ISSUE 36, SEEDS, Part 3: Carolina Vegetable Introductions 1780-1860

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