1794 On the Healthy Aspects of Vegetables & Irrigation

This print is from the 1790s.  

Earlier in the 18C "Most New Englanders had a simple diet, their soil and climates allowing limited varieties of fruits and vegetables. In 1728 the Boston News Letter estimates the food needs of a middle-class 'genteel' family. Breakfast was bread an milk. Dinner consisted of pudding, followed by bread, meat, roots, pickles, vinegar, salt and cheese. Supper was the same as breakfast. Each famly also needed raisins, currants, suet, flour, eggs, cranberries, apples, and, where there were children, food for 'intermeal eatings.' Small beer was the beverage, and molasses for brewing and flavoring was needed. Butter, spices, sugar, and sweetmeats were luxuries, as were coffee, tea, chocolate, and alcoholic beverages other than beer."  A History of Food and Drink in America, Richard J. Hooker [Bobbs-Merrill Company:Indianapolis 1981(p. 67)

And from The Pennsylvania Gazette,  July 30, 1794, copied from The FARMER'S and IMPROVER'S FRIEND.

THE PROFIT AND COMFORT OF GARDENS

On eating vegetables...
Gardens do not appear to have sufficiently attracted the attention of either the wealthy or the poor farmer. Plenty and variety of good vegetables have the most favourable effect upon the health of a family, and particularly of the children and women. The doctor's bill is greatly encreased, by inattention to the garden , and often valuable lives are lost by feeding in times of sickness in the hot weather, upon meat, cheese and butter, because there are no early potatoes, carrots, early turnips, cabbages, beans, peas, beets, &c. In every garden raspberries, currants, peaches and pears should be planted. They grow as freely as weeds in this climate, especially the two first, and if used only when ripe, they are preventatives of some disorders, and more certain cures for others, than any medicine.

On irrigation...
The French and Italians place their gardens so as to command a pond of water near them. On the bank of the pond they place an upright post, with a pole across the top, twining on a piece of wood or iron. At one end of the pole is fixed a little pail or bucket, so as to be easily dipped into the pond filled often; the other end of the pole serves as a long handle, by means of which the bucket or pail is dipped into the pond and filled, then raised (by pressing down the handle end of the pole) till the bucket is brought over a cask, into which it is emptied. Water is sometimes raised in like manner by a wheel turned by hand. It is then carried, by little rough troughs, all over the garden , so as to produce a great abundance of vegetables, and especially of those kinds, which usually fail, for want of rain, in dry season.

This is another pleasing instance of the good effects of the Irrigation or watering, so earnestly recommended in the first number of these papers. It is proper to recommend attention to the position of such ponds in relation to dwelling-houses. They should, if near or large, be on one of those sides from which the summer winds do not blow, and they should be kept running, and indeed should be occasionally emptied in the summer months. Here to, it may well to recommend to the farmer and miller, of every denomination, not to place his buildings nearer than is necessary to any mill-pond, common pond, wet ditch or drain, creek, or other stream; and so to place his dwelling, that any such water may lie on the northerly and easterly side of his house, and by no means to have even a running stream, much less a standing water or pond, or a marsh, on the side from which the summer winds can bring the dampness and pernicious vapours, which the sun always raises from such places. Farmers, whose houses, unfortunately are already built on the northerly or easterly side of bogs or marshes, would do well to drain such places, and if they are covered with wood, it will be proper to make the principal ditches or drains one reason before the wood shall be cut off, that, when the sun is let in upon the ground, it may be found, as far as possible, in a dry condition, incapable of producing vapour.

1st Orchard in Colonial America New England

Giorgio Liberale (1527–79); W. Meyerpeck - Apple - Folio woodcut - 1562 

Rev. William Blackstone (1595-1675) (also spelled Blaxton) was the 1st European to settle in what is now Boston, & probably the 2nd European to settle in what is now Rhode Island. Blackstone was one of the earliest Anglican episcopal clergymen resident in New England as distinguished from the Puritan founders of New England. He is also is said to have planted the 1st orchard recorded in colonial British America at present-day Boston, MA. It is written that he also had planted an apple orchard, the 1st that ever bore fruit in Rhode Island.  

William Blackstone, born in Durham County, England, on March 5, 1595, to John & Agnes Hawley Blackstone.  William Blackstone's mother died on December 8, 1602, when he was only 7 years old.  In 1607, when William Blackstone was 12 years old, as JOHN SMITH was settling in Jamestown, New Virginia. At the age of 14, in September 1609, he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England. In 1617, at the age of 22, William Blackstone took his B.A. at Emmanuel College.

Three years later, in 1620, the Pilgrims had safely landed at Plymouth, in the new world. In 1621, at the age of 26 years, William Blackstone got his M.A. & Orders in the Church of England & graduated from Emmanuel College. William Blackstone's father died in 1622, 3 days before William Blackstone's 27th birthday, & his oldest brother inherited the family estate.

In 1623, Captain Robert Gorges was in charge of a government-funded expedition to propagate the Gospel in the New World & the plan was distinctly to be a church settlement, specifically in the Massachusetts Bay area, as contrasted with the Separatists settlement already established at Plymouth. The Pilgrims had recently established a colony on Cape Cod, and KING JAMES wanted to establish his own colony to counter the threat they represented to his religious authority. Captain Gorges, accordingly, took with him at least two ordained clergyman. Rev. William Blackstone had been designated to take the Plymouth pulpit. (Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society 1878, p. 197.) Unhappy with the inflexible Anglican Church in England of the time, he had joined the Gorges' expedition.  This attempt at settlement was unsuccessful, and most of the expedition returned to England, but Blackstone did not want to return to England & remained to settle in solitude in what is now Boston’s Beacon Hill.

Rev. William Blackstone was 28 years old, when he arrived in the new world; & now at 30, when his shipmates were returning to England, he moved across to the North Shore & established his home on the western slope of the peninsular of Shawmut (Boston), opposite the mouth of the Charles River. Blackstone had land to tend & books to read. Rev. William Blackstone brought with him to the New World a large collection of books, approximately 186 in various languages.  Blackstone settled at Shawmut “like a sensible man, Blackstone chose the sunny southwest slope of Beacon Hill for his residence”  Two landmarks existed to fix the site of Blackstone’s house, namely the orchard planted by him, the 1st in New England, & his spring. The orchard is represented on the early maps; in mentioned in 1765, as still bearing fruit; & is named in the deeds of subsequent landowners.

Conjectural drawing of Blackstone's house in Boston, 1630-1635 by Edwin Whitefield 1889

He needed apple seeds to plant that 1st orchard. Some speculate that that he was foresighted enough to retrieve & save every apple core (which naturally contains seeds) he could find. Most ships crossing the Atlantic were stocked with apples along with other foodstuffs. Others believe that Blackstone brought a bag of apple seeds with him when he sailed to the new world.

Backstone’s isolation came to an end in 1630 when the ship Arbella appeared in the harbor, carrying Puritans who were fleeing Charles I, England’s new king. GOVERNOR WINTHROP sailed into Boston Harbor in July 1630 in his flagship, Arabella, of 350 tons & 28 guns, along with the Talbot & the Jewel. They landed at Charlestown where sickness soon befell them due to the lack of good drinking water, which took a heavy toll in lives. Rev. William Blackstone on the other side of the Charles River, witnessing this terrible scene offered to share. GOVERNOR WINTHROP & many of his followers came to Shawmut, taking advantage of Rev. William Blackstone's offer of water & assistance.

When GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP found Rev. William Blackstone in 1630, he had built his home & planted his orchard. On June 9, 1628, Rev. William Blackstone, at 33 years of age, was assessed 12 shillings toward the expense of Thomas Morton of Merry Mount's arrest. On March 12, 1629, at the age of 34, Rev. William Blackstone of New England, was nominated, & appointed by the Council for the Affairs of England in America to represent them in their place & stead in the Hilton Patent of Dover, New Hampshire.

On May 18, 1631, Rev. William Blackstone, 36 years of age, took the "Freeman's Oath". He was the 1st to do so & he took the oath before the passing of the order which restricted the privileges of Freemen to church members. In June of 1631, Rev. William Blackstone again did clerical work for the Council of New England. (Maine & New Hampshire Pioneers 1623-1660, by Pope, 1908, p. 126) "Thomas Lewis, gent...received a patent 12, Feb., 1629, of 'That part of the main land called Swackadock', between Cape Elizabeth & Cape Porpus; Rev. William Blackstone , Clerk..."

On April 1, 1633, GOVERNOR WINTHROP granted Rev. William Blackstone 50 acres of the 800 he had already had claim to for more than 8 years. Rev. William Blackstone offered to sell 44 acres of the 50 he had been allowed by WINTHROP. On November 10, 1634, at a general meeting upon public notice, it was agreed that "...the constable, shall make & assess all these rates, viz. a rate of 30 Pounds to Mr. Blackstone, for 44 of the 50 acres, but reserving 6 acres for himself, in the event his future plans failed to materialize."

GOVERNOR STEPHEN HOPKINS wrote in his "History of Providence" published in the 1765 Providence Gazette, only 90 years after Blackstone's death, that "Blackstone had been at Boston 'so long' (when the Massachusetts colony came) as to have raised apple trees & planted an orchard." The "History of Rehoboth" notes, "This is corroborated, too, by the circumstance of the right of original proprietor having been allowed, to some extent, at least, to Blackstone by the Massachusetts colony, by virtue of pre-occupancy."  Congregational clergyman Cotton Mather (1663-1728) grumblingly alludes to  in his Magnalia Chrisi Americana: “There were also some godly Episcopalians; among whom has been reckoned Mr. Blackstone; who by happening to sleep first in an old hovel upon a point of land there, laid claim to all the ground whereupon there now stands the Metropolis of the whole English America, until the inhabitants gave him satisfaction.” This concedes only a squatter’s title to Blackstone.

Colonists did purchase Rev. William Blackstone's 44 acres: "The desposition of... These deponents being ancient dwellers & inhabitants of the town of Boston in New England...agree with Rev. William Blackstone  for the purchase of his estate & right in any lands lying within the said neck of land called Boston...reserving only unto himselfe about six acres of land on the point commonly called Blackstone's Point, on part whereof his then dwelling house stood; after which purchase the town laid out a trayning field; which ever since & now is used for that purpose, & for the feeding of cattell... Mr. Blackstone bought a stock of cows with the money he received as above, & removed & dwelt near Providence, where hee lived till the day of his death.  "Deposed this 10th day of June, 1684, by... "Before us "S. Bradstreet, Governor, "Sam. Sewdll, Assist." 
(Snow's History of Boston, Page 50-1) The Puritans decreed that the 50 acres they bought from Blackstone were to be used as a training field and cattle grazing ground. The land has been known as the Boston Common ever since. 

In the Spring of 1635, Rev. William Blackstone left Boston with all of his worldly possessions, 186 books & all, across the Neck, through Roxbury, turning his back on the "very good house with an enclosure to it, for the planting of corn;" & also a stipend of 20 Pounds per year, which awaited his acceptance as clergy at Agamenticus, Maine, & directed his steps southward. He passed through the area of the Plymouth Colony & eventually brought him to a spot that pleased him on the banks of a river which emptied at no great distance further on into the Narragansett Bay. He decided to stay in this spot about 35 miles south of Boston on what the Indians called the Pawtucket River, today known as the Blackstone River in Cumberland, Rhode Island, he was the first settler in Rhode Island in 1635, one year before Roger Williams established Providence Plantations. Here he built another house, planted another orchard & passed the remander of his life, nearly 40 years of it.

The first European settler within the original limits of Rehoboth was Rev. William Blackstone, who lived about 3 miles above the village of Pawtucket. Here he tended cattle, planted gardens, & cultivated a 2nd apple orchard, where he cultivated the 1st variety of American apples, the Yellow Sweeting. He called his home "Study Hill" and was said to have the largest library in the colonies at the time.  ROGER WILLIAMS was banished from Salem, Massachusetts in in September 1635, but was allowed to await until Spring. However, he feared deportation & left in January, 1636. He founded the city of Providence, Rhode Island, only 6 miles from Rev. William Blackstone, who, by this time, had built his house which he called "Study Hall" & the elevation upon which he built it  named "Study Hill."

In 1641, a visitor of Blackstone in his new habitation above Pawtucket, & made the following statement: "One Master William Blackstone, a minister, went from Boston, having lived there 9 or 10 years, because he would not joyne with the church; he lives neere MASTER ROGER WILLIAMS, but is far from his opinions."(Winthrop. Vol. 1 45)   In Providence, Rhode Island, the first General Court composed of all the Freemen of the colony, was held in the Autumn of 1640. Rev. William Blackstone  was 45 years old then.  Over 100 persons were admitted Freemen of the colony.  Among the applicants for freedom was Rev. William Blackstone.  Blackstone became a good friend of Roger Williams. While they disagreed on many theological matters, both agreed on tolerance and the value of expression of various religious opinions. Baptist Williams invited Anglican Blackstone to regularly preach to William’s followers in Providence.

Rev. William Blackstone once again planted an apple orchard, the first that ever bore fruit in Rhode Island. "He had the first of that sort called yellow sweetings that were ever in the world perhaps, the richest & most delicious apple of the whole kind." He frequently went to Providence to preach the Gospel, "and to encourage his younger hearers, gave them the first apples they ever saw."

In 1655, at the age of 60, on one of his jaunts to Boston, Rev. William Blackstone sold his remaining 6 acres. On May 20, 1656, permission was granted to Rev. William Blackstone  to enter the titles of his land in the records of land evidence in the colony. At the age of 64, in 1659 Boston, Clergyman William Blackstone met a recent widow of a cobbler Mrs. John Stevenson. She was left to provide for herself & 6 children. She was married to Clergyman Balckstone by GOVERNOR JOHN ENDICOTT on July 4,1659 in Boston. One year later, Sarah at the age of 35, gave Rev. William Blackstone his first & only child,  John, in 1660, born at Rehoboth, R.I. New father  Rev. William Blackstone was then 65 years old. Suddenly the somewhat reclusive Clergymam Blackstone was married with a wife & 7 children underfoot.

June 15, 1673, Sarah, Blackstone 's wife for 14 years died at the age of 48 years. Rev. William Blackstone was then 78.  Their son John Blackstone was 13. Rev. William Blackstone died May 26, 1675, at the age of 80 years. He was buried May 28, 1675 at Lonsdale, Rhode Island next to his wife, Sarah.  ROGER WILLIAMS, writing a few days later to GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP, JR., of Connecticut, gives these details of his end: "About a fortnight since your old acquaintance, Mr .Blackstone, departed this life in the fourscore year of his age; four days before his death he had a great pain in his brest, & back, & bowells: afterward he said, he was well, had no pains, & should live, but he grew fainter, & yeilded up his breath without a groane." 

Blackstone believed in purchasing his land from the Indians as the true owners of the land.  On June 2, 1675, KING PHILIP, second son of MASSASOIT, attacked Swansea (Providence area). Rev. William Blackstone had recently died, when PHlLIP's warriors destroyed his 40-year old homestead, library, livestock, & all. His buildings at Study Hill, burned in King Philip’s War were not rebuilt or resettled.

Rev. William Blackstone 's inventory of his estate & library, taken 2 days after his death.  "Inventory of the lands, goods & chattels taken May 28, 1675.  (From "The History of Rehoboth", by Bliss, 1836) "Sixty acres of land & two shares in meadows in Providence, The west plain, the south neck, & land about the house & orchards, amounting to two hundred acres, & the meadow called Blackstones Meadow."  
LIBRARY
3 Bibles, l0s. - 6 English books in folio,                      £ 2      l0s. 
3 Latin books, in folio, 15s. - 3 do. large quarto £2         2      15 
15 small quarto, £ 1 17s. 6d. - 14 small do. 14s.             2      11    6d. 
30 large octavo, £4, - 25 small do. 1 5s.                        5        5 
22 duodecimo,                                                            1      13 
53 small do. of little value,                                                    13 
10 paper books,                                                                     5 
                                                                             _________________ 
                                                                                15       12     6 
Remainder personal,                                                   40       11 
                                                                             _________________ 
Total personal,                                                        £ 56         3     6 
  
John Blackstone, son of Rev. William Blackstone. his only child, born at Rebohoth. When his father died,  John was a minor. The Plymouth colony records show this entry —— "June 1, 1675, ...are appointed & authorized by the Court to take some present care of ...this son now left by him"  Court Order dated July 10, 1675: "...John Stevenson, step-son to Rev. William Blackstone , late deceased, was very helpful to his step-father & mother, in their lifetime without whom they could not have subsisted, as to a good help & instrument thereof, & he is now left in a low & mean condition, & never was in any manner recompensed for his good service aforesaid; & if (as it is said at least) his step-father engaged to his mother, at his marriage with her, that he should be considered with a competency of land out of the said Blackstone's land... do order & dispose fifty acres of land unto the said  John Stevenson out of the lands of the said Rev. William Blackstone  & five acres of meadow, to be laid out unto him...according as they shall think meet so as it may be most commodious to him...By order of the Court...of Plymouth."

For Research on the life of William Blackstone see  Nathaniel Brewster Blackstone 

Plants in Early American Gardens - Dwarf Gray Sugar Pea

Dwarf Gray Sugar Pea (Pisum sativum cv.)

Offered in 1881 by D. M. Ferry & Co. of Detroit, Michigan, and called in their catalog “the most desirable of all the edible pod peas,” the Dwarf Gray Sugar Pea lives up to its name: the edible, stringless, 3-4” pods are sweet and the prolific, 24-30” vines do not typically require staking. In addition, the bicolored flowers of purple and pinkish-white add an ornamental element to the vegetable garden.

Philadelphia Seed Dealer & Nurseryman - Robert Buist 1805-1880

Robert Buist 1805-1880 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Buist was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, November 14, 1805. He was trained at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and sailed to America in August 1828. When he arrived in America, he was employed by David Landreth, and then took employment with Henry Pratt who owned Lemon Hill which was probably one of the finest gardens in the U.S. at the time.

He formed a partnership with Thomas Hibbert in 1830 in a florist business in Philadelphia. They imported rare plants and flowers, especially the rose.

After Hibbert’s death he began a seed business, along with the nursery and greenhouse business. The business in Philadelphia started out as Robert Buist's Seed Store, selling gardening supplies, potted plants, shrubs, small fruits, and rose bushes. By 1837, the growing business relocated to 12th Street below Lombard; and in1857, the company moved to a location on Market Street.  And in 1870, it expanded to 67th Street near Darby Road. The Buist farm, Bonaffon, was located in the section of Philadelphia through which Buist Avenue now runs.

Alfred M. Hoffy, lithographer. View of Robert Buist’s City Nursery & Greenhouses. Philadelphia Wagner & McGuigan, 1846.

"View of Robert Buist's city nursery & greenhouses No. 140 South Twelfth Str. Phila. 1846 / Wholesale & retail horticultural & agricultural warehouse No. 84 Chestnut St. below 3d. St. south side. We invite an inspection of his stock either at his warehouse nurseries or seed farm. Seeds, fruit & ornamental trees, implements & books of every description for the garden, farm or pleasure ground. Orders promptly attended to & every article warranted to be what is represented." 

Advertisement depicting a bird's eye view looking northwest at Robert Buist's enclosed nursery and greenhouses on Twelfth Street, south of Lombard Street. Two long rows of hotbed frames extend west from Twelfth Street and run the length of Rodman Street behind a three-story building marked "140." Men and women stroll along the central walk that separates the two rows of hotbed frames inside the grounds, accessed from Twelfth Street by the entrance gate adorned with the proprietor's name "R. Buist". Outside of the nursery, several men and women converse on the sidewalk. One of the men holds a driving whip, and is presumably the driver of the stalled horse-drawn carriage in front of the entrance. Another driver stands in front of a team of horses pulling a covered cart, grasps the reins, and leads them along Rodman Street toward a man attempting to rein in a rearing horse. Also shows men, women, children, and dogs on the sidewalk. A few trees dot the empty landscape behind the nursery. Buist established his business in 1828, which was known as Robert Buist Company well into the 20C.

Buist if often credited with introducing the Poinsettia into Europe, after he saw it at Bartram's Gardens in Philadelphia.  During Buist’s early training at the Edinburg Botanic Garden, he met James McNab, a scientist & artist who eventually became the garden’s director.  In the early 1830s, McNab traveled to America with retired nurseryman Robert Brown to study plants native to the United States. While in America, McNab visited his friend Buist in Philadelphia. When McNab met with Buist in 1834, he gave the Poinsettia plant to him to take back to Scotland. The garden’s director, Dr. Robert Graham introduced the plant into British gardens.

Buist was reknown for his roses & verbena.  He was the author of several books and many catalogues of his plant offerings, among them are The American Flower-Garden Directory (1832); The Rose Manual (1844, 6 editions); and The Family Kitchen-Gardener (c1847).

Buist was obsessed by roses.  Gardener & plant historian Alex Sutton tells us that Buist sailed to Europe every year or two to buy new rose hybrids being developed in Europe.  He purchased much of his stock from M. Eugene Hardy of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. In 1832, Buist saw 'Madame Hardy' for the first time and he wrote: "Globe Hip, White Globe, or Boule de Neige of the French, is an English Rose raised from seeds of the common white, a very pure white, fully double and of globular form. A few years ago it was considered 'not to be surpassed,' but that prediction, like many others, has fallen to the ground, and now 'Madame Hardy' is triumphant, being larger, fully as pure, more double, and an abundant bloomer; the foliage and wood are also stronger. The French describe it as 'large, very double pure white, and of cup or bowl form."  Buist introduced 'Madame Hardy' in Philadephia to his customers, many of whom must have been Philadelphia matrons, as he called them his Patronesses.

In 1839, Buist visited another of his suppliers, Jean-Pierre Vibert, of Lonjeameaux, near Paris, where he found 'Aimee Vibert'. He brought this rose back with him to Philadephia and wrote: "Aimee Vibert, or Nevia, is a beautiful pure white, perfect in form, a profuse bloomer, but though quite hardy doe snot grow freely for us; however, when budded on a strong stock it makes a magnificent standard, and blooms with a profusion not surpassed by any."

Seed storage warehouse of Philadelphia seedsman Robert Buist. From an 1891 wholesale seed catalog.

In his catalog of 1872 Buist wrote “Three of the celebrated ‘Gordon’s Printing Presses’ are kept constantly at work on seed bags, labels, and other printing matter required in our business, and the stock of type and other printing material we use is equal in extent to that required by some of our daily papers...“When we established ourselves in 1828, the Seed business in this country was in its infancy, the trade was really insignificant in comparison to what it is in the present day.”

He was active with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, treasurer from 1858-1862 and vice-president for twenty-two years. He died in Philadelphia, July 13, 1880.  The family business was carried on by his son, Robert, Jr.

Garden to Table - Anne Arundel Melon

Anne Arundel Melon (Cucumis melo cv.)

The Anne Arundel Muskmelon was grown in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, as early as 1731, and was prominent in many still-life paintings of the famous Peale family of Philadelphia early in the 1800s. Anne Arundel appears to be a cross between a true smooth-skinned cantaloupe and a nutmeg-shaped muskmelon. When ripe, it has golden yellow skin and sweet, green flesh with a flavor similar to honeydew. Seed for this melon was obtained from food historian, William W. Weaver.