Chapter 3
Americans have a long history of introducing plants from other parts of the world. As early as 1699, on the banks of the Ashley River in South Carolina, an experimental farm was established by colonists interested in transferring plants to the North American colonies. In spring 1733, James Edward Oglethorpe (1696–1785), the founder of the colony of Georgia, set up an experimental garden for botanical purposes and for testing agricultural plants. The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in West London also made many contributions in transplanting plants to North America.1
During the colonial period, China was considered a rich source of new plants and was viewed as “a botanical and zoological wonderland.”2 Some American colonists realized that “many valuable trees, unknown in Europe, grow in the northern provinces of China” and could thrive well “in the colonies.”3 They took measures to introduce and naturalize Chinese plants into North America (table 3.1).4 For example, paper mulberry was brought into North America in 1754.5
As a country with a long history of flourishing agriculture, China became an indispensable source for the founders. Below I will explore the actions the founders took to bring in agricultural, economic, and ornamental plants from China to North America. First, I will briefly probe the founders’ attempt to have Chinese plants growing in the new nation. Then I will review how Benjamin Franklin made his attempts to introduce various Chinese economically viable plants in the colonial era. Third, I will focus on my survey of Washington’s efforts to propagate Chinese flowers. Finally, I will examine how Jefferson proliferated Chinese flowers at Monticello.
Table 3.1 List of Chinese Plants That John Ellis Recommended Should Be Brought into North America
|
Chinese Names |
Latin Names |
English Names |
Observations |
|
Yeqi Shu |
Croton Sebiferum |
Tallow tree of China |
This plant grows in moist places in China and is of great use in the country. |
|
Zhuteng |
Arundo Bambo |
The true Bamboo cane |
Of great use in China and might be also in our American islands. |
|
Chashu |
Thea |
Tea |
From China and Japan. |
|
Ezihua |
Gardenia Florida |
Umky of the Chinese |
Used in dyeing in China. The pulp that surrounds the seeds gives in warm water a most excellent yellow color, inclining to orange. |
|
Sangshu |
Morus papyrifera |
Paper Mulberry tree |
Used for making paper in China and Japan. This has been some time in English gardens. |
|
Boqigen |
Similax China Leechee |
China Root Leechee of China |
In China and in New Spain. This fruit is highly commended by all persons who have been to China. |
THE FOUNDERS AND CHINESE PLANTS
Agriculture was the major component of the American colonial economy. It employed 90 percent of the workforce population. As the founders searched for foreign plants to improve agriculture, China was considered a rich source of possible valued additions. There was a continuous endeavor to acquire Chinese plants to North America starting from the colonial era to the early republic period. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, James Madison, even Abigail Smith Adams—John Adams’s wife—made substantial efforts to introduce and propagate Chinese plants.
During the colonial era, some realized that many valuable trees, unknown in Europe, grew in the northern provinces of China and could be transplanted. Numerous plants were brought into North America. In 1765, Franklin encountered Chinese soybeans in England and sent some to John Bartram, the famous colonial botanist. In 1772, Franklin also sent Chinese rhubarb seeds and Chinese tallow trees to North America. Tallow trees, which were incredibly useful in the manufacturing of candles, soap, cooking oil, and herbal remedies, spread widely throughout the Southern colonies.
George Washington had a lifetime preoccupation with agriculture. He conducted personal experiments to sow Chinese flowers at his plantation, Mount Vernon. He recorded his experiments in his diary in detail, suggesting how much he valued his effort. Thanks to Washington’s seriousness with his experiments, we can trace his efforts.
After American independence was secured, John Jay reported to Washington in 1794 that South Carolina introduced certain Chinese cotton. He described further the original region of the cotton, which “came from the Nanjing region of China.”6 James Madison acquired some “Seeds of chinese hemp” from John Coakley Lettsom (1741–1815), an English physician and philanthropist.7 James Madison also ordered Chinese flower seeds.8 Abigail Smith Adams proudly told her daughter, Abigail Amelia Adams Smith, that in her garden, “Chinese Chatterer grows daily more interesting.”9
In 1805, Jefferson told William Hamilton (1745–1813) that the latter’s nephew provided Jefferson “the plant of the Chinese silk tree in perfect good order.”10 Jefferson told him, “I shall nurse it with care until it shall be in a condition to be planted at Monticello.”11 In 1809, Madame de Tess é (1741–1813), a French salon holder and letter writer, sent Thomas Jefferson some tree seeds. She told Jefferson that the seeds “come from northern China. It was first called Paulinia aurea.”12 According to her letter, the tree “grows very quickly, does not grow tall, its foliage is beautiful, its blossom pleasant.”13
In April 1811, Jefferson sowed the seeds of the silk plant—also known as China grass, Chinese silk plant, or ramie (Boehmeria nivea). The silk plant was cultivated for its long fibers or ramie, which could be woven.14
What was important to the founders was to obtain Chinese plants for propagation in North America. Their intention was well reflected in Jefferson’s statement, “The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is, to add a useful plant to its [agri]culture, especially a bread grain.”15
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND CHINESE PLANTS
Franklin showed an extensive interest in agriculture, helping to introduce several Chinese plants to the United States. In his A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the British Plantations in America, Franklin aggregated knowledge about general farming innovations and various newly discovered plants, including methods for effective propagation and cultivation.
In order to promote the development of North America’s agricultural economy, colonists made efforts to obtain plants from other lands. China was considered a rich source of new plants and was viewed as “a botanical and zoological wonderland.”16 Some colonists had realized that “many valuable trees, unknown in Europe, grow in the northern provinces of China… that climate, though in 40 degrees of North latitude,… is liable to more severe cold than” North American colonies in winter. Trees from northern China “would thrive well in the colonies.”17 The colonists made their efforts to introduce China’s agricultural plants into North America. Numerous Chinese plants were brought into North American colonies.18
Franklin sought to bring into the colonies “all new-discovered plants, herbs, trees, roots, their virtues, uses, etc; methods of propagating them, and making such as are useful.” Additionally, he wanted to learn from other nations “new mechanical inventions for saving labor, as mills and carriages, all new arts trades, and manufactures, introducing other sorts from foreign countries.”19 Franklin was inspired by many Chinese inventions. Franklin considered his Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America his own leading line.
In 1761, Franklin sent Joshua Babcock (1707–1783), a physician and general in the American Revolutionary War, some Chinese seeds of the true Tartarian Rhubarb.20 Franklin, who at the time served as the North American representative to France, sent Chinese soybean seeds back to the colonies.21
Franklin sent from London to North America Chinese rhubarb seeds in 1772. He was assured that the seeds would flourish well in North America, “where the Climate is the same with that of the Chinese Wall, just without which it grows in plenty and of the best Quality.”22 He was anxious about their cultivation.
In October of the same year, Franklin sent from London some “Seeds of the Chinese Tallow Tree” to John Bartram, the famous botanist in North America.23 Franklin told Bartram to have good taken care of the plant and expressed his confidence that the tallow tree “may grow under your skillful Care.”24 He told Bartram, “Remember that for Use the Root does not come to its Perfection of Power and Virtue in less than Seven Years.”25 Later, he gave Bartram the example he found in London, “The Physicians here who have try’d the Scotch, approve it much, and say it is fully equal to the best imported.”26 At the same time, Franklin also sent “a few Seeds of the Chinese Tallow Tree” to Noble Wimberly Jones (1723–1805), an American physician and statesman in Savannah, Georgia. He told Jones that “I believe grow and thrive with you.’Tis a most useful plant.”27 The tallow tree spread widely throughout the south.28
In 1765, Franklin acquired some Chinese soybeans in England and sent the soybeans—“Chinese Garavance”—to John Bartram in the same year.29 When he served as ambassador to France, Franklin, who had been a member of the French Academy of Science since 1772, sent soybean seeds back to the United States and urged that “they be given a trial.”30
GEORGE WASHINGTON AND CHINESE FLOWERS
From the onset of the introduction of Chinese plants to Americans, ornamental plants such as the gardenia, the camellia, and the Cherokee rose were brought from China and grew well in the Southern states. A few handsome trees were also introduced, such as the ginkgo and the camphor.31
George Washington showed great enthusiasm in the agricultural development of the United States. Born and raised in the country, Washington had a special bond with the soil. In his annual message to Congress in 1796, he advocated “a federal appropriation to stimulate enterprise and experiment in agriculture.”32 Simultaneously, he tried to “draw to the national center the results of individual skill and observation, and to spread the collected information far and wide throughout the nation.”33
Led by his interest in farming, Washington turned his attention to agricultural developments in the wake of the victory of the American Revolution. In 1783, Washington returned to Mount Vernon “with every hope and intention of spending the rest of his days there.”34 He told his fellow Americans that the advancement of agriculture in the United States “by all proper means, will not I trust need recommendation.”35 Believing that “with reference either to individual, or National Welfare, Agriculture is of primary importance,”36 Washington had made agriculture his “favorite subject” by the late 1790s.37 At Mount Vernon, Washington indulged himself in agricultural experiments and “entirely devoted [himself] to the care of his farm.”38
One of Washington’s great preoccupations was finding the right crops for the soil, climate, and practical needs of his Mount Vernon estate.39 In December 1788, he informed Arthur Young, the most scientific farmer of his day and the editor of the Annuals of Agriculture, that “the more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better I am pleased with them; inasmuch that I can nowhere find so great satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits.”40
Experimentation was one of Washington’s chief delights as a farmer. He worked hard to transplant Chinese flowers to North America. Washington’s journal records suggest that he experimented with best practices such as the distance between rows, different rates of seeding, and drilling instead of broadcasting the seed. He was meticulous in detailing these processes, revealing the extent to which he valued this type of agricultural research.
Washington varied the distance between rows. He attempted different rates of seeding.41 He recorded his experiments in his diary, suggesting how much he valued this kind of transplanting research. He wrote of the procedure in detail by which he sowed the flowers as well as information on the kinds of flowers he sowed.
According to his diary, on Friday, July 8, 1785, Washington chose a good place next to the garden wall in his “well cultivated and neatly kept” botanical garden42 and sowed “one half the Chinese Seed given by Mr. Porter and Doctr. Craik. [James Craik, a physician at Mount Vernon].” Washington documented an incredibly detailed record of the procedures he used to plant the seeds. The following record from his diary shows that Washington sowed the flowers in three rows.
First Row
Between the 1st. & 2d. pegs 1 I Muc qua fa;
betwn. the 2d. & 3d. Do. 1 Pungton leea fa; 6 & 7 2 In che fa
3 & 4th I Ting litt fa 7 & 8 Cum hung fa. 4 Seeds
4 & 5 I Iso pung fa 8 & 9 2 Hung co fa
5 & 6 I Ci chou la fa 9 & 10 5 Be yack fa
10 & 11 7 Hou sun fa 18 & 19 Pain ba fa
11& 12 Sung sang fa yung 19 & 20 Cu si fa
12 & 13 Pu yung fa 20 & 21 Tu me fa
13 & 14 Mon Tan fa 21 & 22 All san fa
14 & 15 Cum Coak fa 22 & 23 Yong san con fa
15 & 16 Pung ke Cuun 23 & 24 Hou Con fa
16 & 17 Cin yet cou 24 & 25 Hoak sing fa
17 & 18 Se me fa 25 & 26 I sit Ye muy fa
Second Row
1st & 2nd Tits swe fa 10 & 11 Ling si qui
2 & 3 An lee pung fa 11 & 12 Yuck soy hung seen fa
3 & 4 Se lou fa 12 & 13 Yuck sou cou fa
4 & 5 Lung Ci fa 13 & 14 Sing si qui fa
5 & 6 Tiahung seen fa 14 & 15 Bea an Cou
6 & 7 Lam Coax fa 15 & 16 Brey hung fa
7 & 8 Iny hung fa 16 & 17 Si fu he Tons
8 & 9 Jien pien cou fa 17 & 18 No name
9 & 10 Pung qui fa
Third Row
1st & 2 Cum Seen fa
2 & 3 Top pu young
3 & 4 No name—like a 2d. bla. Bead.
4& 5 Ditto—like but large. than Cabbage seed
5 & 6 larger and redder than Clover Seed.43
Washington sowed the seeds of the Chinese flowers corresponding to the above pattern at his River Plantation on July 13. Ten days later, he observed that “a few Plants of the Pride of China (the Seed of which were Sowed on the 13th. of June) to be coming up.” He also discovered that the Jien pien cou fa and the other kinds of Chinese flower he sowed according to “Chinese sowing” had “been up several days.”44
After that, Washington departed home. Twenty days later, on August 13, when he returned to Mount Vernon, Washington noticed that two kinds of Chinese flowers, which had sprouted earlier, had vanished. He assumed that they might have been “destroyed either by the drought or insects.”45 Seeing some flowers were “eradicated” while others were broken near the ground, Washington was incredibly sad and disappointed. He was anxious about whether they could “recover.” Washington tried to figure out what had happened to the seeds. One explanation he entertained was that bugs might have eaten them, upon remembering that, at the time he left home, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to prey upon the leaves.”46
By April 6, 1786, Washington acknowledged that his experiment had failed. He did not see any flowers sowed with the seeds from China coming up, even though some of them had germinated the previous year. He could not understand why these seeds failed to grow in his garden. From his diary, we understand that he sought to fathom reasons responsible for their disappearance. He did not know “whether these plants are unfit for this climate, or whether covering and thereby hiding them entirely from the Sun the whole winter occasioned them to rot.”47
The year 1785 was not a good year for Washington to conduct experiments due to poor weather conditions. The rains were few and far between, resulting in drought conditions. The crops suffered, the wheat yield was poor, and chinch bugs attacked the corn to the degree that “hundreds of them & their young [were found] under the blades and at the lower joints of the Stock.”48
Due to the severe drought conditions that year, Washington’s experiment was not very positive. However, his efforts provide strong evidence of Washington’s attempts at transplanting Chinese flowers in North America. As Paul Leland Haworth (1876–1936), an American author, educator, explorer, and politician, pointed out, the record of Washington’s failures was “much greater than of successes.” It is the experience of “every scientific farmer of horticulture who ventures out of the beaten path.”49 Evidently, this experiment exposed George Washington’s endeavors to bring in Chinese flowers to the newly independent United States that he fought for (figure 3.1).
THOMAS JEFFERSON AND CHINESE FLOWERS
Jefferson considered the garden his “main business,” and naturalized with all his “might when the interruptions permit” various kinds of foreign plants in his gardens at Monticello. His gardens reflected his efforts to realize his horticultural dreams.50
Figure 3.1 George Washington’s Handwriting in His Diaries. George Washington Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. A letterpress edition of all the diaries and diary fragments that could be located was edited by Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig and published in six volumes as The Diaries of George Washington (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976–1979).
Thomas Jefferson’s project of transplanting flowers from China into his garden at Monticello was so crucial to American botanical history that it was called the “China Revolution.”51 Jefferson fell in love with designing gardens immediately after he inherited Monticello in 1757.52 Jefferson wanted to design and construct the gardens of Monticello from his own naturalistic point of view. He gathered a variety of seeds from around the world. His passion for gardening was widely known among his friends, who often sent him seeds and plants. As early as 1766, Jefferson started to document records on his naturalistic observations in his Garden Book.53
Unsurprisingly, Jefferson turned his eyes to China—the nation with a long history of botanical cultivation. He discerned Chinese flowers when he cultivated and designed his Monticello gardens.54 In the late 1700s, European old roses, such as the Albas, Damasks, and Gallicas, were still immensely popular in North America. One of the shortcomings of those flowers was that they had a short blooming season. The main beauty of the rose garden was confined only to spring and was called “the metaphor for evanescent beauty.”55
Jefferson first planted “China pinks” at Shadwell, his birthplace, in 1767. The flower was introduced from China and had been cultivated in Europe and America since the early eighteenth century. John Bartram planted Dianthus chinensis, China pink, in his garden.56 When Jefferson received seeds of Blackberry Lily from nurseryman Bernard McMahon (1775–1816), an Irish American horticulturist settled in Philadelphia, he sowed them in a Monticello flower garden and mentioned them as “Chinese Ixia” in 1807. Later, Jefferson planted them in an east front oval flowerbed at Monticello.57 In the twenty-first century, one can see it all over the grounds at Monticello. Traditional Chinese medical doctors used it as an ingredient in some Chinese medicine.58 Jefferson planted Althaea (rose of Sharon) seeds at Shadwell in April 1767 and set out plants at Monticello in March 1794 and also at Poplar Forest in December 1812.59
The introduction of China roses brought new fashion to North America. The practice of growing only European roses that were carried across the Atlantic Ocean and that bloomed in spring only changed forever. The roses from China resulted in an extended blooming season in North America. From the early nineteenth century on, all American nurserymen began a “hybridizing odyssey attempting to fuse the genes of the China’s with hardier species. The journey would take them from the first Hybrid Chinas, through Noisettes and Bourbons, to the Hybrid Perpetuals, and then the Hybrid Teas.”60
Jefferson made long-term plans to transplant and naturalize the Pride of China, the goldenrain tree. The goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata), originally from China, was introduced in Europe in 1747. Common names include goldenrain tree,61 and China tree.62 French Jesuit Pierre d’Incarville (1706–1751), a missionary to China, sent seeds back to France in the mid-eighteenth century. In 1786, Jefferson asked Antonio Giannini (a gardener and vigneron at Monticello from 1778 to 1782) to send him seeds of the China tree (Pride of China).63
In June 1809, Madame de Tess é (1741–1813), a French salon holder and letter writer, sent Jefferson some seeds of goldenrain trees.
I am enclosing a few seeds of a tree that seems to come from northern China. It was first called Paulinia aurea. I have kept this name though it has been given a new one lately. It grows very quickly, does not grow tall, its foliage is beautiful, its blossom pleasant. I persuaded myself that you were lacking it because I wanted you to be kind enough to single it out with interest as a token of the cult in which I venerate you.64
On October 5, 1809, Jefferson planted the enclosed seeds of the Paulinia aurea (Koelreuteria paniculata), or goldenrain tree. Two years later, in his letter to de Tess é, Jefferson happily told her that the seeds had successfully germinated.65 The tree is now “naturalized” on the grounds of Monticello. This is probably the first time it was grown in North America.66
Jefferson’s efforts to transplant the Pride of China were fully reflected in several of his correspondences from 1798 to 1817, including his letter to Thomas Mann Randolph (1768–1828), an American planter, soldier, and politician from Virginia, dated March 22, 1798,67 a letter from Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), considered the first professional American painter of still life, dated January 19, 1806,68 and his letter to Joel Yancey (1773–1838) a U.S. representative from Kentucky, dated March 6, 1817.69
With other plants that he transplanted from other parts of the world, Jefferson made his Monticello garden a Revolutionary American garden. His efforts still inspire Americans today to make the United States a great beautiful garden with flowers blooming all year round.
The founders’ determination in transplanting Chinese plants persisted for many years during the colonial and early republic eras. In the colonial era, the founders, such as Franklin, mainly emphasized transplanting various plants valued for their economic benefits. After independence was secured, the founders primarily focused on ornamental plants. By then most Chinese economic and agricultural plants had been naturalized and were booming in North America.
NOTES
1. Nelson Klose, America’s Crop Heritage: The History of Foreign Plant Introduction by the Federal Government (Ames: Iowa State College Press, 1950), 11.
2. Thomas H. Etzold, ed., Aspects of Sino-American Relations Since 1784 (New York and London: New Viewpoints, A Division of Franklin Watt, 1978), 5.
3. John Ellis, “Directions for Bringing over Seeds and Plants, From the East Indies and Other Distant Countries, in A State of Vegetation: Together with a Catalogue of Such Foreign Plants as Are Worthy of Being Encouraged in Our American Colonies, For the Purposes of Medicine, Agriculture, and Commerce (1784),” in Aphrodite’s Mousetrap: A Biography of Venus’s Flytrap with Facsimiles of an Original Pamphlet and the Manuscripts of John Ellis, ed. E. Charles Nelson (Aberystwyth, Wales: published by Boethius Press, in association with Bentham-Moxon Trust and the Linnean Society, 1990), 2.
4. Table 3.1 shows a list of Chinese plants that John Ellis recommended should be brought into North America. See Ellis, “Directions for Bringing over Seeds and Plants,” 22–33.
5. Ibid., 13.
6. “To George Washington from John Jay, March 1, 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-15-02-0232. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick, vol. 15, 1 January–30 April 1794 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2009), 302–3.
7. “To George Washington from John Coakley Lettsom, July 15, 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-18-02-0258. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Carol S. Ebel, vol. 18, April1–September 30, 1795 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2015), 347–48.
8. “Seed Order for James Madison, Sr., March 26, 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-13-02-0309. Original source: The Papers of James Madison, ed. Charles F. Hobson and Robert A. Rutland, vol. 13, January 20, 1790–March 31, 1791 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1981), 407–8.
9. “From Abigail Smith Adams to Abigail Amelia Adams Smith, April 17, 1808,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-1668.
10. “From Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, November 6, 1805,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-2587.
11. Ibid.
12. “Madame de Tess é to Thomas Jefferson, June 12, 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0221. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, ed. J. Jefferson Looney, vol. 1, March 4, 1809 to November 15, 1809 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), 271–74.
13. Ibid.
14. “George W. Erving to Thomas Jefferson, January 29, 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0264. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, ed. J. Jefferson Looney, vol. 3, 12 August 12, 1810 to June 17, 1811 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 342–43.
15. “Summary of Public Service, [after 2 September 1800],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-32-02-0080. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Barbara B. Oberg, vol. 32, June 1, 1800–February 16, 1801 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), 122–25.
16. Etzold, Aspects of Sino-American Relations since 1784, 5.
17. Ellis, “Directions for Bringing over Seeds and Plants,” 2.
18. Ibid., 13.
19. Benjamin Franklin, “A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America,” in The Autobiography and Other Writings of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Frank Donovan (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1963), 303.
20. The Tartarian rhubarb (Rheum officinale) was introduced to Europe from China through Russia and promoted in Great Britain by Franklin’s friend Sir Alexander Dick. It was highly prized for its medicinal uses. In 1774, the Society of Arts awarded its gold medal to Dick for his contribution. Robert Dossie, Memoirs of Agriculture and other Economical Arts (London, 1768–1782), ii, 258–91; iii, 208–25. See “From Benjamin Franklin to Joshua Babcock, December 10, 1761,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-09-02-0174. Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree, vol. 9, January 1, 1760, through December 31, 1761 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), 396–98.
21. Walter T. Swingle, “Our Agricultural Debt to Asia,” in The Asian Legacy and American Life, ed. Arthur E. Christy (New York: John Day Company, 1945), 87–88.
22. Benjamin Franklin, “To John Bartram, London, August 22, 1772,” in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 19, ed. William Willcox (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1975), 268.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Benjamin Franklin, “To Noble Wimberly Jones, London, October 7, 1772,” in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 19, ed. William Willcox (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1975), 324.
28. Ibid.
29. “From Benjamin Franklin to John Bartram, January 11, 1770,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-17-02-0010. Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. William B. Willcox, vol. 17, January 1 through December 31, 1770 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973), 22–23.
30. Swingle, “Our Agricultural Debt to Asia,” 88.
31. Ibid., 85.
32. Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard, The Rise of American Civilization, vol. II (New York: Macmillan, 1927), 282.
33. Ibid.
34. Ralph K. Andrist, The Founding Fathers: George Washington: A Biography in His Own Words (New York: Newsweek Book Division, 1972), 289.
35. George Washington, “First Annual Address to Congress, January 8, 1790,” in Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 30 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939), 493.
36. George Washington, “Eighth Annual Address to Congress, December 7, 1796,” in Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 35 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939), 315.
37. Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Vine and Fig Tree: Travels Through America 1797–1799, 1805 with some Further Account of Life in New Jersey, trans. and ed. with an introduction and notes by Metchie J. E. Budka (Elizabeth, NJ: Grassmann Publishing Company, Inc, 1965), 102.
38. Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville, New Travels in the United States of America, trans. Mara Sconceanu Vamos and Durand Echeverria; ed. Durand Echeverria (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1964). Reprint, 1972, 342–43.
39. Introduction to the Diary of George Washington, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/4gwintro.html.
40. Paul Leland Haworth, George Washington: Being an Account of His Life and Agricultural Activities (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1925), 2–3.
41. Introduction, Diary of George Washington.
42. Niemcewicz, Vine and Fig Tree, 97. His Botanical Garden is a plot of ground lying between the flower garden and the spinners’ house, where he made many experiments. According to Paul Leland Haworth, most of Washington’s experiments did not succeed. However, Washington’s experiment was “the experience of every scientific farmer of horicultures who ventures out of the beaten path.” See Haworth, George Washington, 106–7.
43. The above are the Chinese names that were accompanied by characters or hieroglyphics; a concise description of the seeds are annexed to their names on the paper that enrolls them. See John C. Fitzpatrick, The Diaries of George Washington, 1748–1799, vol. IV, 1789–1799 (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), 388–89.
44. Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington, 392–93.
45. Ibid., 404–5.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid., 37–38.
48. Haworth, George Washington, 104.
49. Ibid., 107.
50. Peter J. Hatch, “Jefferson’s Retirement Garden,” Twinleaf Journal Archives, 2009.
51. Douglas T. Seidel, The China (Rose) Revolution, https://www.monticello.org/house-gardens/center-for-historic-plants/twinleaf-journal-online/the-china-rose-revolution/.
52. “Attending to My Farm”—Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/a-day-in-the-life-of-Jefferson/attending-to-my-farm/.
53. Edwin Morris Betts and Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins, Thomas Jefferson’s Flower Garden at Monticello (Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1971), 1.
54. “Monticello—Virginia Museum of History & Culture,” www.vahistorical.org.
55. Seidel, The China (Rose) Revolution.
56. Bartram’s Garden—Core Collection Plant List, ed. American Society of Botanical Artists, http://www.asba-art.org/.
57. See https://www.monticello.org/house-gardens/in-bloom-at-monticello/blackberry-lily/.
58. A Leafy Indulgence, http://leafychronicles.blogspot.com/2014/08/thomas-jeffersons-chinese-ixia.html.
59. See https://www.plantanswers.com/articles/Althaea-Althea-Rose_of_Sharon.asp.
60. Peter J. Hatch, “Thomas Jefferson’s Legacy in Gardening and Food,” Twinleaf Journal Archives, 2010, https://www.monticello.org/house-gardens/center-for-historic-plants/twinleaf-journal-online/thomas-jefferson-s-legacy-in-gardening-and-food/.
61. Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
62. Encyclop æ dia Britannica Online, https://www.britannica.com/plant/china-tree.
63. “From Thomas Jefferson to Antonio Giannini, with a List of Seeds Wanted, February 5, 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-09-02-0218. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, vol. 9, November 1, 1785–June 22, 1786 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954), 252–55.
64. “Madame de Tess é to Thomas Jefferson, 12 June 1809.”
65. “Thomas Jefferson to Madame de Tess é, 27 March 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0375. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, ed. J. Jefferson Looney, vol. 3, 12 August 1810 to 17 June 1811 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 503–4.
66. “Madame de Tess é to Thomas Jefferson, 12 June 1809.”
67. “From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 22 March 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-0131. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Barbara B. Oberg, vol. 30, January 1, 1798–January 31, 1799 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 192–94.
68. “To Thomas Jefferson from Raphaelle Peale, 19 January 1806,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-3046.
69. “Thomas Jefferson to Joel Yancey, 6 March 1817,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-11-02-0132. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, ed. J. Jefferson Looney, vol. 11, January 19, to August 31, 1817 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), 178–79.