Garden to Table - The poor, forgotten quince...

In Praise of the Misunderstood Quince

By Michael Tortorello New York Times. Published: May 2, 2012

Quince at the Cloisters Museum in New York. Photo by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

After half a century in public life, the most famous quince trees in New York are looking — let’s say mature. Or how about distinguished? No need to beat around the bush, said Deirdre Larkin, the horticulturist who tends the four beloved quinces at the Cloisters Museum and Gardens, along the Hudson River in Fort Tryon Park.  “They are old, and nothing will change that,” she said.  Yet in Europe, where the quince’s yellow pome is a culinary treasure, orchardists will buttress the sagging limbs with a crutch...But, Ms. Larkin said, “trees can live for hundreds of years.” ...

What most Americans know about quince (Cydonia oblonga) — if they know about quince at all — is that it was once a fixture in Grandma’s garden. O.K., Great-Great-Grandma’s garden. As long ago as 1922, the great New York pomologist U. P. Hedrick rued that “the quince, the ‘golden apple’ of the ancients, once dedicated to deities, and looked upon as the emblem of love and happiness, for centuries the favorite pome, is now neglected and the least esteemed of commonly cultivated tree-fruits.” Almost every Colonial kitchen garden had a quince tree. But there was seldom need for two, said Joseph Postman, the United States Department of Agriculture scientist who curates the quince collection in Corvallis, Ore. Settlers valued quince, above all, as a mother lode of pectin for making preserves. And for that task, a little fruit went a long way.

“If you put the seeds in a cup of water, it becomes almost like Jell-O,” Mr. Postman said. This goo doubled as a pomade...Like so many American workers, the quince lost its job to a disruptive technology: powdered gelatin, introduced by Charles Knox in the 1890s...Today the nation’s entire quince crop covers a paltry 250 acres ... By contrast, farmers this year will raise some 350,000 acres of apples and 96 million acres of corn.

Quince Jacques le Moyne de Morgues (c. 1533–1588)

So we arrive, perforce, at a fundamental question: Is raw quince edible? ... The skin, fuzzy at first, has an objectionable texture,...And when the flavor is not sour, it’s sour and astringent...The key to enjoying quince at home, apparently, is to cook it and cook it and cook it. At that point, the quince is ready to cook...

The quince tree is self-pollinating: you need only one. If you train the growth to a few trunks, a quince shouldn’t get much taller than a gardener can reach with a six-foot ladder.

By now, Mr. Postman has probably grown more varieties of quince than anyone else on the continent. The Corvallis germ-plasm repository contains 50 or 60 edible varieties, and provides material to researchers and plant breeders...When I spoke to Mr. Postman, in fact, the couple was driving across Arizona with a fresh quince cutting in the back seat. Mr. Postman had just stopped at the historic Mission San José de Tumacácori, about 20 miles north of the Mexican border. Researchers there have been replanting the neglected orchard with the forgotten fruit varieties of 17th-century Jesuit missionaries...

A bushel of good quince will fetch $2.50 at farmers’ markets in New Jersey. At least it did in the late 19th century, when the Rev. William W. Meech published Quince Culture, in 1825.  It is the definitive — and possibly the only — guide to cultivating the fruit.  You can read the updated 1888 version here.  or the original 1825 edition here ...

The portingegale Quince. John Tradescant (c 1570-1632) 1634 Plant List

 John Tradescant the elder (c 1570-1632)

A few random quince facts...

Apples (Malus communis, M. pumila, & M. sylvestris), pears (Pyrus communis) & quince (Cydonia oblonga) belong to the rose family.

The homeland of the quince lies between the Caspian Sea & the Black Sea, a mountainous region called the Caucasus that touches northern Turkey & Iran as well as Southern Georgia.

Mention of quince appears in Greek writings about 600 BCE as a ritual item in wedding ceremonies. Pliny mentioned the Mulvian variety, a cultivated quince, as the only one that could be eaten raw. Columella described three other varieties he names as the sparrow apple, golden apple, & the must apple.

Cultivation of the quince began in Mesopotamia, an area now Northern Iraq between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers. Between 200 & 100 BCE, this "golden apple" was cultivated by the Greeks. The quince was cultivated prior to the apple & reached Palestine by 100 BCE.

Following the battles for power between the Arabs & the Byzantines circa 763 CE, the some Arabs traveled to Isfahan in Persia for quinces, apples, saffron, & salt.

Charlemagne was partly responsible for introducing the quince into France with his orders in the year 812 to plant quince trees in the royal garden.

Chaucer mentions quince using the name coines, a word that comes from the French coing.
 O mosy quince, hangyng by your stalke,
 The whyche no man dar pluk away ner take,
 Of all the folk that passe forby or walke,
 Your flowres fresshe be fallyn away and shake.
 I am ryght sory, masteras, for your sake,
 Ye seme a thyng that all men have forgotyn;
 Ye be so rype ye wex almost rotyn.

When European & Near Eastern immigrants began to settle in the New World, they planted quince in North America.

Quince enjoyed the spotlight only briefly during the colonial period in New England. A March 16, 1629 entry in the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Memorandum listed quince as one of the seeds requested from England.

By 1720, quince was thriving in Virginia. Many home gardens throughout the colonies were reaping a fall harvest from their quince trees; however, apples quickly snatched the spotlight from the quinces. Americans had become accustomed to sweet fruits like the apple & found little about the quince to favor.

Quince cheese, an old New England specialty of the 1700's, required all-day boiling of quince preserves to achieve a solidified state, probably similar to the French specialty cotignac.

Quince grew traveling legs as the westward movement took hold in the United States. In the 1850's a Texan, who owned a large land grant, grew many fruit trees on his property. Among them was quince, along with peach, fig, raspberry, pomegranate, & plum.

Quince Folklore...

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, was known to consider apples sacred. Historians believe the apple favored by Aphdrodite were really quince. The legendary golden apple of Hesperides that Paris gave to Aphrodite was really a quince.

The ancient Greeks considered quinces to be the symbol of fertility & dedicated them to the goddess of love.

An Athenian wedding tradition of the ancient Greeks had friends & family tossing quinces into the bridal chariot as the groom was escorting his bride to her new home. Once they arrived, the bride ate a ceremonial cake flavored with honey & sesame. To insure fertility, she was then presented a quince.

One myth says that pregnant women who indulge their appetites in generous quantities of quinces will give birth to industrious & highly intelligent children.

Quince Cooking...

Apicius, Rome's first cookbook author, first century CE, preserved whole quinces with their stems & leaves attached in a bath of honey diluted with defrutum, a newly prepared wine that is spiced & reduced by boiling.  Another quince dish prepared by Apicius, Patina de Cydoniis, combines them with leeks, honey, &broth in hot oil.

The earliest true preserves came about during classical times when quinces were cooked with honey & vinegar, a combination that produced a gel or pectin-like quality.

From the15th century to the present, Cotignac d'Orleans, a clear gel made from boiled quince juice & sugar, is set into small wooden boxes to form confections. These treats were originally presented to French royalty in honor of their visit to cities & outlying villages.

When Joan of Arc arrived in Orleans in 1429, to liberate the French from the English, she received the honored gift of cotignac.

The English, during the 16th & 17th centuries, delighted in preparing many variations of quince preserves which they called quidoniac, quiddony, marmelade or paste of Genoa. The preserves formed a thick paste that could be shaped into animals or flower forms. Though the quince paste is rarely found in England today, a coarse version, called membrillo, is a favorite treat presently served along with cheese in Spain.

In 1570, Pope Pius V gave a spectacular banquet that featured as its piece de resistance, a quince pastry that required "one quince per pastry."

In Britain, quince was incorporated into the cuisine in various pies & tarts. The British also prepared a sauce made from quince that became a traditional accompaniment to roasted partridge.

Although the most favored quince marmalade, called marmelada, originated Portugal during the 1500's, the British were preparing many versions of marmalade from quince well into the 1600's.

For even more on quince, see Vegetrians in Paradise

History Blooms at Monticello - Sword Flag

Sword Flag or Corn Flag (Gladiolus communis ssp. byzantinus)

This species of Gladiolus, native to the Mediterranean region, is delicate and small-flowered compared to our modern hybrids. Sword Flags also tend to be more winter hardy. John Parkinson’s Herbal, published in London in 1629, provides the first description, and it was growing in American gardens by 1800. 

Thomas Jefferson received 12 hardy Gladiolus bulbs from Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1812. G. communis ssp. byzantinus will slowly naturalize in the garden.

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Botany - 19th-Century American Fruit Illustrations

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Taking a break from art history. Each year at this time, I long to be outdoors in a garden somewhere or reading about gardens. I will take you along with me this spring...

This interesting insight into history & these lovely illustrations are from an article on America's 19th-century nurserymen from the Smithsonian Magazine of August 2011. Yale historian Daniel J Kevles writes "How to Trademark a Fruit: To protect the fruits of their labor and thwart 'plant thieves,' early American growers enlisted artists."

Red Astrachan Apple

Kelvles' begins his story in 1847, when Charles M. Hovey, owner of a 40-acre nursery in Cambridge, Masschusetts, began distributing a series of prints of American fruits. In 1852 & 1856, Hovey published his series of prints as The Fruits of America, Volume 1 & 2. Hovey borrowed the tactic of America's 1st important 19th-century garden author (1806) Bernard M'Mahon by declaring that he felt "a national pride in portraying the“delicious fruits...in our own country, many of them surpassed by none of foreign growth, thus demonstrating the developing “skill of our Pomologists” to the “cultivators of the world.”

William Prestele's Michaux Grape

Since the end of the American Revolution commercial seed & nursery entrepreneurs had been steadly growing in the United States. State horticultural societies began to organize at the end of the 18th-century; and in 1848, several of their leaders in the Eastern states gathered together to form the first national organization of fruit men—the American Pomological Society, named for Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits.

William Hooker's Noblesse Peach.

Fruit growers knew that if they were to protect their new varieties of fruit from appropriation by others, they had to identify them. And so a body of American botanical art began to emerge. The American Pomological Society quickly established a Committee on Synonyms and a Catalogue, hopeful, as its president said, that an authoritative voice would be the best means of preventing those numerous impositions and frauds which, we regret to say, have been practiced upon our fellow citizens, by adventurous speculators or ignorant and unscrupulous venders.”

William Prestele's Wineberry, or Wine Raspberry

The worried fruit growers were aided in the efforts to publicize & lay claim to their varieties by the arrival in the United States in the late 1830s, of William Sharp, an English artist, immigrated to Boston with a printing technology, chromolithography, which enabled the production of multiple-colored pictures.

Some engaged an artist named Joseph Prestele, a German immigrant from Bavaria who had been a staff artist at the Royal Botanical Garden in Munich. He had been making a name for himself in the United States as a botanical illustrator of great clarity, accuracy and minuteness of detail.

Coe's Golden Gumdrop Plum

To learn of the development of these books & catalogues & the patent issues involved for both the large nursery operations & small firms as well, read Daniel J Kevles' article in the Smithsonian Magazine here.
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Plants in Early American Gardens - Golden Seal

Golden Seal (Hydrastis canadensis)

This Eastern North American perennial is found in rich, moist, marshy places in cool, deciduous forests. It was discovered and sent to Britain in 1759. Goldenseal’s yellow root was once used by Native Americans for dyeing a bright yellow color, as well as to produce a medicinal narcotic. 

Although this member of the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) is not found in the woodlands of Monticello, its cousin the Yellow Root, Xanthoriza simplicissima, grows along the banks of the Rivanna River and is a favorite species on Monticello’s “Saturdays in the Garden” wildflower walks every April.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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Nurseryman - Albert A Blanc 1850-1928

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Albert A. Blanc–(1850-1928)–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–

Blanc was born in Belgium in 1850, and came to the United States in the early 1870s. He began as a cactus dealer and illustrated plant lists with his own woodcuts.

His Hints on Cacti, a combination cultural guide and trade catalog, was published in 1886. It was the first cactus catalog published in the United States.

He expanded a hobby into the world’s largest cactus nursery, and was considered to be the person responsible for starting the cactus craze of the 1890s. Other dealers were impressed with his illustrations, and by the 1890s he was selling thousands of illustrations to American and European companies.

Information from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and private research.
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History Blooms at Monticello - Carolina Silverbell

Carolina Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera)

Halesia tetraptera is an understory tree that is native from West Virginia south to Florida and west to eastern Texas. It was named after Stephen Hale, (1677-1761) author of a famous work Vegetable Statics. Carolina Silverbell was introduced into Great Britain in 1756 and was called Snowdrop or Silverbell Tree. 

In a letter to John W. Eppes dated March 6, 1817, Thomas Jefferson indicated …” P.S. a Halesia sent. also purple and white figs.”

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Painter Charles Willson Peale & His Sons as Naturalists & Scientists

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Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827)

Article from The Salisbury Times (now called The Delmarva Times), Salisbury, Maryland - July 17,1958 from the Delmarva Heritage Series, by Dr. William H. Wroten, Jr.

Charles Wilson Peale, besides being classed as a painter and patriot, was also a naturalist, founder of a famous museum, and writer. Besides his memoirs, and some other unpublished writings, he was the author of such works as "An Essay On Building Wooden Bridges," "Discourse Introductory To A Course of Lectures on the Science of Nature," "Introduction to a Course of Lectures on Natural History," "An Epistle to a Friend on the Means of Preserving Health," and "An Address to the Corporation and Citizens of Philadelphia."

After the Revolutionary War, during a period when economic conditions seemed rather unfavorable to the artist's profession, Peale came across the fact that the bones of a mammoth had been discovered in New York State. Friends suggested to Peale that he make his art gallery a repository also of natural curiosities. The idea appealed to him and such an arrangement was established. At one time the museum was even granted free use of the State House (Independence Hall) which, a short time before, had been vacated by the legislature. Later it became incorporated as the Philadelphia Museum. In its time this museum in scope and character was of the first rank.

Davy Crockett in 1834, during his travels to eastern cities, wrote, "... I was taken to Peale's museum. I shall not attempt to describe the curiosities here; it is above my bend. I could not help, however, thinking what pleasure of curiosity folks could take in sticking up whole rows of little bugs, and such like varmints, I saw a boy there that had been born without any arms or hands; and he took a pair of scissors in his toes, and cut his name in full, and gave it to me. This I call a miracle."

Mrs. Anne Royall, who was born in Maryland, paid a visit to the museum in the 1820's while in Philadelphia. "It may readily be supposed," she wrote, "that the idea of seeing a place so celebrated as the museum of Philadelphia, inspired me with no common curiosity: that, and the market to me, were objects of the first interest, which I had long and ardently wished to see. The museum is in Chestnut St., near the corner of S. 4th St. I soon discovered it by a sign, and after crossing a gallery, came to a staircase, wide enough to admit a wagon and team. I made but a few steps, before one of them springing under my fee, rung a bell to my great surprise, and upon gaining the stairs, I was met by a man whose business it is to receive the money paid, which is 25 cents. The first object of my inquiry was the mammoth skeleton, but I was greatly disappointed in its appearance. The skeleton is indeed large as is represented, but it had not that formidable, dread-inspiring aspect which my romantic turn led me to expect and with which I expected to be overwhelmed: I beheld it without surprise or emotion. It is standing upon its feet in a small room, which is lighted by a large window, enclosed with a rail as high as one's breast, and presenting its side foremost. The whole has a very dark appearance, and in many parts it is quite black. In some instances the bone is as hard as iron, while other parts seem to be in a moulding condition ... Although I was not thrown into hysterics at the sight of the mammoth skeleton, I found enough of the marvelous in the museum to remunerate for the disappointment. Amongst these were the sea-lion, the skeleton of a horse, which when living, measured 20 hands in height, with a human figure on its back'. A sheep weighing 214 lbs., the devil-fish - in short, ten thousand things wonderful and pleasing, including 200 portraits of our most distinguished men. Of all the portraits, I was particularly struck with those of Commodore Perry, Doctor Rush, Latrobe, and Albert Gallatin."

The museum was founded by Mr. Peale in 1784; this indefatigable man has done more since that time, than one would suppose could be done by a whole nation - the collection is endless ... After paying once, you have free liberty of the museum as often as you choose to call."

Despite the shortcomings expressed by such travelers as Davy Crockett and Mrs. Anne Royall, the educational aspect of the museum was developed for Peale's staff included professional men in zoology, comparative anatomy and mineralogy. In exhibiting his wild life he added a semblance of natural habitat, an interesting innovation. His museum became so famous that it tended to obscure his career as a portrait painter.

Although Peale more or less retired in the 1790's he continued to do some painting to enlarge his portrait gallery and to acquire the money for the museum, which depended mainly on his purse. After 1810, when he retired to his country home, his sons, who were trained naturalists, relieved him of the active supervision of the museum.

Some of the famous sons of Charles Wilson Peale by his first wife were Raphael and Rembrandt, painters, and Titian and Rubens, naturalists. Two sons of the second marriage, Franklin and Titian Ramsay (named after his half-brother who died during a yellow fever epidemic in 1789) were trained naturalists.

Rembrandt Peale (American artist, 1778-1860)

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860) like his father, was a famous portrait painter, who also had the opportunity of studying under Benjamin West in England. Although he produced numerous portraits and historical works, he had the misfortune to live at a time when America was not demonstrating much artistic interest. Horace Wells Sellers says, "Technically, Rembrandt Peale may have been a better painter than his father, but not one of his canvases exhibits the charm and decorative qualities of those of the elder Peale ... as a result his portraits while good likenesses, are perfunctory."

Most people of Maryland, and the United States in general, will not associate Rembrandt Peale with his paintings but with his gallery and museum in Baltimore. His father tried to discourage him from establishing such an undertaking in Baltimore but the son was determined to do so, and to found, if possible, an academy for teaching the fine arts. The building was erected, and he opened his exhibits in 1814. Paul Wilstach, in Tidewater Maryland, said, "The brothers opened the museum the same year that the streets of an American city first flamed here with 'carbureted hydrogen gas,'" and in the advertisement of the museum, Peale made a point of the fact that it, too was illuminated by "Gas Light - Without oil, Tallow, Wick or Smoke."

Rembrandt tried to maintain his museum on the same basis of his father's, but the support of the people was not sufficient and finally his brother Rubens, the naturalist, who had managed the one in Philadelphia, came to take over.

Reubens Peale with a Geranium by his brother Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860)

Rembrandt Peale was probably the most famous of Charles Willson Peale's sons, but Raphael (1774-1825) achieved success as a painter of miniatures and for his still-life canvases. He also painted with his brother Rembrandt; working together in the 1790's they attempted to establish a portrait gallery of distinguished persons in Baltimore.

Although Titian Ramsay (1799-1885) was somewhat of an artist, he is more famous as a naturalist and director of museums of natural history. He traveled on various expeditions painting, studying, and collecting specimens. He traveled to the coast of Georgia and Florida, the Upper Missouri River region, South America, and the South Seas.

Titian Ramsay Peale 1819

Much space has been devoted to the Charles Wilson Peale family, and rightfully so, but mention must be given to his brother and family. James Peale (1749-1831), born in Chestertown, Md., was the youngest son of Margaret and Charles Peale. He was taught not only the art of the saddler but that of the painter by his more famous brother, James, too, served in the Revolutionary War, first with Smallwood's Maryland Regiment and later with the First Maryland, in which he reached the rank of captain.

After the war he left Maryland to live with Charles in Philadelphia, where he met and married Mary Claypoole, the daughter of James Claypoole, another artist. Although he painted portraits and landscapes, he is best known as a painter of miniatures. He followed mainly the style of Charles Wilson Peale.

James Peale (American, 1749-1831)

James' only son became a banker, but tow of his five daughters, Sarah Miriam and Anna Claypoole Peale became painters. Sarah Miriam became a portrait painter, most famous probably for her canvas of Lafayette in 1825, while Anna painted miniatures but not quite the equal of either her father or uncle.
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Plants in Early American Gardens - Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris)

The Bavarian physician-botanist Philipp von Siebold brought this magnificent hydrangea from Japan in 1862. It was introduced into London’s Kew Gardens by Max Leichtlin in 1878 and the first specimens in American gardens were introduced through the Arnold Arboretum in Boston during the late 19th century. 

Schizophragma hydrangeoides is a related woody vine, also from Japan, that is often confused with the true climbing hydrangea. Both are showy, vigorous, and considered garden classics.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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Pots for the Plants

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Flower Pot with Chives

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been preparing the pots of plants we brought into the sunroom for the winter, to return to the outdoors. A tradition centuries old. We don't have a greenhouse on our property, but there were several greenhouses in colonial and early America.
Robert Lewis Reid (American painter, 1862-1929) The Old Gardener 1920

Claude Monet (1840-1926) Three Pots of Tulips 1882

Rembrandt Peale (American painter, 1778-1860) Portrait of the Artist's Brother Rubens Peale with Geranium 1801.

Garden Structures & Ornaments - The Perfect Food for Doves with Just a Little Alcohol

Valuable Secrets Concerning Arts and Trades. Published by Will Hay, London. 1775

To preserve and multiply pigeons. In a large dovecote, prepare the following food, which will induce your pigeons to love their cote, and also to bring you a great many strangers when they go abroad. 

Take thirty pounds of millet, three of cumin, five of honey, half a pound of bishop's wort, otherwise coflus, two pounds of agnus cajlus's seed, which boil in river water to the total evaporation of the last. Then in its stead pour a gallon and a half, or two gallons of red Port, with about eight pounds of old mortar well pulverised, which set on the fire again for about half an hour to concoct.

Thus all those ingredients will harden and form a lump, which, if placed in the middle of the dovecote, will in a short time amply reward you for your expense.

Emile Munier (French Academic Painter, 1840-1895) Young Doves Coo 1891

Plants in Early American Gardens - Variegated Sweet Iris

Variegated Sweet Iris (Iris pallida 'Variegata')

The Variegated Sweet or Zebra Iris belongs to an ancient group that was the ancestor to our modern Tall Bearded Iris. Although it is not certain when the variegated form arose, the species types date to the seventeenth century and were cultivated by the earliest settlers in America. They are tough, deer resistant, drought tolerant, long-lived and resistant to borers and disease.

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Primary Source - Tho Jefferson (1743-1824) on Farming & Gardening

In 1781, Thomas Jefferson wrote,

"Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."

Thomas Jefferson
















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Plants in Early American Gardens - Sword-leaf Phlox

Sword-leaf Phlox (Phlox buckleyi)

Native to Virginia and West Virginia, this low-growing phlox was named for Samuel B. Buckley, who found it growing wild near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in the early 1800s. 

P. buckleyi was not introduced into gardens until botanist and mineralogist Edgar T. Wherry named it in 1930. Wherry, an expert on ferns and president of the American Fern Society from 1934-39, also wrote The Genus Phlox (1955). Sword-leaf phlox is a tough, evergreen perennial with small yet showy flowers that attract butterflies.

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Nurseryman - Patrick Barry - 1816-1890

Patrick Barry–(1816-1890)–Rochester, New York–

Barry was born near Belfast, Ireland in 1816 and was a teacher in Ireland, but at 21 years old he went to seek his fortune in America. He arrived in New York in May 1836 and worked with William Prince and Sons, proprietors of the Linnaean Nursery, Flushing, NY. There Barry got a solid foundation in American horticulture.

In the summer of 1840 he negotiated a partnership with George Ellwanger in Rochester, NY. Ellwanger & Barry were the proprietors of the Mount Hope Nurseries. In 1842 Barry wrote an article on “Horticulture in Western New York,” in which he criticized the refusal of the judges at the State Agricultural Society Fair of 1842 to award fruit prizes. In 1844 Barry took the post of editor of the Horticultural Department of the Genesee Farmer and continued there for eight years.

In 1847 Barry journeyed through Europe, visiting all the leading nurserymen and studied their methods for pruning. Shortly after his return he started writing The Fruit Garden that was published in 1851. In 1849, Barry gave the annual meeting address to the Genesee Valley Horticultural Society that met at the Monroe County Agricultural Society’s fair.

Barry was editor of The Horticulturist for 1853 and 1854. He was president of the Western New York Horticultural Society for more than thirty years; president of the New York Agricultural Society; president of the Rochester City & Mechanics Savings Bank; Rochester Gas Co.; and Powers Hotel Co. In 1877 he served as the president of the State Agricultural Society. He died June 23, 1890.

Information from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries research.
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Garden to Table - Home-Made Fig Wine

 

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

FIG WINE
Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced to a kind of pulp. Then strain out the water, pressing the pulp hard and pour it as hot as possible on the figs that are imbrued in the wine. Let the quantities be nearly equal, but the water somewhat more than the wine and figs. Let them stand twenty-four hours, mash them well together, and draw off what will run without squeezing. Then press the rest, and if not sweet enough add a sufficient quantity of sugar to make it so. Let it ferment, and add to it a little honey and sugar candy, then fine it with white of eggs, and a little isinglass, and draw it off for use.

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 - Marseilles

 ‘Marseilles’ Fig (Ficus carica cv.)

‘Marseilles’ Fig (Ficus carica cv.)

In 1809 Jefferson wrote to Dr. William Thornton, a close friend and architect of the Capitol in Washington: “I will take some occasion of sending you some cuttings of the Marseilles fig, which I brought from France with me, & is unquestionably superior to any fig I have ever seen.” 

This variety was planted in the “submural beds” at the base of the kitchen garden wall, which afforded a warm microclimate necessary to bear fruit. Jefferson had unusual success with figs and noted their appearance at the Monticello table in 1816 and 1820. He also shared ‘Marseilles’ figs with John Hartwell Cocke, owner of Bremo Plantation along the James River. Cocke sent his slave Jesse to Monticello in 1817 to collect some plants.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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History Blooms at Monticello - Red Crown Imperial Lily

 Red Crown Imperial Lily (Fritillaria imperialis 'Rubra Maxima')

The Crown Imperial Lily was brought to Western Europe from Southern Turkey and Kashmir as early as 1576. By 1770 Dutch bulb growers had developed 13 distinct varieties. 

Thomas Jefferson ordered this lily from Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon five times before receiving three "roots" of the orange and a rare "silver striped" form in 1812. It is also called "Stink Lily" and "Old Stinky," because of its foxy odor.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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

Garden History - Tools

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Dear friends gave me an old dibble yesterday. To celebrate my great good fortune in both friends & dibbles, I am posting this non-American print of working in a more sophisticated European 18th-century garden. Enjoy, while I will be caressing my smooth, smooth old hand-carved wooden dibble.

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Plants in American Gardens - Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Pepper

Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum var. annuum)

This Italian heirloom variety was brought to America in 1887 by the Nardello family when they immigrated to Connecticut. Jimmy Nardello preserved his mother’s favorite strain of sweet frying pepper and, in 1983, his son James donated seed to Seed Savers Exchange. Known for disease resistance and broad climate tolerance, it ripens to fire-engine red, and is delicious fresh, sautéed, or roasted.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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

Garden Labor - Family

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Family Garden Helpers

Surprisingly, landed gentry & small town merchants & artisans generally employed the same kinds of help in the garden during the latter half of the 18th century in the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South. (That region usually includes Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, & Virginia; but my research seldom is all-inclusive for the entire area.)

While there are not many records of exactly who was working in the garden during the growing season, there are a few. Hard-working Annapolis craftsman William Faris used apprenticed & indentured white servants, free & slave blacks, & his own family to maintain his Annapolis garden. Here the use of garden labor between the artisan & the gentry differed.

At the homes of the gentry, the family seldom helped with garden tasks, except that the wives usually managed the daily activities of the kitchen garden and the poultry yard, as well as daily tasks of the house staff.

All of craftsman Faris' children, who were living close to home between 1792 & 1804, (when Faris was recording daily in his diary) helped in the garden, usually assisting a slave or temporary hired help.

Faris’ unmarried sons still living in Annapolis, who had apprenticed under their father before going out on their own as professional clockmakers & silversmiths, continued to serve as occasional garden labor for their aging father, who was 64 years old in 1792. One son was 27, & the other was 23 in 1792.
The craftsman’s unmarried daughters all helped in the garden, until they left home. Faris first mentioned his youngest daughter’s helping in the garden in 1794, when she was fifteen. His two oldest daughters, unmarried & heavily into the Annapolis social scene, also assisted in Faris’s garden in 1799, when the eldest was 25 & her sister was 24.

Notation of garden work by Faris’s wife, Priscilla, appears only once. In his diary Faris noted that she was usually employed at “woman’s work.” She fed & sewed clothing for her family & helped Faris with his need for extra hands by raising a large family.

British agriculturalist Richard Parkinson & his family rented a farm in Baltimore County for several years at the end of the century before returning to England, where he wrote of his American experiences. Parkinson also noted that his children helped with gardening & farming chores but that his wife did not.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Grapeholly

Grapeholly (Mahonia aquifolium)

As a member of the Barberry family, this shrub was initially known as Berberis aquifolium, before Thomas Nuttall honored Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon by renaming the genus. McMahon was the first nurseryman to successfully grow Oregon Grape-Holly from seeds brought back by Lewis and Clark. 

The great plant explorer, David Douglas, found this plant and a related species, Mahonia repens, during his travels through the Pacific Northwest between 1825 and 1827. He introduced it on a large scale and it was widely cultivated by 1828. This shrub is not attractive to deer.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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

Vines in Early American Paintings

Vines in Early American Paintings

Detail. 1772 William Williams (1727-1791). The William Denning Family.
1787 Detail. Salem, North Carolina.
Detail Lewis Miller (1796-1882) Lewis Miller Sketchbook.

During the 18th century, American gardeners trained vines to grow on wooden fences, brick walls, columns, dwellings, arbors, and outbuildings. Vines are plants with supple stems that can climb, trail, or creep which need some support to grow erect. Some are rambling, some twining, and some sprawling.
American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)

Trained climbing vines could supply early American gardeners with some edibles; dramatic decoration; cooling shade; food to attract songbirds; some privacy; & lingering fragrances as well as softening the lines of buildings & screening undesirable views. Fast-growing plants, like the Carolina Trumpet Vine, could offer a relatively quick solution to hide an unsightly area. Climbing vines could break up stiff horizontal and vertical lines. And most of the vines could be found in the surrounding woods.
Balsam Apple (Momordica balsamina)

Among the hardy vines in early American gardens were the Carolina Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla), Virgin's Bower (Celmatis virginiana), honeysuckles, and rambling roses like sweetbriars, treasured for both their fragrant leaves & flowers. The orange, red, & yellow flowers of the Trumpet Honeysuckles (Lonicera sempervirens) are an excellent source of nectar for hummingbirds.
Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Thomas Jefferson grew the lush purple Hyacinth Bean (Dolihos lablab) as well as Scarlet Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus). He called the wonderfully scented Snail Flower or the Caracalla Bean (Vigna caracalla) with its twining stalk, "The most beautiful bean in the world." Philip Miller's 1768 edition of The Gardener's Dictionary noted that in Europe, "the inhabitants plant it to cover arbours and seats in gardens for which it is greatly esteemed...for its beautiful sweet smelling flowers."
Carolina Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans)

Jefferson also grew the Nasturtium (Tropaeloum majus) as both a vegetable & an ornament in 1782. In Bernard M'Mahon's 1806 American Gardener's Calendar, he recommended the Balsam Apple (Momordica balsamina) as a tender annual flower of the "twining sort." Balsam Apple has lobed, glossy-green leaves, delicate tendrils, and soft pale-yellow flowers. But the resulting fruits are anything but delicate spikey yellow-green pods which turn a bright yellow-orange before bursting open with sticky bright red seeds. Jefferson tried this vine in his gardens, along with the Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit), the seeds of which he sent Patsy to grow indoors at Monticello in 1790.
Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit)

My favorite from the period is the Carolina Trumpet Vine. Its 3-inch-long tubular, horn-like, orange flowers are an amazing, defiant show of color blooming throughout the summer. For some garden visitors direct contact with the vine can result in skin irritation. I also enjoy the Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) which keeps it shiny dark green leaves year-round & shows vivid yellow blossoms. A shrubby, vine of moderate growth, jessamine climbs by twining its stem around a supporting structure. The fragrant, tubular, yellow flowers form in clusters during the early spring.
Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla)

Also used in early gardens was American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) whose orange & red berry-like fruits & seeds of are showy and provide winter food for wildlife. The leaves are glossy dark green, oval shaped, and turn yellow before dropping in the fall. Native American Bittersweet vine is often confused with the invasive, weedy pest Oriental Bittersweet, which appears to be reducing the number of American Bittersweet plants.
Hyacinth Bean (Dolihos lablab)
Some theorize that vines were not much used as ornaments in gardens in the colonial & early republic periods of our county's history. Gardens during the 18th-century Age of Reason are thought to be too orderly to tolerate vines. The 19th century would bring in the passionate, vine-filled, romantic garden. But, early American gardeners were intentionally planting vines on their grounds long before the Romantic period.
Nasturtium (Tropaeloum majus)
Early in the 18th century, Robert Beverley reported in in History and Present State of Virginia about the garden at Westover, "Have you pleasure in a Garden?....Colonel Byrd, in his Garden, which is the finest in that Country, has a Summer-House set round with the Indian Honey-Suckle..."
Scarlet Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus)

In 1743, Eliza Lucas Pinckney wrote of William Middleton's Crow-field in South Carolina, "The house stands a mile from, but in sight of the road...as you draw nearer new beauties discover themselves, first the fruitful Vine mantleing up the wall loaded with delicious Clusters..."
Snail Flower Vigna caracalla).

George Washington seemed to enjoy planting vines to soften the look of his covered walkways at Mount Vernon in Virginia. In March of 1785, he noted, "Planted the Scarlet or French honey suckle...at each Column of my covered ways, as also against the circular walls between the Store house."
Sweetbriar Rose

When Manasseh Cutler visited the public pleasure grounds in 1787, Gray's Garden near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he wrote, "At every end, side, and corner, there were summer-houses, arbors covered with vines or flowers or shady bowers encircled with trees and flowering shrubs, each of which was formed in a different taste."
Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens).

Francois Jean Marquis De Chastellux visited Westover many years after Beverley in 1782, noting, "As for the hummingbirds...the walls of the garden and the house were covered with honeysuckle, which afforded an ample harvest for these charming little animals."
Virgin's Bower (Celmatis virginiana).

Several years after planting his honeysuckle vines, George Washington wrote, "I desire that the honey suckles against the Houses and brick walls, may be nailed up and made to spread regularly over them. Should those near the Pillars of the Colanades, or covered ways, be dead, their plants should be supplied with others; as I want them to run up, and Spread over the parts which are painted green." Washington apparently liked the sweet smell of his honeysuckle vines and did not worry about the vine's affect on his wooden columns. Here was a man known to like the tried and true; and his fragrant, familiar honeysuckle provided him with that comfort.