Thursday, November 17, 2016

1890 - Charming Bird's Eye View Engraving of John Lewis Childs' Floral Park




I can't resist these engraved bird's eye views!


I missed this one when I posted on John Lewis Childs



To make it even better I notice it is an engraving by my favorite horticultural artist and engraver, A. Blanc.



Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a model train toot-tooting
around a model of this farm?!!!!


Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Odds & Ends and Old Photo of Proud Morning Glory Lady

Vick's floral guide for 1875

A while ago I posted an old article extolling the virtues of petunias as a winter window plant.



Now I find another summer favorite, the morning glory, might also be a good winter plant!   In an 1877 issue of the Fruit Recorder and Cottage Gardener a Mr. Rowe says it does very well. 

 This comment is backed up 20 years later by James Vick in his Vick's Illustrated Monthly Magazine so I think it must be good advice.

If they are, it would certainly go a long way towards making the cold days of February and March more bearable!




The proud lady gardener's dress pattern seems a small version of the pattern made by her morning glories!





Tuesday, November 15, 2016

1835 - Mr. Ives and his Squash

I'm a sucker for people who love their particular vegetable and push it...

The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and All Useful Discoveries 
and Improvements in Rural Affairs, Volume 1, 1835

Mr. Ives of Salem Massachusetts appears in the horticultural journals for many decades presenting his squash. Starting around 1835, everyone seems to agree is really a good squash for pies and winter keeping. Incorrectly identified at first as a variety of the summer type, Cucurbita melopepo, it is a Cucurbita maxima, in spite of having a thinner skin than you might expect.



Mr John M. Ives, of Salem, Mass. has furnished us with the above cut and the following description of a very useful vegetable. 
Fruit obovate, depressed on one side; stem very large, and inclined upwards, almost at right angles with the fruit; a small truncate callosity at the other extremity. Color reddish cream, with spots or dashes of bright ochre when in maturity. Flesh orange, seeds large, pure white, with an elevated margin; average weight, eight pounds. 
The above new variety of Squash, Cucurbita melopepo var. has been lately brought into notice in this vicinity, on account of the delicacy of its grain, and excellence of flavor. We have called it "Autumnal Marrow" as it comes in succession to the summer varieties, but may be kept throughout the winter.
A peculiarity in this variety is the extreme thinness of its skin, being of the consistency of the inner envelope of an egg. 
We recommend it to all lovers of this vegetable for its many excellent qualities: we speak thus confidently from the testimony in its favor of those who have used it at their tables.
We find there is nothing gained by forcing the plants in a hot bed, as there is no difficulty in ripening the fruit in almost any season, provided the seed is sown as early as the first of June, or at the time of sowing the Canada Crook-neck, as it ripens much earlier than that variety. We think the plants are stronger and healthier raised in the open air than under glass. 
The greatest difficulty in the cultivation of the Autumnal Marrow is to keep it from the large squash bug (Egeria cucurbitacece.) If care is taken to destroy them previous to the depositing of the eggs there is but little trouble in checking them. 
With regard to the proper soil for their culture, we find that newly broken up grass land is better than highly manured soil, as in the latter they run and grow so vigorously as to form the fruit too late in the season. In a quantity which we had raised on a highly manured spot, their average weight was but about five or six pounds; whereas others grown upon old grass land turned up in the spring of the same year, averaged from nine to twelve, and some larger. They should be thinned out on the appearance of the third leaf, to three plants in a hill. 
This vegetable is well worthy of cultivation not only for its fine quality, but for keeping well in winter. I have a number perfectly sound, which have been kept in the same situation with the Crook-neck since they were housed in October last.
________________________________
A current source of the seeds can be found at Victory Seeds. From their catalog...
"Early mentions of 'Boston Marrow' describe it as weighing from five to six pounds. By the mid-1930s, its size had been increased to what we now see today. The fruits have reddish-orange skin and measure about twelve inches in diameter by about sixteen inches in length. Weighing from eleven to over fifty-two pounds each, they average about twenty-five pounds. The flesh is fine-grained, yellow-orange, and bakes to a bright orange color. 
The leading seedsmen of the late 19th Century referred to 'Boston Marrow' as the "true pie squash," and seemed to prefer it over the drier varieties. It can be used as a table squash as well as for pie filling."

Monday, November 14, 2016

1872 - A Particular Turban Squash

I came across this article when looking for squashy stuff for the Sturtevant series.  It is pleasantly opinionated, I liked it, so here it is!


Turban Squashes.

Below from: 
American Agriculturist, 
Volume 31, 1872

A gentleman who called at our office some weeks ago mentioned a very fine squash, the seeds of which he obtained at Florence, Italy, from the palace garden of Victor Emmanuel
Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878.

We expressed a wish to see this squash, and sometime after received from Mr. Caywood, of Clarksburgh.W.Va., a specimen raised by him. We give an, engraving of the one sent, which seems to be a highly exaggerated Turban squash. 

In the ordinary Turban variety the projection, at the blossom end is small in proportion to the body of the squash. 

In this Florentine one the main bulk consists of this projection while the body proper is small. In our specimen the projecting portion is very deeply three lobed and the skin of a dull cream-color; the body part is dark orange, with green splashes. 

We do not find any description that quite agrees with our specimen, though it is like the Turban squash of the French with the projecting portion much larger than ordinary.

Mr. Gregory, in his work upon squashes, says in speaking of the French Turban, it is 
"the most worthless in quality of all the varieties of squash that have come to my notice." 

This remark certainly can not apply to our squash, as upon trial it proved very fine, and quite equal in quality to those we consider standard varieties. The "Improved Turban" is said by Burr to be probably an acclimated sub-variety of the French Turban, while Gregory claims that the "American Turban," which is the same thing, is the result of hybridizing, owing its form only to the French Turban and all its excellent qualities to the Hubbard or other varieties with which it may have been mixed. 

In the American Turban the projection before referred to has been by selection so much reduced in size as not to be conspicuous. Perhaps in the squash we have figured the selections have been made with a view of securing the greatest amount of protuberance. At all events here is a squash quite as good as tho American Turban, with the shape of the condemned French Turban intensified. We shall look with interest to the progeny of this squash.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

1840 - 1930s -The Elliotts of Pittsburgh, Seedsmen, Nurserymen, Writers

Family businesses always catch my interest.  The passing down of an interest in horticulture along with ability to successfully run a business is a chancy scenario!  

The Elliott family had not shown up in my readings until this month.  With 1848 as the entry of the first generation into horticultural business, and two (found so far) succeeding generations continuing, growing, and changing the business, the Elliott's have left their mark on the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and horticulture in general.  The son and grandson have left books available online to read.

I found this envelope image on eBay and went in circles trying to track down W. R. Elliott.  At first I only found J. W.'s business, then a reference to B.A. and finally the New York Botanical Garden's page which beautifully puts the family, and its individuals, in perspective.  It is a good read...with many tantalizing threads to follow even though it primarily outlines the most recent Elliott's career. 

This 1871 envelope is from the first in the line of Elliott men who had been in business at this time for almost a quarter of a century.  It was William R. Elliott (a former blacksmith) who founded the first Elliott nursery in Pittsburgh in 1840.

Benjamin A. Elliot was next in the business.  While he loved his roses and carnations which he raised in the nursery, he also offered seeds.  Like his father he appears to have let the printer design his envelope! 

He had been in business at the time of this stationary for thirteen years.


1883
Benjamin A. also began lobbying for the use of plants that were hardy.  
To this end he wrote a book, A few flowers worthy of general culture : an effort to win for hardy plants a recognition of their great wealth of beauty.

April, 1888


Benjamin A. competed in the 1882 Pennsylvania Agriculture Exhibition in Pittsburgh, racking up a respectable number of awards.  Below are snippets of the awards.










J.W. Elliott on the right.


I am sad that I could not find an envelope for the more famous grandson. I wonder why, since he was so very prominent in the trade.  It will turn up on eBay someday I am sure!

It was J. Wilkinson Elliott who had the personality to make it big on the national and international horticultural scene.

If you are interested in his career and travels, do go to the NYBG page and read it.










J. W. was, it seems to me, more of a business man and horticultural writer and educator than a nurseryman.

He was dedicated to improving gardening through better plants and was extremely involved in the horticultural world, but I have the impression his hands stayed much cleaner than his father's and grandfather's.  

The catalogs I have looked at always acknowledge another man's nursery as growing his stock for him, and he retains the exclusive right of distribution.   These nurseries are all over, and he appears to have specialists caring for specific plant types.


1893
J. W.'s 1902 book; READ HERE

Another very excellent paper is from the Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society . It explores J.W.'s move to California when he was older.  This wonderful photo is from that PDF.


Related????  No indication at this time... Elliott Brothers & Burgess Nurserymen and Florists Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  A subscription to Ancestry.com would come in handy!


I guess that is it for now.  Time to iron clothes...tomorrow is a school day.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

1876 - American Agriculturist Ads

I was cruising this publication for bee information when three pages of seedsmen ads caught my attention.  The quality of scan was better than usual so I thought I'd share them.  I did crop the right hand column off pages so they would fit, and pasted those columns together.  The heavy hitters of the day are represented!








Thursday, November 3, 2016

1891 -Tomato (cont.) to Turnip - Sturtevant's HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES

THE HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES. BY E. L. STURTEVANT. (Continued from page 706, Vol. XXV., 1891.) 
https://archive.org/details/jstor-2452344 

Lycopersicum humboldtii Dun. 

 This is very like the preceding, but the racemes of the flowers smaller, the calycine segments being never the length of the corolla, and the berries one-half smaller, red, and, when cultivated, not less angular than those of L. esculentum. 
It was noticed by Humboldt  as under cultivation at La Victoria, Neuva Valencia, and everywhere in the valleys of Aragua, in South America, and is described by Kunth'in 1823, and by Willdenow, about 1806, from plants in the Berlin garden from seeds received from Humboldt. The fruit, although small, has a fine flavor.

 I suspect the Turban, Turk's Cap, or Turk's Turban of our seedsmen, a novelty of 1881, to be referable here, although this cultivated variety is probably a monstrous form.










 Lycopersicum pyriforme Dun. 

 This, which is to be classed as one of the fancy varieties under cultivation, occurs with both yellow, red, and pale yellow or whitish fruit. It was described by Dunalin 1813, and in Persoon's synopsis in 1805.  It is mentioned in England in 1819, and both the colors in the United States by Salisbury in 1848.
 It is liked by some for garnishing and pickling. 

The common names are pear-shaped and fig.





 Lycopersicum pimpinellifolium Dun. 


The currant tomato bears its red fruit, somewhat longer than a common currant, or as large as a very large currant, in two ranked racemes, which are frequently quite large and abundantly filled. It grows wild in Peru and Brazil, and is figured by Feuille  in 1725, but not as a cultivated plant, and is described by Linnaeus  in 1763.  The grape or cluster tomato is recorded in American gardens by Burr  in 1863, and as the red currant tomato by Vilmorin  in 1883 and 1885. It is an exceedingly vigorous and hardy variety, with delicate foliage, and fruits most abundantly. The berries make excellent pickles. 

 According to the test of cross-fertilization, few, if any, of the above are true species. Two only of the above named — the cherry and the currant tomato — do I find recorded in a truly wild condition. The tomato has, however, been under cultivation from a remote period by the Nahua and other Central American nations, and reached European and American culture, as all the evidence implies, in an improved condition. If there is any evidence that any of our so-called types arose spontaneously from the influences of culture, I have failed to note it. We may well ask, Why did not other forms appear during the interval from 1558 to 1623, when but one sort, and that figured as little variable, received the notice of the early botanists? 

 The modern names of the tomato, or love apple, are 

  • in France, tomate, pomme d 'amour, pomme d'or, pomme du Perou
  • in Germany, tomate, liebesapfel
  • in Flanders and Holland, tomaat
  • in Italy, pomo d'oro ;
  • in Spain and Portugal, tomate ;
  • in Norway, kjoerlighedsaeble
  • In Arabic, bydingan toumaten
  • in Burma, kha-yan-myae-phung
  • in Ceylon, maha-rata-tamattie
  • in the Deccan, wallwangee
  • in Egypt, bydingan toumaten
  • in Malaya, tomatte
  • in Tagalo, tomates, camatis
  • in Tamil, seemie-takalie-pidlam ;
  • in Indian gardens, goot-begoon, oou laeetee buengun
  • in Mexico, jomatl ;
  • in Japan, akanasu, red egg-plant



Turnip. Brassica sp. 

 Vilmorin in his "Les Plantes Potageres," 1883, classes all the turnips under Brassica napus L. ; but the older authors referred them, more correctly as we think, to Brassica napus and B. rapa.   
Decandolle, who makes this distinction, separates the first into three groups, based on color, the white, yellow, and black ; the second into groups, comprising the white, yellow, black, red, and green. 

In the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus describes the napus as with a long root, which is eaten, and the rapa as having a spherical compressed bulb, and sometimes red in the stalk. 

The turnip is of ancient culture. Columella, 18 a.d., says the napus and the rapa are both grown, and the latter the larger and greener for the use of man and beasts, especially in France; the former not having a swollen, but a slender, root. He also speaks of the Mursian gongylis, which may be the round turnip, as being especially fine. 


The distinction between the napus and the rapa was not always held, as Pliny  uses the word napus generically, and says that there are five kinds, the 
  • Corinthean, 
  • Cleonaeum, 
  • Liothasium, 
  • Boeoticum, and the 
  • Green. 
The Corinthean, the largest, with an almost bare root, grows on the surface, and not, as do the rest, under the soil. 
The Liothasium, also called Thracium, is the hardiest. 
The Boeoticum is sweet, of a notable roundness, and not very long as is the Cleonaeum. 

At Rome the Amiternian is in most esteem, next the Nursinian, and third our own kind (the green ?). 

In another place, under rapa he mentions two kinds, the one broad-bottomed (flat?), the other globular, and the most esteemed those of Nursia. The napus of Amiterninum, of a nature quite similar to the rapa, succeeds best in a cool place. He mentions that the rapa sometimes attain a weight of forty pounds. 

This weight has, however, been exceeded in modern times.  Matthiolus, in 1558, had heard of turnips that weighed a hundred pounds, and speaks of having seen long and purple sorts that weighed thirty pounds. Amatus Lusitanus, in 1524, speaks of turnips weighing fifty and sixty pounds. In England, in 1792, Martyn  says the greatest weight that he is acquainted with is thirty-six pounds. In California, about 1850, a turnip is recorded of one hundred pounds weight.  

Brassica napus esculenta DC.

Vilmorin
This differs from the Brassica rapa oblonga by its smooth and glaucous leaves. It surpasses other turnips by the sweetness of its flavor, and furnishes white, yellow, and black varieties. It is known as the Navet or French turnip.  It was apparently the napa of Columella.  It was certainly known to the early botanists, yet its synonymy is difficult to be traced from the figures. 

 I think, however, the following are correct: 
  •  Napus. Trag., 1552, 730; Matth., 1554, 240; Pin., 1561, 144; Cam. Epit, 1586, 222; Dod., 1616, 674; Fischer, 1646. 
  •  Bunias sive napus. Lob. ic, 1 591, I., 200. 
  •  Bunias silvestris lobelii. Ger., 1597, 181. 
  •  Napi. Cast. Dur., 161 7, 304. 
  •  Bunias. Bodaeus, 1644, 773. 
  •  Napus dulcis. Blackw., 1765, t. 410. 
  •  Navet petit de Berlin. Vilm., 18.83,360. 
  •  Teltow turnip. Vilm., 1885, 5 8 

 The navews are mentioned as under cultivation in England by Worlidge,  in 1683, as the French turnip by Wheeler, in 1763, and Miller's Dictionary, 1807.  Gasparin  says the navet de Berlin, which often acquires a great size, is much grown in Alsace and in Germany. In China, according to Bretschneider,  it was known in the fifth century. 




 Brassica rapa depressa DC. 

 This has a large root expanding under the origin of the stem into a thick, round, fleshy tuber, flattened at the top and bottom. It has white, yellow, black, red or purple, and green varieties. It seems to have been known from ancient times, and is described and figured in the earlier botanies. 
A.  Flattened both above and below; Vilmorin



 A. Flattened both above and below. 
 Rapum. Matth., 1554, 240; Cam. Epit., 1586, 218. 
 Rapum sive rapa. Pin., 1561, 143. 
 Rapa. Cast. Dur., 1617, 386. 
 Navet turnip. Vilm., 1883, 583. 





B. Flattened, but pointed below.
Rave d'Auvergne tardive




 B. Flattened, but pointed below. 
 Orbiculatum seu turbinatum rapum. Lob. ic., 1791, I., 197. 
 Rapum. Porta, Phytognom, 1591, 120. 
 Rapum vulgare. Dod., 16 16, 673. 
 Rave d'Auvergne tardive. Vilm., 1883., 369. 






Vilmorin





 C. Globular. 
 Rapum. Trag., 1552, 728. 
 Rapa, La Rave. Tourn., 1719, 113. 
 Navet jaune d'Hollande. Vilm., 1883, 370. 
 Yellow Dutch. Vilm., 1885, 588. . 









Brassica rapa oblonga DC. 

 This race differs from the preceding in having a long and oblong tuber tapering to the radicle. It seems an ancient form, — perhaps the Cleonaeum of Pliny. 

  •  Vulgare rapum alterum. Trag., 1532, 729.
  •  Rapum longum. Cam. Epit, 1586, 219. 
  •  Rapum tereti, rotunda, oblongaque radici. Lob. ic., 1591, I., 197. 
  •  Rapum oblongius. Dod., 1616, 673. 
  •  Rapum sativum rotundum and oblongum. J. Bauh., 165 1, II., 838.
  •  Rapa, La Rave. Tourn., 1719, 113. 
  •  Navet de Briollay. Vilm., 1883, 372. 
  • Briollay turnip. Vilm., 1885, 591.

 This representation by no means embraces all the turnips now known, as it deals with form only, and not with color and habits. In 1828 thirteen kinds were in Thorburn's American seed catalogue, and in 1887 thirty-three kinds. 

In France, twelve kinds were named by Pirolle in 1824, and by Petit in 1826. In 1887 Vilmorin's wholesale seed-list enumerates thirty-one kinds. 

 The turnip is believed to have reached England from Holland in 1550, but before this it had reached the New World. In 1540 Cartier sowed turnip seed at the present Montreal, in Canada. In 1609  turnips are mentioned in Virginia, as also in 1649; they are mentioned as cultivated in Massachusetts in 1629. 

In Peru they are said by Acosta, in 1604, to have increased so abundantly as to become a nuisance in the planting of grain. 

 The turnip is called 
  • in France, navet, gros navet, grosse rave, naveau, navet turnips, rabiole, rabioule, rave plate, tornep, turneps, turnip ;
  •  in Germany, herbst-rube, stoppel-rube
  • in Flanders and Holland, raap
  • in Denmark, roe;
  • in Italy, navone, rapa
  • in Spain and Portugal, nabo
  • in Arabic, lift,  luft
  • in Bengali, shalgram
  • in Persia, shalgram ;
  •  in Sindh, gokhru
  • in Japan, busei, aona (the round form). 

Hmmm...is this the end of Sturtevant's articles?  No vegetable after "T"?   As far as I have found it is the last installment, but I will look again!