1850, and at least nineteen editions before the outbreak of the Civil War. Replacing English cookbooks which until then were the standard in America, The Virginia Housewife became the most influential American cookbook of the nineteenth century. Practical and specific in weights and measures, it was simpler to follow than English cookbooks. Broad in its range of recipes, it called on the bounty of Virginia's pastures, fields, waterways and woods, revealing the remarkable variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, berries, meats, wild game and fish of that place and time, matched only by the author's remarkably varied and masterful methods of preparation. Not surprisingly, the book's regional emphasis made it especially popular in the South, where every Virginia housewife, according to a later writer, Letitia Burwell, "knew how to compound all the various dishes in Mrs. Randolph's cookery book."

Mary Randolph lived for less than four years after the first publication of her cookbook. She was caring for an invalid son near the time of her death, which may have taxed her emotions and strength, for her gravestone describes her as "a victim of maternal love and duty." According to her wishes, she was buried at Arlington, the home of her cousin George Washington Parke Custis, stepson of George Washington and father of Mary Custis (Mrs. Robert E.) Lee. This final detail of her life reflects what historian Karen Hess points out, in her introduction to a facsimile of the 1824 edition:

So it can be seen that, in addition to her culinary prowess, nobody was more qualified by reason of family and social milieu to record the cookery of Virginia, the home of so many of our founding fathers, and of our nation's capital as well, in those early days. From the Historic American Cookbook Project: Feeding America

Sources:
Keene, Ann T., American National Biography. Vol. 20. Eds. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford, 1999.
Randolph, Mary. The Virginia Housewife: or Methodical Cook. Baltimore: Plaskitt, Fite, 1838.
----The Virginia House-Wife. With introduction by Karen Hess. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1985.
----The Virginia Housewife: or Methodical Cook. With introduction by Janice Bluestein Longone. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1993.
Rutledge, Anna Wells, Notable American Women 1607 - 1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Eds. Edward James, Janet James, Paul Boyer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bare Root Northern Maidenhair Fern

Bare Root Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)

This North American species is native from Nova Scotia to British Columbia and south to Georgia and Arkansas. Although delicate in appearance, this beautiful fern transplants easily and spreads quickly to create a voluminous, soft green ground cover. The Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm observed in Travels in North America (1753) that "the English in their plantations call it 'maiden hair'; it grows in all their North American colonies." The fronds were considered superior to European species for use in surgery and large quantities were shipped to France during the late 18th century.

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Garden to Table - Vegetables with Mary Randolph (1762-1828)

The Virginia Housewife: or, Methodical Cook

By Mary Randolph 1762-1828

This is considered by some to be the first truly American cookbook and by all to be the first regional American cookbook. This work is still in print and still forms the basis of traditional Virginia cooking. It has been praised by many culinary authorities both for its delineation of authentic Virginia foods and its careful attention to detail.

Upon its first appearance in 1824 it was an immediate success and it was republished at least nineteen times before the outbreak of the Civil War. In addition, copies appeared in the late nineteenth century and modern Southern authors aften reference it.

Anyone who doubts that early Americans savored salads and vegetables need only look at what Mrs. Randolph offers. There are recipes for artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, French beans, Jerusalem artichokes, lima beans, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, potatoes, potato pumpkin, red beet roots, salsify, savoy cabbage, sea kale, sorrel, spinach, sprouts and young greens, squash, sweet potatoes, turnips, turnip tops, winter squash, onions, and tomatoes.

Indeed, Mrs. Randolph has seventeen recipes using tomatoes in the various editions of her cookbook. This provides further evidence to correct the misinformation that Americans did not use tomatoes prior to the mid-nineteenth century.  From the Historic American Cookbook Project: Feeding America.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Blue Star

Blue Star (Amsonia tabernaemontana)

This choice North American native was discovered in 1759 and named for Charles Amson, an 18th-century Virginia doctor and scientific traveler. Blue Star was likely not cultivated as a garden plant until the mid-1800s, but was recommended by Peter Henderson by the end of the century. It has since become a popular flower for the perennial border and the cut-flower garden.

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