Plants in Early American Gardens - May Apple

May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum)

Under most conditions these vigorous native perennials can carpet large areas of the forest with broad, dark green leaves which resemble parasols. The fruits, which form in May, also give it the common names Hog Apple and Wild Lemon. May Apples are associated with rich woodlands from western Quebec south to Florida and Texas and occur abundantly throughout the forests of Monticello. Fruits are food for wildlife (but the leaves, roots, and unripe fruit are poisonous to humans).

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

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

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

1790s  Christian Gullager 1759-1826 George Washington.

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

Books on Landscape, Garden, & Farm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Cardoon

 Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus)

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus)

Cardoon is a magnificent perennial native to southern Europe, with spiny, gray-green foliage and purple, thistle-like flowers. The French first grew it as a vegetable and Quakers brought it to America in the 1790's. Although related to Globe Artichokes - which Jefferson grew throughout his life - the edible part of a Cardoon is its thick leaf stalk, which can be blanched with mounded soil.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Pennsylvania printer, author, inventor, ambassador, scientist, statesman, abolitionist. Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, a founder of the Library Company of Philadelphia and of the first fire department in Pennsylvania, among many other accomplishments.

Benjamin Franklin by David Martin (Scot artist, 1737-1797)  1766

Franklin's extensive library is documented in Edwin Wolf 2nd and Kevin J. Hayes, The Library of Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society and Library Company of Philadelphia, 2006. 

Title: An heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers, knight ... author of a late Dissertation on oriental gardening. Enriched with explanatory notes, chiefly extracted from that elaborate performance
Author: William Mason
Info: London, J. Almon, 1773. 11th ed.

Title: The gardeners dictionary. Containing, the methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit and flower garden, as also, the physick garden, wilderness, conservatory, and vineyard; according to the practice of the most experienced gardeners of the present age
Author: Philip Miller

Title: A treatise on cyder-making, founded on long practice and experience; with a catalogue of cyder-apples of character, in Herefordshire and Devonshire, their different qualities and applications in making either mellow or rough cyder; and the whole process of cyder-making throughout. With instructions for meliorating cyder, preservatives, and remedies for preventing and curing the diseases incident to cyder. To which is prefixed, A dissertation on cyder and cyder-fruit
Author: Hugh Stafford
Info: London, E. Cave, 1753.

Title: Stowe, the gardens of the Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Cobham : address'd to Mr. Pope
Author: Gilbert West
Info: London : Printed for W. Russel, 1756.

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

Title: A new and complete system of practical husbandry containing all that experience has proved to be most useful in farming, either in the old or new method; with a comparative view of both; and whatever is beneficial to the husbandman, or conducive to the ornament and improvement of the country gentleman's estate
Author: John Mills
Info: London : printed for R. Baldwin, W. Johnston, S. Crowder, T. Longman, J. Coote [and 3 others in London], 1762-65.

Title: The complete English farmer, or a practical system of husbandry founded upon natural, certain, and obvious principles : in which is comprized a general view of the whole art of agriculture, exhibiting the different effects of cultivating land according to the usage of the old and new husbandry 
Author: David Henry
Info: London : printed for F. Newberry, 1771.

Title: The farmer's director or, a compendium of English husbandry. Concisely describing the management of land, and cultivating the several kinds of corn and pulse. Of grasses and plants for the food of cattle, and their several feeding qualities. Of meadows and pastures, and a new system of applying the grass-lands of a farm. With various improvements interspersed through the work. Also an appendix. Containing general observations and directions on various subjects of husbandry. 
Author: Thomas Bowden
Info: London : printed for Richardson and Urquhart, at the Royal Exchange, MDCCLXXVI. [1776]

Title:  Hortus botanicus vindobonensis, seu Plantarum rariorum, quae in Horto botanico vindobonensi ... coluntur, icones coloratæ et succinetæ descriptiones 
Author: Freiherr Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin 

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Plants in Early American Gardens - Sweet Basil

Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Sweet Basil, native to Europe, is used fresh or dried as an aromatic culinary seasoning. It was common in America by the late 1700s, and Thomas Jefferson requested a supply of this pot-herb from his neighbor George Divers in 1820.

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