CAROLINA KITCHEN GARDEN, 1780-1860
A Master List of Vegetable and Pot Herb Seed Introductions
Two quests have shaped our understanding of nineteenth-century southern kitchen gardens: the search for the secrets of the slave garden and the attempt to understand the vision of horticultural possibility brought to live in Thomas Jefferson’s plantings at Monticello. The desire to know the contents of the Huck patch has been fueled by the hope that there might be found cultivars traceable to Africa—okra, benne, guinea squash, and peanuts—suggesting that gardens might be a means of materializing the ways of life before captivity. Peter Hatch’s thorough explorations of Jefferson’s garden books and planting beds has revealed how an Enlightenment agriculturalist with a global imagination and an experimental inclination evolved several adaptations of the West’s botanical legacy to the local conditions of Piedmont Virginia.
For all the interest of these inquiries, neither informs us greatly about the normal practice of kitchen gardening in the south, particularly in its 19th-century heyday. How then to get at an understanding of what was grown, when, and where?
While archaeology (used with particular nuance at Monticello) can give us the particulars of what was grown in specific sits—it is a costly knowledge with so narrow a field of findings that one hesitates to impute larger regional patterns to them. There is, however, one body of evidence that can supply a general picture: the stocks of southern seed brokers purveying garden seeds to local purchasers. A print record of their offerings exists from the founding of the republic to the present day in the form of advertising handbills, newspaper advertisements, and seed catalogues.
Located in cities and towns, the brokers tended to be engaged in one of four sorts of activities: they might be market gardeners/seedsmen, they might be grocers, they might be druggists, or they might be commercial agents of one of the major seed producing and selling enterprises located in the North or in Europe. Every farmer or gardener of any size had to journey to a market center at several junctures during the year. In South Carolina from the Revolution to the Civil War, upstate farmers went to Augusta, Georgia, midland farmers to Columbia or Camden, Lowcountry planters to Charleston. Grocers in smaller towns sold seed for the commonest plants—the Sugarloaf, Drumhead, and Early York Cabbages, the Windsor, Long Pod, and Kidney Beans, the Silver Skin Onion, the Irish Potato, the Large Orange Carrot, the Salmon Radish, the Norfolk and Short Top Turnips. These grocers depended upon the state’s major seed brokers for supply, the brokers, in return, existed in partnership relations with suppliers beyond the bounds of the state.
There were a succession of key seed brokers during the early republic and antebellum eras. The first were Charleston-based: gardener Robert Squibb, who farmed lots on the inland end of Tradd Street in the 1780s until securing a prime piece of land when allowed to farm the Orphan House tract in the 1790s, and John D. Vale, gardener and proprietor of the Cash Store at 111 Broad Street. In 1796 the enterprising spirits merchant and grocer Henry Ellison expanded into the seed trade at his stores on Coates Row and East Bay. After the turn of the nineteenth century, George Revell, a grocer at 142 Broad Street, and gardener James Nesbet of Funchal farm out on King Street past the race grounds, took up the vocation. Revell ‘s seed importation business was quickly outstripped by the partnership of Tait & Wilson who showcased the inclusion new varieties into their shipments after 1803. Any new Broccoli that emerged in Europe came to Carolina through Tait & Wilson. Their success prompted their chief competitors, merchant-grocers McKenzie & McNeill to enter the business. They imported in 1805 culinary Sorrel into Carolina, permitting the enjoyment of the wonderfully astringent Spring soup and the sharp salad green into the local bowl. They also shipped the classic herbs into the Lowcountry. Because a mystique built around imported seeds, numbers of merchants besides grocers tried to develop the business, perhaps the oddest being bookseller W. P. Young, who offered London seed at his store at 41 Broadstreet for several years beginning in 1804. A salad lover, Young introduced new lettuce varieties into the Lowcountry. In 1807, grocer G. F. Gennerick entered into competition, but only supplied the commonest items. In 1808 a Seed Store appeared at 220 King Street. In that same year Wilson & Tait transmuted into the partnership of Wilson & Paul. Thomas Cochran, another grocer, began to import seed in 1809, as did Samuel Nobbe whose store was on the corner of St. Philip and Radcliffe. Patrick McClure joined the fraternity in 1810. By the 1810s a nationalist anxiety about the production of seed used in America by Britons and Europeans had spurred a North American seed production agriculture.
Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts were the centers of America seed production in the early 19th century. The first broker to tout American product over English was George Shievely, whose “Philadelphia Seed Store” was located at 137 Meeting Street in Charleston. In 1815 Joseph Simmons, located conspicuously at the corner of Broad Street and East Bay, entered into competition with Shievely. He would become in time the chief contact with the French plant breeding community. During the same year Mrs. Piere also entered into the business out on King Street road.
In 1816, the hegemony of Charleston as seed capital of the state was challenged by Phineas Thornton of Camden. From a modest beginning he steadily built a market gardening empire that would eclipse any seedsman in Charleston except Robert Landreth in the 1820s. Encouraged by Thornton’s example, druggist George Fitch established in 1819 a seed depot in the South Carolina state capital, Columbia, near the Post Office. He favored beans. The Robb family also entered into business at this time, with James vending Turnip seed and garden vegetables in Charleston with his two older brothers established a seed store in Columbia.
In 1818 an importer of iron garden tools in Charleston, A. Smylie, expanded his business to seeds. The multiplication of sellers and evidence of a willingness of farmers to buy American seed caught the attention of the Landreth brothers, who presided over the oldest seed company in the United States. Organized in 1784, headquartered outside of Philadelphia, and still in operation in 2012, David Landreth & Company Seeds, thrived by attending to the demands of persons throughout the United States. Realizing that Charleston was the key to the southern market, the family dispatched Robert Landreth to set up a seed brokerage in 1819 at 228 King Street. Supplying berry and fruit tree cuttings, Landreth’s operation expanded well beyond the usual constraints of garden seedsmanship. George Cox, a broker seed for field crops, particularly cotton and grains, expanded his business into garden seeds in 1820. An adept businessman, he took care not to duplicate the Landreth’s offerings.
James Wilson in the 1820s expanded his seed business from garden seed importation from Philadelphia and London into barley, wheat, and rye seed. He dominated the local trade in onion sets and celebrated the seedsmanship of the Philadelphia horitculturists, his suppliers. In the mid-1820s, druggist J. Rickard on East Bay entered into the see import trade. In the 1830s, John Gidiere, a merchant with strong ties to Parisian merchants, entered the business bringing in Parisian seed. The persons who entered the business in the 1830s and ‘40s tended to be merchants, whether transatlantic hardware traders such as William Dewar at 34 East Bay, or cherchant grocers such as G. E. Ring at 202 King Street, his neighbors John Thomson at 254 King and F. Whittpen at 335 King,, and Dawson & Blacksmith at 17 Broad Street.
From 1780 to 1820, premium garden seed came primarily from England; indeed, a provenance from Battersea or Norfolk, or an important London or Liverpool supplier, was a selling point. Plants propagated by sets and slips, onions and sweet potatoes, had local producers. But to speak of the garden as being somehow expressive of a region was nonsense when one looks at the origins of the seed. How the seed suited the soil and climate—that was local. Also local were a handful of cultivars that operated sub-market it their seed production and distributions (okra until 1821, tomatoes until 1821, collards [colewort] until 1822, eggplant until 1827). Elite planters, particularly those with the most experimental tendencies, operated at times independent of the seed market, securing roots, corms, nuts, and seeds from a the transatlantic fraternity of agricultural experimentalists. Some vegetables—rhubarb for instance—was extensively grown by elite gardeners before it roots were imported for general sale by James Wilson in 1834. Indeed, the Charleston Horticultural Society offered prizes for the best rhubarb in 1831. In the 1830s, after the Society instituted regular exhibitions and prizes for the best fruits and vegetables, the winners’ seed would be exchanged among Society members.
In the following list I indicate the variety name, the year in which the variety is first advertised for sale within South Carolina, the seller, and the origin of the seed. One notes immediately the plant categories that magnetized gardeners: beans, cabbages, lettuce, peas, and turnips.
Certain items do not appear here: field cultivars such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, benne, sugar cane, sorghum, field peas, and the various grains.
SOUTH CAROLINA GARDEN SEED
VEGETABLE Year Broker Origin
ARTICHOKE
Globe 1808 Wilson London
Green 1799 Ellison London
ASPARAGUS
Battersea 1799 Ellison London
Dutch 1831 Smith London
Giant 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Gravesend 1799 Ellison London
BEANS
Bush 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Canterbury 1809 Cochran London
Chocolate Coloured Cranberry 1819 Fitch NYff
Dutch Runners 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Dwarf 1800 Vale SC
Dwarf White Kidney 1806 Wilson London
Early Dun 1807 Cochran London
Early Kidney or Liver 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Mazagin 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Mohawk 1853 Dawson
Early Six Weeks Comfort 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Speckled 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Yellow Bush Beans 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Green Nonpareil 1809 Cochran London
Hallum Bush 1819 Fitch ?
Helegoland 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Kidney or Snap Beans 1803 Ellison London
Lima 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Long Pod 1803 Moser London
Negro 1807 Cochran London
Pale Cranberry 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Red Eye Chinese Bush 1819 Fitch ?
Refugee Bush Bean 1819 Fitch ?
Rob Roy 1827 Robson SC
Scarlet Runner 1803 Moser London
Speckled Kidney 1803 Moser London
Speckled Dwarf 1806 Wilson London
Valentine Bush Bean 1847 Ring PA
White Albany Bush 1820 Thornton NY-NE
White Battersea Beans 1803 Moser London
Windsor 1803 Moser London
BEET
Blood Beet 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Blood Turnip 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Early Blood 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Early Scarcity 1820 Thornton NY-NE
French Sugar Beet 1831 Gidiere ?
Long Blood Beet 1850 Dawson ?
Red 1804 Revell London
Yellow 1820 Thornton NY-NE
BROCOLI
Early Purple 1803 Wilson London
Early White 1803 Wilson London
Fine New Cape 1816 Wilson London
Green 1804 Young London
Large Portsmouth 1809 Cochran London
Late Purple 1804 Wilson London
New Belvidere White 1816 Wilson London
Purple 1797 Vale London
Siberian 1803 Wilson London
White 1797 Vale London
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Common 1820 Thornton NY-NE
CABBAGE
Amsterdam 1821* Thornton NY-NE
Battersea 1799 Ellison London
Bergen 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Bonneuil 1831 Smith London
Choux de Milan 1804 Wilson London
Coleworts [Collards] 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Cornish York 1803 Wilson London
Curled Green Savoy 1831 Smith London
Drumhead 1786 Squibb London
Early York 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Sugar Loaf 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Dwarf York 1804 Wilson London
Early Dutch 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Battersea 1808 Wilson London
Early Penton 1808 Wilson London
Early York 1786 Squibb London
French 1804 Wilson London
George 1830 Wilson Liverpool
Green Curled Borecole 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Green Glazed 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Green Savoy 1797 Vale London
Ice Glazed 1799 Ellison London
Imperial York 1804 Wilson London
Large Bergen 1808 New Seed NY
Large Cow 1831 Wilson English
Large English Savoy 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Large Ox 1797 Vale London
Large Scotch 1808 Wilson London
Late Dutch 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Red Dutch 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Red Pickling 1797 Vale London
Salisbury Fine Dwarf 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Sugar Loaf 1786 Squibb London
Tree (or 1000 headed) 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Turnip Rooted [Kohl Rabbi] 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Turnip Rooted Below Ground 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Wellington 1830 Wilson Liverpool
Yellow Savoy 1804 Revell London
CARROT
Altringham 1831 Gidiere ?
Blood Red 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Early Horn 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Large Orange 1797 Vale London
Long Lemon 1807 New Seed NY
Long Red 1831 Smith London
Orange 1803 Moser London
Purple 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Yellow 1831 Smith London
CAULIFLOWER
Asiatic 1848 Thomson Paris
Early 1803 Moser London
Early London 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Paris 1831 Wilson France
English Dwarf 1831 Wilson London
Late London 1820 Thornton NY-NE
London 1799 Ellison London
North German 1831 Wilson London
Walchrinae 1847 Thomson Germany
White Cape 1831 Wilson London
CELERY
Rose Coloured 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Salad 1797 Ellison London
Solid 1803 Moser London
CORN
Early Tuscarora 1853 Dawson NY
CUCUMBER
Cluster 1807 New Seed NY
Early 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Green Turkey 1808 Wilson London
Long Green 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Long Prickly 1803 Moser London
Prickly Gherkins (for Pickles) 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Sub Cluster 1803 Moser London
West Indian 1831 Gidiere ?
White Dutch 1831 Smith London
White Turkey 1807 New Seed NY
EGG PLANT
Guinea, or Purple 1827 Robson SC
GOURD
Mammoth 1820 Thornton NY-NE
GREENS
American Cress 1808 Wilson London
Batavian Endive 1804 Young London
Black Mustard 1799 Ellison London
Brown Mustard 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Corn Salad 1813 Shievley PA
Curled Endive 1803 Ellison London
Garden Cress 1797 Vale London
Green Endive 1799 Ellison London
Fennel l 1809 Nobbe ?
Nasturtium 1809 Cochran London
Sorrel 1805 McKenzie London Summer Savory 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Water Cress 1797 Ellison London
White Endive 1807 New Seed NY
White Mustard 1797 Ellison London
HERBS
Balm 1809 Cochran London
Basil 1805 McKenzie London
Chervil 1797 Ellison London
Curled Parsley 1803 Moser London
Hambro Parsley 1809 Cochran London
Hysop 1805 McKenzie London
Peppergrass 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Plain Parsley 1797 Vale London
Pot Marjoram 1805 McKenzie London
Saffron 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Sage 1805 McKenzie London
Sweet Marjoram 1805 McKenzie London
Summer Savory 1805 McKenzie London
Tarragon Roots 1820 Cox New York
Thyme 1805 McKenzie London
Winter Savory 1805 McKenzie London
KALE
German 1849 Landreth PA
Scotch Kale 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Sea Kale 1807 New Seed NY
LETTUCE
Brown Dutch 1799 Ellison London
Cabbage Lettuce 1803 Moser London
Coss 1803 Moser London
Dutch 1803 Moser London
Early 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Grand Admiral 1808 Wilson London
Hardy Green 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Head 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Ice Lettuce 1820 Thornton NY-NE
India Cabbage Lettuce 1827 Robson ?
Imperial 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Madeira 1831 Gidiere ?
New Large Florence 1816 Wilson London
Passion 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Royal Cabbage 1809 Nobbe ?
Roman Cabbage 1804 Young London
Silesia 1804 Young London
Tennis Ball 1808 Wilson London
White Coss 1804 Revell London
MELONS
Catelope 1811 Nesbet London
Musk Mellon 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Nutmeg 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Paradise 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Large Water Melons 1820 Thornton NY-NE
OKRA
Ochre 1821* Thornton SC
ONIONS
Deptford 1804 Young London
Large Flag Leek 1827 Robson SC
Large Scotch Leeks 1820 Thornton NY-NE
London Leek 1797 Vale London
Red 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Red Portugal 1822 Robson London
Shallots 1831 Wilson PA
Silver Skin 1797 Vale London
Strasburgh 1809 Cochran London
Welsh 1809 Cochran London
White 1820 Thornton NY-NE
White Portugal 1797 Ellison London
White Spanish 1807 New Seed NY
Yellow New Danvers 1853 Dawson NY
Yellow Silver Skin 1853 Dawson NY
PARSNIP
Large 1797 Vale London
Swelling 1820 Thornton NY-NE
PEAS
Black Eye Marrowfat 1853 Dawson ?
Blue Imperial 1853 Dawson ?
Branching 1810 McClure London
Chene 1852 Williams ?
Double Blossomed Frame 1816 Wilson London
Dwarf 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Dwarf Cluster 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Dwarf Marrow 1799 Ellison London
Dwarf Spanish 1807 Cochran London
Dwarf Sugar 1811 Nesbet London
Early Charlton 1799 Ellison London
Early Dwarf 1803 Moser London
Early Egg 1809 Nobbe ?
Early Frame 1799 Ellison London
Early Petersburg 1817 Thornton NY
Early Warwick 1853 Dawson ?
Green Prussian 1809 Nobbe ?
Golden Hotspur 1804 Wilson London
Imperial Green 1804 Wilson London
Knight’s New Marrow 1816 Wilson London
Leadsman Dwarf 1811 Nesbet London
Lord Anson’s Vine Peas 1822 Thornton NY-NE
Marrowfat 1803 Moser London
Prince Albert 1848 Thorburn London
Prolific 1809 Nobbe ?
Prussian Blue 1803 Moser London
Spanish Dwarf 1807 New Seed NY
Spanish Marrowfat 1809 Nobbe ?
Spanish Moratta 1807 New Seed NY
Tall Marrowfat 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Tall Sugar Pea 1804 Wilson London
Tall Transparent 1804 Wilson London
True Prolific 1803 Moser London
White Prussian 1816 Wilson London
White Rouncivel 1811 Nesbet London
Wilson’s Six Weeks 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Wilson’s Superfine 1820 Thornton NY-NE
PEPPERS
Cayenne 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Rabbet Nose 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Squash Pepper 1820 Thornton NY-NE
POTATOES
Irish 1820 Thornton NY-NE
PUMPKIN
Mammoth 1820 Thornton NY-NE
RADISH
Black 1803 Moser London
Black Spanish 1804 Young London
Early Frame 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Early Long Rose Coloured 1831 Smith London
Early Rose Coloured Turnip 1831 Smith London
Long Black Winter 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Purple 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Naples 1803 Wilson London
Red Round 1808 Wilson London
Salmon 1797 Thornton London
Scarlet 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Short top 1797 Vale London
Turnip 1797 Vale London
White Turnip 1808 Wilson London
RHUBARB
Large Roots 1834 Wilson London
RUTABAGA
Ruta Baga (Yellow Russian Turnip) 1819 Thornton NY
Skirving’s Improved 1849 Dawson Liverpool
SALSIFY
Vegetable Oyster 1813 Shievley PA
SPINNACH
Prickley 1799 Ellison London
Round 1799 Ellison London
SQUASH
Early Bush 1827 Robson ?
Com. Porters 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Serpent 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Summer Bush 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Winter Crook Neck 1820 Thornton NY-NE
TOMATOES
Tomato 1821* Thornton SC
TURNIP
Early Flat Dutch 1830 Wilson Phil
Early Spring 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Fine Early Stone 1830 Wilson Phil
Green Round 1811 Nesbet London
Green Top 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Large Bullochs Aberdeen (Yellow Scotch) 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Large Norfolk 1808 Wilson London
Large Silver 1800 Vale SC
Large White Flat 1819 Thornton NY
London White 1804 Wilson London
New Long White Transparent 1816 Wilson London
Norfolk 1800 Vale London
Red Top 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Red Top Tankard 1825 Wilson Liverpool
French, or Hanover 1820 Thornton NY-NE
Short Top 1808 Wilson London
Snowball 1848 Landreth PA
Strap Leaf 1849 Dawson Liverpool
Swan’s Egg 1837 Wilson NY
White Scotch Globe 1823 Robb ?
White Top Tankard 1825 Wilson Liverpool
Yellow 1808 Wilson London
Yellow Stone 1811 Nesbet London
Yellow Malta
Impressive