Monday, January 14, 2019

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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Sunday, January 13, 2019

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

Saturday, January 12, 2019

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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Friday, January 11, 2019

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 

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by John Adams 1735-1826



John Adams (1735-1826), Massachusetts lawyer, diplomat, and statesman. Defender of the British soldiers tried after the Boston Massacre, delegate to the first and second Continental Congresses, signer of the Declaration of Independence, ambassador to the Netherlands and to England, drafter of the Massachusetts Constitution, first vice president and second president of the United States of America.

John Adams by John Trumbull (detail), 1793.

"I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine." - 12 May 1780

Most extant books from John Adams's library are currently housed at the Boston Public Library.  Deposited with the Boston Public Library in 1894, the John Adams Library includes over 2,700 volumes collected by the second president during his lifetime (1735-1826) as well as hundreds of additional books later donated by his family members (NB: Books printed after Adams’s death and added to the collection posthumously are not included in Adams's LT catalog). The first published list of Adams's complete deeded library was printed in 1823 in Deeds and other Documents Relating to the Several Pieces of Land, and to the Library Presented to the Town of Quincy by President Adams. This catalog included all volumes bequeathed by Adams in 1822, listing his total gift at 2,756 volumes.

One of the greatest private collections of its day, the Adams Library remains one of the largest original early American libraries still intact. This remarkable original collection of 3,510 books spans the fields of classics, literature, history, politics, government, philosophy, religion, law, science, mathematics, medicine, agriculture, language and linguistics, economics, and travel.

John Adams Books on Landscape, Garden, and Farm

The British fruit-gardener : and art of pruning : comprising, the most approved methods of planting and raising ...

Address of Jonathan Allen, Esq. president of the Berkshire Agricultural Society : delivered before the Berkshire ... John Adams Library copy inscribed on t.p.: 'His Esq. John Adams Quincy Mass.'

An essay on the natural history of Guiana, in South America : containing a description of many curious productions ...

General view of the agriculture in the county of Somerset : with observations on the means of its ...

Essays and notes on husbandry and rural affairs Agriculture,  8vo (Listed in Deeds as "Essays and Notes on Husbandry and Rural Affairs, by Bordley." )

The American museum, or Universal magazine : containing essays on agriculture, commerce, manufactures, politics, ... 8vo Vols 12

Advice to shepherds and owners of flocks, on the care and management of sheep : ... Agriculture, English,
8vo Bookplate on inside back cover: Th: Bradlee, 2d. Book binder, no. 7, Congress Street, Boston.

General view of the agriculture of the county of Northampton : with observations on the means of its improvement

A practical treatise of husbandry : wherein are contained, many useful and valuable experiments and observations ...

Communications to the Board of Agriculture : on subjects relative to the husbandry, and internal improvements ...

A treatise of fruit-trees  John Adams' signature on title page: "John Adams."

Additional appendix to the outlines of the fifteenth chapter of the proposed general report from the Board of ... Agriculture  Comprises six numbered reports, by George Fordyce, William Cullen, John Ingen-Housz, James Headrick, Dr. Guthrie and Richard Crawshay.

 A system of vegetables : according to their classes, orders, genera, species, with their characters and differences  8vo Includes: 'An alphabetical catalogue of English and Scotch names of plants' with a separate t.p. dated 1784

The 'botanical society at Lichfield' consisted of 3 members only: Erasmus Darwin, Brooke (later Sir Brooke) Boothby, and John Jackson"

The gardeners kalendar : directing what works are necessary to be performed every month in the kitchen, fruit, and ... 8vo John Adams' signature on title page: "John Adams."

Observations on the different breeds of sheep and the state of sheep farming in the southern districts of Scotland

The experienced farmer : an entire new work, in which the whole system of agriculture, husbandry, and breeding of ...8vo Inscribed on pasted-in plate on inside front cover:

Natural history of the slug worm Inscribed on preliminary leaf: "Adams Library 1799 ..." Vols 1 & 2

General view of the agriculture of the county of Stafford : with observations on the means of its improvement  4to

Arator : being a series of agricultural essays, practical & political: in sixty-one numbers  John Adams' signature (blotted) on title page: "J. Adams."

 Horse-hoeing husbandry : or, An essay on the principles of vegetation and tillage. Designed to introduce a new method .. 8vo John Adams' signature on title page: "John Adams." Inscribed on first leaf: "85/"

Social Info General view of the agriculture in the county of Essex : with observations on the means of its improvement  8vo

Letters from His Excellency George Washington, president of the United States of America, to Sir John Sinclair, ... Inscribed on half t.p.: “For his Excellency John Adams- President of the United States of America with Sir John Sinclar’s compliments and as a mark of his esteem and regard. 5 June 1800.”

The American gazetteer : exhibiting, in alphabetical order, a much more full and accurate account, ...… by Jedidiah Morse   "Read chiefly in the merican Gazeteers, which are a very valuable Magazine of american Knowledge." (Adams' Diary, 10 November 1766)

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Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Early Scarlet Globe Radish

Early Scarlet Globe Radish (Raphanus sativus cv.)

Radishes, like lettuces, were regularly grown in the Monticello vegetable garden for use in salads. The two crops were often sown together beginning in early March. Jefferson preferred the scarlet radish, although his garden also included salmon, rose, violet, and white types. The Early Scarlet Globe Radish is a 19th-century variety noted for its bright scarlet skin, crisp white flesh, and mild flavor.

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

Monday, January 7, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - White Eggplant

White Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

White Eggplant was listed along with a purple variety in several eastern United States seed catalogues by 1825 and Thomas Jefferson was growing both types at Monticello as early as 1812. Also known as melongena, eggplant originated in Asia, where it has been grown for centuries. White Eggplant yields delicious, egg-shaped fruits up to 6 inches long.

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

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bull Nose Pepper

Bull Nose Pepper (Capsicum annuum var. annuum)

The sweet bell pepper was grown as early as 1681 by enslaved Africans in Panama. It was introduced to North America most likely from the West Indies by the early 1700s. Bernard McMahon included “Bell” peppers in The American Gardener’s Calendar (1806), and Thomas Jefferson recorded Bull Nose Pepper in his 1812 garden calendar. Jefferson’s Bull Nose likely resembled the heavily lobed, 3-4”, sweet pepper we know today.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase
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Friday, January 4, 2019

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by George Wythe 1726-1806


 
George Wythe (1726-1806) was a Virginia lawyer, educator, judge & statesman. Educated by his mother & briefly studying at the College of William & Mary. Wythe studied law with Stephen Dewey & was admitted to the bar at age 20 in 1746. Named attorney general of Virginia in 1753, Wythe later served in the House of Burgesses 1755-1775, representing Williamsburg, the College of William & Mary, & Elizabeth City County. Elected a representative to the Second Continental Congress, Wythe served until 1777. He supported & signed the Declaration of Independence.

Returning to Virginia, Wythe was elected Speaker of the House of Delegates, & worked to draw up the Virginia constitution, overhaul the laws of the state, & design the state seal. In 1779, he became professor of law at the College of William & Mary (making him the first official law professor in America), formalizing his role as a prominent educator (his students included Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall & Henry Clay).
George Wythe House in Colonial Williamsburg

Wythe was named a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but left Philadelphia early due to his wife's final illness. In 1789, Wythe was named judge of Virginia's Court of Chancery; he moved to Richmond in 1791, & lived there for the remainder of his life. Wythe was poisoned by a grandnephew in late May, 1806, & died on 8 June after an agonizing illness.

Wythe bequeathed his extensive library of law, classics & other books to Thomas Jefferson, a longtime friend who was serving as president when Wythe died in 1806.  Among Wythe's garden books was

In Latin, essays of classic garden & farm writers.  Rei rvsticae avctores Latini veteres, M. Cato, M. Varro, L. Colvmella, Palladivs: priores tres, e vetustiss. editionibus; quartus, e veteribus membranis aliquammultis in locis emendatiores: cum tribus indicubus, capitum, auctorum, & rerune ac verborum memorabilium ... Ex Hier - Bequeathed by Wythe to Thomas Jefferson in 1806. Sold by Jefferson to Congress in 1815

An Almanac Purchased by Wythe from the offices of the Virginia Gazette, 21 November 1764 (1/3 sh., through Mrs. Drummond), Daybooks, 1764-66.

The botanic garden : a poem, in two parts. With philosophical notes  Erasmus Darwin  New-York : Printed by T. &. J. Swords ..., 1798.

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Thursday, January 3, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Nutmeg Plant

Nutmeg Plant (Nigella sativa)

Thomas Jefferson sowed seeds of "Nutmeg Plant" in a Monticello oval bed in 1810. Also called Black Cumin, Black Seed, and Fennel Flower, this hardy annual has been grown for centuries for the aromatic seed, which has many culinary and medicinal uses. Nutmeg Plant bears feathery, finely cut leaves and delicate white to pale blue flowers.

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

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Virginian John Baylor III 1705-1772



Colonel John Baylor III (1705-1772), Virginia landowner & one of the wealthiest men & largest landowners of pre-Revolutionary Virginia.  Grandson of a planter who traded profitably in several Tidewater counties, & son of a slave-dealer, planter & burgess from Gloucester & then King & Queen counties, John Baylor III (1705–1772) was third-generation Virginia aristocracy. Baylor was sent to England to be educated at Putney Grammar School, Middlesex, & at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.
Unknown Artist. John Baylor, c. 1722

After returning to Virginia from England in 1726, Baylor built a plantation house, Newmarket, in Caroline County (named for the English race track). Baylor began racing & breeding horses at his home Newmarket by late in the 1730s—remnants of his racing track are still visible there—& he imported expensive thoroughbreds from Britain by the early 1740s. Baylor's stud operation was legendary throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, & gentry-turfmen such as George Washington & John Tayloe II sent their prized mares to Newmarket to breed with Baylor's thoroughbreds. By the mid-1750s & concentrated instead on importing & breeding.  In 1764, he paid 1,000 guineas for the racehorse Fearnought, the highest price anyone in colonial America ever paid for a horse. Thomas Jefferson proudly noted in his farm journal that his favorite mount, Caractacus, was the grand sire (grandson) of Fearnought. (While serving as governor, Jefferson famously fled a contingent of British soldiers sent to capture him at Monticello astride Caractacus).

Baylor married Frances Lucy Walker (1728-1783), & the 2 had 8 children who survived. Baylor served as a church warden & vestryman from 1752-1761, & sat in the House of Burgesses from 1742-1752 & 1756-1765. He was also a justice of the peace for Caroline County.  Baylor died leaving a vast estate, but also significant debts, which passed (along with Baylor's library), to his son John Baylor IV.

Most of the farm books in Baylor's library are about horses.  Works & other information included in Baylor's LT catalog are from several sources, including the inventory of his library (a transcript of which is preserved in the proceedings of a later court case, Daingerfield v. Rootes); his letterbooks, 1749-65, in the Baylor Family Papers at the Virginia Historical Society; & the daybooks of the Virginia Gazette, 1750-52 & 1764-66.  Col. Baylor also purchased many books in Virginia and through his British factors for the education of his children, & in pursuit of his horse-racing/breeding interests.

John Baylor III Books on Landscape, Garden, & Farm

Title: The Virginia almanack for the year of our Lord God 1765. ... By Theophilus Wreg.
philom.
Info: Williamsburg [Va.] : Printed and sold by Joseph Royle, and Co, [1764]

Title: The architecture of M. Vitruvius. Pollio: translated from the original Latin, by W. Newton, architect
Author: Vitruvius Pollio
Other authors: William Newton (Translator)
Info: London : printed by William Griffin, and John Clark, and published by J. Dodsley, 1771.

Title: [Treatise on Tobacco]
Author: Buckner Stith [Williamsburg, Virginia Gazette, 1764.]

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, ...
Authors: Society of Gentlemen

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 [ and 7 others], 1762-1765.

Title: A new treatise on the diseases of horses: wherein what is necessary to the knowledge of a horse, the cure of his diseases, and other matters relating to that subject, are fully discussed for many years practice and experience; with the cheapest and most efficacious remedies Author W. Gibson
Info: London, A. Millar, 1751.

Title: The modern husbandman complete in eight volumes : containing I. The practice of farming, as it is now carried on by the most experienced farmers in the several counties of England ... necessary for all landlords and tenants of either ploughed, grass, or wood grounds Author William Ellis
Info: London : Printed for D. Browne ... [et al.], 1750.

Title: A practical treatise of husbandry wherein are contained, many useful and valuable experiments and observations in the new husbandry Authors: Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau, John Mills (Translator)

Info: London : Printed for C. Hitch [and 8 others], 1762.

Title: Farriery improved or, a compleat treatise upon the art of farriery. Together with many necessary and useful observations and remarks concerning the choice and management of horses. ... Author Henry Bracken

Info: London : printed for W. Johnston; and A. Shuckburgh, 1763.

Title: The gentleman's farriery or, a practical treatise on the diseases of horses: wherein ... M. La Fosse's method of trepanning glandered horses is particularly considered and improved: also a new method of nicking horses is recommended; ... To which is added an appendix, ...
Author: John Bartlet Info: London : printed for J. Nourse; S. Crowder, L. Hawes, W. Clark and R. Collins, and M.

Richardson; and J. Pote at Eton, 1764.

Title: A new system of agriculture or, a plain, easy, and demonstrative method of speedily growing rich: proving, by undeniable arguments, that every land owner, in England, may advance his estate to a double value, in the space of one year's time 

Author Edward Weston
Info: London : printed for A. Millar, 1755. [A Dublin edition was printed the same year]

Title: The gentleman's farriery or, a practical treatise on the diseases of horses: wherein ... M. La Fosse's method of trepanning glandered horses is particularly considered and improved: also a new method of nicking horses is recommended; ... To which is added an appendix, ... 

Author John Bartlet
Info: London : printed for J. Nourse; S. Crowder, L. Hawes, W. Clark and R. Collins, and M.
Richardson; and J. Pote at Eton, 1764.

Title: Farriery improved or, a compleat treatise upon the art of farriery. Together with many necessary and useful observations and remarks concerning the choice and management of horses. Author Henry Bracken

Info: London : printed for W. Johnston; and A. Shuckburgh, 1763.

Title: An historical list of all horse-matches run ... 

Author John Cheny

Title: A new treatise on the diseases of horses: wherein what is necessary to the knowledge of a horse, the cure of his diseases, and other matters relating to that subject, are fully discussed for many years practice and experience; with the cheapest and most efficacious remedies 

Author W. Gibson
Info: London, A. Millar, 1751.

Title: An historical list of horse-matches run. And of plates and prizes, run for in Great Britain 

Author Reginald Heber
Info: London, 1752-1769.

Title: The art of farriery both in theory and practice containing the causes, symptoms, and cure of all diseases incident to horses. With anatomical descriptions, illustrated with cuts, ...

Author John Reeves
Info: London : printed for J. Newbery; and B. Collins, in Salisbury, 1758.

Title: The sportsman’s dictionary: or, the country gentleman’s companion, in all rural recreations: With full and particular Instructions for Hawking, Hunting, Fowling, Setting, Fishing, Racing, Riding, Cocking 


The titles & information included in this library are drawn from Thomas Katheder, The Baylors of Newmarket: The Decline and Fall of a Virginia Planter Family. Bloomingon, Ind., & New York: Universe, 2009. The book is an in-depth & excellent analysis of the Baylor library.


Katheder, T. M. John Baylor III (1705–1772). (2012, January 18). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from
http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Baylor_John_III_1705-1772.


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Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Canada Crookneck Squash

Canada Crookneck Squash (Cucurbita moschata cv.)

Canada Crookneck Squash has curved, bottle-shaped, thin-skinned fruits up to 12” long with nutty and sweet-flavored flesh. It is said to have originated from the Iroquois Nations and was first offered commercially in the 1830s. In Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1863) Fearing Burr wrote: “The Canada is unquestionably the best of the Crooknecked sorts.”

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Sunday, December 30, 2018

Plants in Early American Gardens - Cymling or Pattypan Squash

Cymling or Pattypan Squash (Cucurbita pepo)

Commonly called Pattypan Squash, this variety originated among the Native North Americans. Cymlings were well-known in the colonies by the 1790s and Jefferson said they were “one of our finest and most innocent vegetables.” They were frequently grown in his retirement garden as well as in the gardens of Monticello’s enslaved African Americans, and were used in soups and stews with butter, salt, and pepper.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase
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Saturday, December 29, 2018

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Landon Carter 1710-1778






Sabine Hall Home of Landon Carter. 
Landon Carter (1710-1778), was a planter from Virginia, best known for his account of colonial life leading up the American War of Independence, The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter.  Carter also wrote 4 political pamphlets & nearly 50 newspaper essays.  He was the son of Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman, Lancaster County, Va. and his wife, Elizabeth Landon Willis Carter. He was educated in England, built Sabine Hall in the 1740s, served in the local vestry, & commanded the militia.
After 3 failed attempts, Carter was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1752, & was rewarded with powerful committee appointments. He publicly defended the House in published pamphlets & newspaper essays until he was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1768. The first to raise the alarm in Virginia over the Stamp Act, Carter was chair of the Richmond County Committee (1774–1776) and a wholehearted supporter of independence during the American Revolution (1775–1783). He died at Sabine Hall in 1778. The list for his library books is based on 1) title pages of the libraries of Landon Carter and Robert Wormeley Carter at Sabine Hall, Richmond County, Virginia photographed by Colonial Williamsburg with the permission of the Rev. Dabney Wellford, Sabine Hall, September 9, 1958 and 2) Curtis, Carol Edith. "The Library of Landon Carter of Sabine Hall, 1710-1788." Master's Thesis, College of William and Mary, 1981. Many of these books are now owned by the University of Virginia Libraries.

Landon Carter's Books on Landscape, Garden, & Farm

Title: The New Gardener's Dictionary
Author: John Dicks
Info: London. Printed for G. Keith, J. Johnson; J. Almon; and Blyth and Beevor 1771.

Title: Memoirs of Agriculture, and other Oeconomical Arts
Author: Robert Dossie
Info: London. Printed for J. Nourse 1768, 1771

Title: The Experimental Husbandman and Gardener
Author: George Andreas Agricola
Info: London. Printed for W. Mears and F. Clay 1726.

Title: Farriery improved: or, A compleat treatise upon the art of farriery
Author: Henry Bracken
Info: Dublin. G. Ewing 1737

Title: The Art of Hatching and Bringing up Domestick Fowls of all Kinds, At any Time of the Year
Author: Rene Antoine Ferchault De Reamur
Info: London. Printed for C. Davis 1750.

Title: The Compleat Surveyor: Containing the whole Art of Surveying of Land, by the Plain Table, Theodolite, Circumferentor, and Peractor
Author: Leybourn William
Info: London. Printed by R. W. Leybourn for E. Brewster and G. Sawbridge 1653.

Title: The Culture of Silk, or, an Essay on its rational Practice and Improvement
Author: Samuel Pullein
Info: London. Printed for A. Millar 1758.

 "The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter of Sabine Hall, 1752-1778" was edited by Jack P. Greene & published by the Virginia Historical Society in 1965.

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Friday, December 28, 2018

Plants in Early American Gardens - Thyme

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Thyme was first cultivated by the Assyrians and used to treat nightmares and short-windedness. Also long-cultivated for its culinary uses, it was brought to the American colonies at an early date, and Thomas Jefferson recorded it in his list of "Objects for the garden" at Monticello in 1794. This evergreen Mediterranean herb grows well in rock gardens, containers, and other well-drained garden locations, and the flowers attract pollinators.

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Thursday, December 27, 2018

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Richard Cranch 1726-1811 in Massachusetts




Richard Cranch (26 October 1726 - 16 October 1811), Massachusetts watchmaker, legislator, local official. Born at Kingsbridge, Devonshire, Cranch arrived in Boston in November 1746 and established a shop as a card-maker, but quickly became known for his interest in religious scholarship. He taught himself Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.

Cranch relocated to Braintree in 1750, and later to Weymouth, where he took up the business of watch repair. He married in November 1762 Mary Smith, the sister of Abigail Smith (later the wife of John Adams). By 1766 the Cranches had moved to Salem, but returned to Braintree in 1769. Cranch served two terms in the state House of Representatives (1779-1783) and a term in the State Senate (1785-1787), and held the office of Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County from 1779 through 1793, along with several local offices at various times. Cranch was a delegate to the Massachusetts convention to ratify the federal constitution, and supported ratification.
He was a supporter of the Harvard library, and the college granted him an honorary M.A. degree in 1780, placing him with the class of 1744. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Charitable Society, and the Massachusetts Society for Propogating the Gospel in North America (in its 1787 iteration). He sat as a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, but declined membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society (he did donate a book to the Society's library).
Cranch's interests ranged widely, as his book collection makes clear. He was regarded as an authority on the biblical prophecies and the Antichrist by ministers of all stripes, and was a strong Federalist politically.

Richard Cranch and his wife died within hours of each other in 1811; their daughter Elizabeth Cranch Norton died the same year. Another daughter, Lucy Greenleaf, lived until 1846, and their son William Cranch died in 1855. The largest list of Richard Cranch's books is found in a notebook kept by his grandson Richard Cranch Norton (in the Jacob Norton Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society). RCN inventoried his grandfather's books on 18 January 1812.

The gardener's dictionary by Philip Miller

Of gardens. A Latin poem in four books by René Rapin

The herball or Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard

The new art of gardening, with the gardener's almanack: containing, the true art of gardening in all its particulars. ... To each head is added an almanack, shewing what is to be done every month in the year by Leonard Meager

A general treatise of agriculture, both philosophical and practical; displaying the arts of husbandry and gardening: in two parts. Part I. Of husbandry; ... Part II. Of gardening; ... Originally written by R. Bradley, ... And now not only corrected and properly methodised, but adapted to the present practice, ... Illustrated with twenty copper-plates by Richard Bradley

Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers by Jean de LaQuintinie

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Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Plants in Early American Gardens - Scarlet Runner Bean

Scarlet Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus)

A Central American native that was popularized by the great 18th-century English garden writer, Philip Miller, Scarlet Runner Bean is still very popular in Europe for its edible beans. Jefferson planted this lovely annual vine with its showy scarlet flowers in 1812, noting: "Arbor beans white, crimson, scarlet, purple...on long walk of garden." In 1806 the Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon wrote that it was grown in America exclusively as an ornamental. Attractive to hummingbirds.

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Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Michigan Fur Trader John Askin's 1739-1815





Native Americans Trading Furs 1777.  John Askin 1739-1815 (or Erskine), fur trader, merchant, office holder, & militia officer; b. 1739 in Aughnacloy (Northern Ireland), son of James Askin, a shopkeeper, and Alice Rea (Rae); d. 1815 in Sandwich (Windsor), Upper Canada.  According to family tradition, the Askins were related to John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar, whose unsuccessful revolt in 1715 forced some of the family to move to Ireland from Scotland. John Askin came to North America in 1758, & was a sutler with the British army at Albany, N.Y. Following the capitulation of New France he entered the western fur trade.

Some time in the mid 1760s Askin had moved to Michilimackinac (Mackinaw City, Michigan). He ran a trading store in the settlement, was commissary for the garrison, & farmed.  In 1780, a conflict with Patrick Sinclair, who had recently arrived to take charge at Michilimackinac, may have been instrumental in Askin’s decision to move to Detroit, Michigan).
Colonial Fur Traders.  The animal population was declining & the Indians were in a state of more or less open warfare with the Americans. Fur exports from Detroit continued to drop – from 5,000 packs in 1784 to 1,900 in 1796.  In 1788, the British had opened the Great Lakes to private vessels, & Askin took the opportunity to go into the shipping business; & from 1791 to 1795, another chance of sales to the government presented itself – the furnishing of supplies to the Indians who had gathered on the Miamis (Maumee) River to make a last stand against the Americans.

Much of Askin’s hope for prosperity seems to have been pinned on his land speculations.  By 1794, the British government had agreed to evacuate the posts south of the Great Lakes that it had retained – after the 1783 treaty with the United States, & many British residents of Detroit tried to accumulate land holdings from the Indians before the transfer to American authority occurred. Over the years Askin succeeded in accumulating numerous properties in Upper Canada, which was to become his home after 1802.
Native Americans Bartering Furs for Goods at Trading Post 1800
Although Askin’s first 3 children, John, Catherine, & Madelaine, were probably born to the Indian slave Manette (Monette) whom he freed in 1766, he made no distinction between them & the 9 children of his marriage to Marie-Archange Barthe at Detroit on 21 June 1772.  His kindness extended beyond his own family. In a letter of 1778 from Michilimackinac to trader Charles Paterson he rebuked Paterson for allowing a child “that every body but yourself says is yours” to be sold to the Ottawas. Askin had retrieved the child & he informed Paterson, “He’s at your service if you want him, if not I shall take good care of him untill he is able to earn his Bread without Assistance.”

From the American Revolution to 1796, Detroit was under military government, with little civil jurisdiction. In 1789 Askin became a justice of the peace there.  In the spring of 1802 Askin moved to Sandwich, Canada. He seems to have lived in considerable comfort. An inventory of his estate in 1787 listed among other things carriages, silver plate, mahogany furniture, & a well-stocked library.

Askin's library, one of the first known collections in Michigan, is documented in annual inventories of his estate dated 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1787, & ~1808, plus an 1821 inventory of Askin's estate titled "Inventory of Property Real &Personal Belonging to the Estate of the Late John &Archange Askin, Sandwich." Each of these contains a section headed "Writing Implements, Books, & etc." - these list the books by author and/or short title & an assigned monetary value. Askin's library is examined fully in Agnes Haigh Widder, "The John Askin family library: a fur-trading family's books." Michigan Historical Review 33:1 (Spring 2007), pp. 27-57.

John Askin's Garden & Farm Books

Title: A complete body of planting and gardening Containing the natural history, culture, and management of deciduous and evergreen forest-trees; ... Also instructions for laying-out and disposing of pleasure and flower-gardens; ... To which is added, the manner of planting and cultivating fruit-gardens and orchards. The whole forming a complete history of timber-trees... 
Author: William Hanbury

Title: A compleat body of husbandry Containing, rules for performing, in the most profitable manner, the whole business of the farmer and country gentleman. ... Compiled from the original papers of the late Thomas Hale, ... In four volumes
Author: Thomas Hale

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Monday, December 24, 2018

Plants in Early American Gardens - Costoluto Genovese Tomato

Costoluto Genovese Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv.)

Thomas Jefferson was a pioneer in tomato culture, planting the relatively unfamiliar tomato from 1809 until his death in 1826. He also noted that “tomatas” were grown in Virginia gardens in Notes on the State of Virginia (1782). Costoluto Genovese is an old, Italian preserving tomato. Although an oddity in today’s vegetable garden, this variety’s heavily-lobed and convoluted shape reflects the character of early 19th-century tomatoes. Its stellar flavor is intense and acidic.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase
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Sunday, December 23, 2018

Gardening Books in Early America - Owned by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)



English educator, theologian, political philosopher, scientist, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)is perhaps best known today for the 'discovery' of oxygen. A supporter of the French Revolution, he fled England for America in 1794, not long after his house was torched by a mob. Priestly fled Britain just ahead of a series of arrests and the notorious“1794 Treason Trials,”sailing to the warm embrace of America.Later the King, George III, reportedly said, “I cannot but feel better pleased that Priestley is the sufferer for the doctrines he and his party have instilled, and that the people see them in their true light.” Taking refuge in Philadelphia, he gave a series of sermons which would result in the gathering of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, the 1st church in America to claim the name “unitarian.”He was the author of more than 150 published works during his lifetime. A devoted student of languages (along with so much else), Priestley learned French, Italian, German, Chaldean, Syriac and Arabic. Priestley's friends included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, among many other leading luminaries of the day. Priestley's library is listed in Catalogue of the Library of the late Dr. Joseph Priestley(Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1816). The collection was sold off by Dobson after Priestley's death; Thomas Jefferson purchased several of the books for his own library.
Priestly's Books on Landscape, Garden, & Farm

Planting and ornamental gardening a practical treatise by William Marshall

The British fruit-gardener and art of pruning by John Abercrombie

The botanist's and gardener's new dictionary containing the names, classes, orders, generic characters, and specific ... by James Wheeler

The farmer's instructor; or, the husbandman and gardener's useful and necessary companion. Being a new treatise of ... by Samuel Trowell

The abridgement of The gardeners dictionary containing the best and newest methods of cultivating and improving the ... by Philip Miller

The complete forcing-gardener; or, The practice of forcing fruits, flowers and vegetables to early maturity and ... by John Abercrombie

The botanic garden; a poem, in two parts. Part I. Containing The economy of vegetation. Part II. The loves of the ... by Erasmus Darwin

A treatise of fruit-trees by Thomas Hitt

The propagation and botanical arrangements of plants and trees, useful and ornamental, proper for cultivation in ... by John Abercrombie

Letters and papers on agriculture, planting, &c. selected from the correspondence-book of the Society instituted ... by Bath Society for Agriculture

The complete farmer, or, A general dictionary of husbandry, in all its branches

The improvement of waste lands, viz. wet, moory land, land near rivers and running waters, peat land, and ... by Francis Forbes

A treatise on planting, pruning, and on the management of fruit trees by John Kennedy

Letters and papers on agriculture, planting, &c selected from the correspondence-book of the Society instituted at ... by Hans Caspar Hirzel

Ecole d'architecture rurale; ou, Leçons par lesquelles on apprendra soi-même à bâtir solidement les maisons de ... by François Cointeraux

The vvhole art and trade of husbandry Contained in foure bookes. Viz: I. Of earable-ground, tillage, and pasture. ... by Conrad Heresbach

A new system of husbandry. From many years experience, with tables shewing the expence and profit of each crop. ... by Charles Varlo

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Saturday, December 22, 2018

History Blooms at Monticello

Thomas Jefferson's “Plane-tree” (or Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis) 

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, tells us that -

Jefferson noted “Plane-tree” (or Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis) in a list of ornamental plants in his only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia. In 1812 he sowed Plane-tree seeds in his nursery, eventually intended for the Monticello landscape. Jefferson was captivated by the quality of shade that different species afforded.

In July 1793 Thomas Jefferson wrote from Philadelphia to his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph “I never before knew the full value of trees. My house is completely embosomed in high plane-trees, with good grass below; and under them I breakfast, dine, write, read, and receive my company. What I would not give that the trees planted nearest round the house at Monticello were full-grown.” The mottled bark of American Sycamore (Jefferson’s "plane-tree") makes a dramatic statement in the winter landscape.

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Friday, December 21, 2018

South Carolina - Plantation Barn

c 1799. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View of a South Carolina Plantation Barn. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

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

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Plants in Early American Gardens - Turk's Cap Lily

Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum)

This spectacular native lily grows from New York and New Hampshire south to Alabama and Georgia. Also known as the Spotted Canada Martagon, this lily has been in cultivation since the late 1700s, and Jefferson received roots from Bernard McMahon in 1812. Jean Skipwith of Prestwould Plantation in south central Virginia also grew it.

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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Geo Washington (1732-1799) - Lots of Poor Soil

George Washington as Farmer by Junius Brutus Stearns. 1851

George Washington: Farmer (1915) by Paul Leland Haworth (1876-1936) 

Washington's Problem  

"No estate in United America," wrote Washington to Arthur Young in 1793, "is more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry, and healthy country, 300 miles by water from the sea, and, as you will see by the plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world. Its margin is washed by more than ten miles of tide water; from the beds of which and the innumerable coves, inlets, and small marshes, with which it abounds, an inexhaustible fund of mud may be drawn as a manure, either to be used separately or in a compost "The soil of the tract of which I am speaking is a good loam, more inclined, however, to clay than sand. From use, and I might add, abuse, it is become more and more consolidated, and of course heavier to work. "This river, which encompasses the land the distance above mentioned, is well supplied with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; and, in the spring, with great profusion of shad, herring, bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, etc. Several fisheries appertain to the estate; the whole shore, in short, is 'one entire fishery."

The Mount Vernon estate, amounting in the end to over eight thousand acres, was, with the exception of a few outlying tracts, subdivided into five farms, namely, the Mansion House Farm, the Union Farm, the Dogue Run Farm, Muddy Hole Farm and the River Farm.


On the Mansion House Farm stood the owner's residence, quarters for the negroes and other servants engaged upon that particular estate, and other buildings. The land in general was badly broken and poor in quality; much of it was still in woodland.


The River Farm lay farthest up the Potomac, being separated from the others by the stream known as Little Hunting Creek. Visitors to Mount Vernon to-day, traveling by trolley, cross this farm and stream. It contained more tillable ground than any other, about twelve hundred acres. In 1793 it had an "overlooker's" house of one large and two small rooms below and one or two rooms above, quarters for fifty or sixty negroes, a large barn and stables gone much to decay.


Muddy Hole Farm lay across Little Hunting Creek from the River Farm and back of the Mansion House Farm and had no frontal upon the Potomac. It contained four hundred seventy-six acres of tillable soil and had in 1793 a small overlooker's house, "covering for about 30 negroes, and a tolerable good barn, with stables for the work-horses."


Union Farm lay just below the Mansion House Farm and contained nine hundred twenty-eight acres of arable land and meadow. In 1793 it had, in Washington's words, "a newly erected brick barn, equal, perhaps, to any in America, and for conveniences of all sorts, particularly for sheltering and feeding horses, cattle, &c. scarcely to be exceeded any where." A new house of four rooms was building, and there were quarters for fifty odd negroes. On this farm was the old Posey fishery and ferry to Maryland.


Dogue Run Farm, of six hundred fifty acres, lay back of Union Farm and upon it in 1793 stood the grist mill and later a distillery and the famous sixteen-sided "new circular barn, now finishing on a new construction; well calculated, it is conceived, for


That Washington saw the distinction so clearly is of itself sufficient proof that he pondered long and deeply upon agricultural problems. getting grain out of the straw more expeditiously than the usual mode of threshing." It had a two room overseer's house, covering for forty odd negroes, and sheds sufficient for thirty work horses and oxen. Washington considered it much the best of all his farms. It was this farm that he bequeathed to Nelly Custis and her husband, Lawrence Lewis, and upon it they erected "Woodlawn..."


The problem confronting "Farmer Washington" was this: He had a great abundance of land, but most of it on his home estate was mediocre in quality. Some of that lying at a distance was more fertile, but much of it was uncleared and that on the Ohio was hopelessly distant from a market. With the exception of Mount Vernon even those plantations in Virginia east of the Blue Ridge could not be looked after in person. He must either rent them, trust them to a manager, or allow them to lie idle. Even the Mount Vernon land was distant from a good market, and the cost of transportation was so great that he must produce for selling purposes articles of little bulk compared with value. Finally, he had an increasing number of slaves for whom food and clothing must be provided.


His answer to the problem of a money crop was for some years the old Virginia answer—tobacco. His far western lands he left for the most part untenanted. Those plantations in settled regions but remote from his home he generally rented for a share of the crop or for cash. The staple articles that he produced to feed the slaves were pork and corn, eked out by herring from the fishery.


From his accounts we find that in 1759 he made thirty-four thousand one hundred sixty pounds of tobacco; the next year sixty-five thousand thirty seven pounds; in 1763, eighty-nine thousand seventy-nine pounds, which appears to have been his banner tobacco crop. In 1765 the quantity fell to forty one thousand seven hundred ninety-nine pounds; in 1771, to twenty-nine thousand nine hundred eighty six pounds, and in 1773 to only about five thousand pounds. Thereafter his crop of the weed was negligible, though we still find occasional references to it even as late as 1794, when he states that he has twenty-five hogsheads in the warehouses of Alexandria, where he has held it for five or six years because of low prices.


He tried to raise a good quality and seems to have concentrated on what he calls the "sweet scented" variety, but for some reason, perhaps because his soil was not capable of producing the best, he obtained lower prices than did some of the other Virginia planters, and grumbled at his agents accordingly.


He early realized the ruinous effects of tobacco on his land and sought to free himself from its clutches by turning to the production of wheat and flour for the West India market. Ultimately he was so prejudiced against the weed that in 1789 we find him in a contract with a tenant named Gray, to whom he leased a tract of land for ten pounds, stipulating that Gray should make no more tobacco uian he needed for "chewing and smoaking in his own family."


Late in life he decided that his land was not congenial to corn, in which he was undoubtedly right, for the average yield was only about fifteen bushels per acre. In the corn country farmers now often produce a hundred. He continued to raise corn only because it was essential for his negroes and hogs. In 1798 he contracted with William A. Washington to supply him with five hundred barrels annually to eke out his own crop. Even this quantity did not prove sufficient, for we find him next year trying to engage one hundred barrels more.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Plants in Early American Gardens - Floss Flower (Ageratum houstonianum)

Floss Flower Seeds (Ageratum houstonianum)

Peggy Cornett, who is Curator of Plants at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, tells us that -

Floss Flower was discovered in Central America by William Houston (c. 1695-1733), a Scottish botanist, plant collector, & ship’s surgeon. Houston sent seeds to England in the early 18th century & British author Philip Miller referenced the species in a 1768 edition of his Gardener’s Dictionary. It was first documented in American gardens in 1836. This self-seeding species forms a spreading, loose-growing plant. The pale blue, & occasionally white, tassel-like flowers bloom from midsummer until the first autumn frost.

William Houstoun (occasionally spelt Houston) (1695?–1733) was a Scottish surgeon & botanist who collected plants in the West Indies, Mexico and South America.  Houstoun was born in Houston, Renfrewshire. He began a degree course in medicine at St Andrew's University but interrupted his studies to visit the West Indies, returning circa 1727. On 6 October 1727, he entered the University of Leyden to continue his studies under Boerhaave, graduating M.D. in 1729. It was during his time at Leyden that Houstoun became interested in the medicinal properties of plants. After returning to England that year, he soon sailed for the Caribbean & the Americas employed as a ship's surgeon for the South Sea Company. He collected plants in Jamaica, Cuba, Venezuela, & Vera Cruz, despatching seeds & plants to Philip Miller, head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London. Notable among these plants was Dorstenia contrayerva, a reputed cure for snake-bite, & Buddleja americana, the latter named by Linnaeus, at Houstoun's request, for the English cleric & botanist Adam Buddle, although Buddle could have known nothing of the plant as he had died in 1715. Houstoun published accounts of his studies in Catalogus plantarum horti regii Parisiensis.

When Houstoun returned to London in 1731, he was introduced to Sir Hans Sloane by Miller. Sloane commissioned him to undertake a three-year expedition, financed by the trustees for the Province of Georgia 'for improving botany & agriculture in Georgia', & to help stock the Trustee's Garden planned for Savannah. Houstoun initially sailed to the Madeira Islands to gather grape plantings before continuing his voyage across the Atlantic. However he never completed his mission as he 'died from the heat' on 14 August 1733 soon after arriving in Jamaica; he was buried at Kingston. Houstoun was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in January 1733.

Houstoun's writings & plant specimens, preserved in the botanical department of the British Museum, passed from Miller to Sir Joseph Banks, by whom the manuscripts were published as Reliquiae Houstounianae in 1781.

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