HORTICULTURE, LITERATURE OF 



1521 



book of this kind, but the "Gardener's Calendar by 

 Mrs. Logan" appears in succeeding issues of the "Car- 

 olina and Georgia Almanac," comprising six pages. 

 The earliest date there available is in the Almanac for 



1798. It has been spoken of as a pamphlet, and it may 

 have been reprinted separately. The first almanac 

 printed in South Carolina was Tobler's for 1752. This 

 almanac contains a "Gardner's Kalender, done by a 

 Lady of this Province and esteemed a very good one." 

 Perhaps this work was by Mrs. Logan. There does not 

 appear to be any book by Mrs. Logan in the antiquarian 

 libraries or lists, although, following Allibone, Evans 

 apparently erroneously included it in Vol. IV of his 

 "American Biblography" as of the date of 1772. Mrs. 

 St. Julien Ravenel, in "Charleston, the Place and the 

 People" (1906), writes that "Mrs. Logan was the 

 daughter of the gallant Colonel Daniel. Her 'Garden- 

 ers' Chronicle,' written when over seventy, was in great 

 demand formerly, but seems to have utterly perished, 

 the most careful search failing to produce a copy." 



The almanacs were important mediums of informa- 

 tion in the early days, and it is probable that some of 

 the first instruction in horticulture was given in them. 

 In "Poor Will's Almanack" for 1787, printed in Phila- 

 delphia in 1786, there is a "Gardener's Kalender; or 

 useful memorandums of work necessary to be done, 

 monthly, in the gardens and orchards of the Middle 

 States," according to Evans. The "Southern States 

 Ephemeris" for 1788, printed in Charleston in 1787, con- 

 tains "a new and copious gardener's calendar" for the 

 southern states. In Isaac Brigg's "Georgia and South 

 Carolina Almanac" for 1800, printed in Augusta in 



1799, there is a calendar, according to Evans, by Robert 

 Squibb. The agricultural matter in the New England 

 almanacs is well known. 



In 1796, there was printed at Newburyport, Massa- 

 chusetts, by Blunt and March, for John Dabney, Salem, 

 "An Address to Farmers' ' on a number of interesting sub- 

 jects. It contains a part or chapter on the character of a 

 complete farmer; one on the profits of a nursery; another 

 on the advantages of an orchard. There are references 

 in the appendix to apples, barley, cabbages, carrots, 

 clover, and other subjects. The parts were "extracted 

 principally from a variety of authors." 



Apparently the earliest separate book on a horticul- 

 tural subject published in North America (if the Logan 

 is not counted), was Robert Squibb's "The Gar- 

 dener's Kalender for South Carolina and North Caro- 

 lina," published in Charleston in 1787, and again in 

 1809, 1827, and 1842 (Fig. 1864). The second work 

 appears to be an American edition of Marshall's "Intro- 

 duction to the Knowledge and Practice of Gardening," 

 Boston, 1799. The second indigenous horticultural book, 

 apparently, appeared in 1804, "The American Gar- 

 dener," by John Gardiner and David Hepburn (Fig. 

 1867). It was published at Washington. This book 

 had an extensive sale. It was revised by "a citizen of 

 Virginia," and republished in Georgetown, D.C., in 1818 

 (see Hepburn, p. 1579) . A third edition appeared in 1826. 



This book was followed in 1806 by Bernard M'Mahon's 

 excellent and voluminous "American Gardener's Calen- 

 dar," in Philadelphia. This work enjoyed much popu- 

 larity, and the eleventh edition appeared as late as 1857. 

 For fifty years it remained the best American work 

 on general gardening. M'Mahon, remembered in the 

 Mahonia barberries, was an important personage. He 

 was largely responsible for the introduction into cultiva- 

 tion of the plants collected by Lewis and Clark. These 

 early books were calendars, giving advice for the suc- 

 cessive months. They were made on the plan then 

 popular in England, a plan which has such noteworthy 

 precedent as the excellent "Kalendarium Hortense" of 

 John Evelyn, which first appeared in 1664, and went 

 to nine regular editions. Other early books of this type 

 wore "An old gardener's 'Practical American Gar- 

 dener,'" Baltimore, 1819 and 1822; Thorburn's "Gen- 



97 



tleman's and Gardener's Kalendar," New York, the 

 third edition of which appeared in 1821. 



As throwing some light on the processes of book- 

 making in those days, the following announcement 

 by Squibb in the "Charleston Evening Gazette," 

 July 4, 1786, will be interesting: 



To THE PUBLIC. 



From the frequent solicitations of a number of Gentlemen of 

 this and adjoining states, the subscriber has been induced to under- 

 take a work, entitled, "The South Carolina, Georgia, and North 

 Carolina Gardeners Calendar," which, from its general utility, he 

 flatters himself, will meet the approbation of the Public at large. 

 The English publications hitherto made use of to point out and 

 direct the best methods of Gardening by no means answer the 

 purpose, as they tend to mislead instead of instruct, and suit only 

 the European parts for which they were designed. This work is 

 deduced from practice and experience in this climate, wherein 

 the most certain and simple methods are clearly pointed out, so as 

 to render the art of Gardening easy and familiar to every capacity. 



The work will be comprised in an octavo volume of about 200 

 pages, which will contain ample directions for whatever is necessary 

 to be done in the Kitchen and Fruit Garden for every month in 

 the year. 



Terms of subscribing One Dollar; half on subscribing, the 

 remainder on the delivery of the book, which will be printed with 

 all possible dispatch. Robert Squibb Nursery and Seedsman. 



Subscriptions will be received at the subscriber's Garden, the 

 upper end of Tradd street, at the Printers of this Paper, at Bower 

 & Markland's Printing-office, Church street, and at the principal 

 Taverns. 



The first indigenous book written on the topical plan, 

 treating subject by subject, is apparently Coxe's fruit 

 book, 1817; the second appears to have been Cobbett'a 

 "American Gardener," published at New York in 1819, 



THE 



AMERICAN GARDENER, 



CONTAINING AMPLS DIRECTIONS FOR WORKING 



A KITCHEN GARDEN, 



EVERY MONTH IN THE YEAR J 



And copious inftruch'ona for the cultivation of 



FLOWER GARDENS, VINEYARDS, NURSE, 



RIES, HOP-YARDS, GREEN HOUSES, 



AND HOT HOUSES. 



BY JOHN GARDINER 8c DAVID HEPBURN, 

 Late Gardener to Gov. Mercer 8c Gen. Mafon. 



CIT* OF WASHINGTON 

 PRINTED BY SAMUEL H. SMITH, 



FOR VHB AVfJlQRS. 



1804. 



1867. Tide-page, exact size, of what is supposed to be the second 

 or third indigenous American horticultural book. 



