Fun With Fake Worms

 Astragalus hamosus...the jokester's "worm" to drop in your salad!

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The seeds are rectangular!

 

Hooker looks like a cool guy. He isn't really connected much with "worms" but his book had them illustrated and he is worth knowing.

The clincher that this is the plant called "Worms" is the last paragraph below :-)

Above: The Field and Garden Vegetables of America ... with Directions for Propagation, Culture and Use ... Illustrated , Fearing Burr

This is a plate from Hooker's botany book.

Links:

• A very nice book from 1837 by Hooker - Botanical Illustrations ... designed to explain the terms employed in a course of lectures on botany, etc.
• Books available for you to read (PDF) by Hooker
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hooker_(botanist)
• Hooker edited Curtis's Botanical Magazine
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis%27s_Botanical_Magazine
• A wonderful plant database to explore is this Portuguese site!

Robert Buist's Gardening Book Has the Longest Title I Have Ever Seen

Go to the bottom of the page for a very large image of Buist's nursery in 1840 and enjoy touring it!  I like the system for controlling the heat in the cold frames.

Advertisement depicting a bird's eye view looking northwest at Robert Buist's enclosed nursery and greenhouses on Twelfth Street, south of Lombard Street. Two long rows of hotbed frames extend west from Twelfth Street and run the length of Rodman Street behind a three-story building marked "140" (a preconsolidation address). Men and women stroll along the central walk that separates the two rows of hotbed frames inside the grounds, accessed from Twelfth Street by the entrance gate adorned with the proprietor's name "R. Buist". Outside of the nursery, several men and women converse on the sidewalk. One of the men holds a driving whip, and is presumably the driver of the stalled horse-drawn carriage in front of the entrance. Another driver stands in front of a team of horses pulling a covered cart, grasps the reins, and leads them along Rodman Street toward a man attempting to rein in a rearing horse. Also shows men, women, children, and dogs on the sidewalk. A few trees dot the empty landscape behind the nursery. Buist established his business in 1828, which was known as Robert Buist Company well into the Twentieth century.

ABOVE: philadelphiabuildingsproject.org

The 1839 book, by the respected Philadelphia nursery 

and seedsman Robert Buist, has the longest title I have seen!

 The American Flower Garden Directory: Containing Practical Directions for the Culture of Plants in the Flower Garden, Hot-house, Green-house, Rooms, Or Parlour Windows, for Every Month in the Year. With a Description of the Plants Most Desirable in Each, the Nature of the Soil, and Situation Best Adapted to Their Growth, the Proper Season for Transplanting, &c. Instructions for Erecting a Hot-house, Green-house, and Laying Out a Flower Garden. Also, Table of Soils Most Congenial to the Plants Contained in the Work. The Whole Adapted to Either Large Or Small Gardens, with Instructions for Preparing the Soil, Propagating, Planting, Pruning, Training, and Fruiting the Grape Vine. With Descriptions of the Best Sorts for Cultivating in the Open Air          Link

Not much to look at now with its faded embossed cloth binding which
may have been green originally.  Green is an extremely fugitive color .

In 1840, Loudon wrote in his London periodical, 

The Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement, the following review. 

This differs from most of the American works on gardening, in being an original composition from beginning to end. It is most judiciously adapted to the country in which it is published ; and the author is one of the best cultivators in the United States. There is no American work that we know of at all to be compared with it in point of usefulness. We owe the author an apology for not having sooner acknowledged the receipt of the copy he kindly sent us above a year ago.

I am beginning to wonder at the number of horticulturists that came from Scotland!!  Robert Buist was one of them arriving here in the United States in 1828 after having served his apprenticeship in Scotland.  Once here he first worked for David Landreth who was one of the earliest nurserymen in our history. 

This is Buist. from Gardener's Monthly and Horticulturist, vol.XXII, 1880

 In only two years, he went into business with a Mr. Hibbert as a florist in Philadelphia.  They were very successful.  One of their famous plant introductions was the poinsettia obtained through the Minister to Mexico,  Mr. Poinsett.  When Mr Hibbert died, Buist continued on his own, and was succeeded after his death in 1880 at age 75 by his son  of the same name.  His obituary, in 

Gardener's Monthly and Horticulturist,  goes into great and affectionate details of his life.  It is a good read! 

1851 Buist building in Philadelphia.

Buist made trips to Europe for new varieties of plants and seed which he brought back and raised in his nursery.  It was noted he was going in an issue of the  Philadelphia Florist and Horticultural Journal of early 1852, saying - We shall look anxiously for the return of Mr. Buist, with the plant novelties of Paris and London, he set out on his important journey on last Saturday, in the "Arctic" in good spirits—we hope we will be borne out in our statements, that Philadelphia is not behind the time in Horticulture...

 An entry later in the year in the same Journal asked, while Buist's trip was of interest to be sure, why was it important enough to be mentioned in the minutes of the society?    (A wee bit of rivalry perhaps?)

This title page is too cool to leave unshared :-)

The Gardener's Monthly in 1870, in a piece about bedding plants and how they were being improved, contained this...

These colorful catalog covers are the son's.  And I think this above building is his period as well.

Ad

More books by the first Robert Buist:

• The Family Kitchen Gardener: Containing Plain and Accurate Descriptions of All the Different Species and Varieties of Culinary Vegetables ... Also, Descriptions and Characters of the Most Select Fruits, Their Management, Propagation, Etc. Illustrated with Twenty-five Engravings 
• The Rose Manual: Containing Accurate Descriptions of All the Finest Varieties of Roses, Properly Classed in Their Respective Families, Their Character and Mode of Culture, with Directions for Their Propagation, and the Destruction of Insects 

Eccentricity; Hairy Vegetables; Gardenrollerphilia

This is, for me, the perfect catalog.  Full of heavy iron things, gears, and seeds, from 1853.  

Life is good.

I love old garden tools, strange geary things and eccentric catalogs.  This one has it all.  

The oddest thing is the following plate.  I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about!!  I skimmed the catalog and noticed no reference to it.  Plus I would have thought the label to be reversed.  And why are country vegies all puny and root hairy??  Are all the plump first rate vegetable sent to the city is it saying?  

(Note the lobed country tomato, and the globular city one.)

The Whitman Catalog is a joy to peruse.

Here is another unusual feature - blunt truth in advertising...see plate caption!

Their seed descriptions are a good read as well.  This is the first catalog I have seen that clues you in how to cook the vegetable.  

If you read any of my tomato posts you might be interested to note that in 1853 the tomato offerings are still very generic here, and the company felt the need to explain they are considered wholesome.

If you aren't yet convinced this is a wonderful read, here is the crowning argument for the catalog...a garden roller with fancy iron work :-) 

 I keep finding garden rollers to share.  It has become an unexpected recurring theme!

 (Why do I so like garden rollers?)

Whitman Catalog
Enjoy!

Rhubarb from Seed: Good, and Good For You

Watching the weather on the 5 o'clock news tonight, I was totally appalled to hear we may be getting 6 inches more snow.  I love snow, I really do, but my town is covered already to that lovely stage where everything is smooth...the weeds are buried, the bumps evened out.  The roads are reasonably clear, too...all is right with the world.  But now, more snow.  *sigh*   So, I am writing about my very favorite springtime event...the coming of the rhubarb.  I love rhubarb, my husband loves rhubarb!  When he was single, I hear (often), one year on his birthday he had seven rhubarb pies made for him by seven ladies.  Now he gets one. 

Rhubarb is usually started nowadays by buying a root division. Seeds are still available but they have the interesting, or annoying, property of being very variable.

When you sow them you will get a variety of plants which you can pick through for the sort you like.  The highly colored crimson stems may be present, but so are green ones.  They taste the same but the color is lovely...and traditionally the colored stems brought more money in the market.

It wasn't used greatly as a stewed treat or pie until into the 19th century. In 1810, "Mr. George Myatts of Deptford, England,... sent his two sons to market with five bunches of rhubarb stalks, of which they could sell only three". By the late 1800s it was accepted and a very good market garden product. 

It was pursued with great fervor as a purgative, however, for hundreds of years before then with a huge amount of effort and money spent on traveling to distant countries looking for the best rhubarb, the elusive "true" rhubarb that was being traded from Russia and China. 

Link: Pantologia. A new (cabinet) cyclopædia, by J.M. Good, O. Gregory, and N. Bosworth assisted by other gentlemen of eminence - 1819  This is a passionate history that conveys the importance placed upon rhubarb as a curative. A story of complexity and adventure; a search for the best laxative...perhaps not movie material but interesting.

Link: Early Canadian Gardening: An 1827 Nursery Catalogue, By Eileen Woodhead  This is a clear history you can follow :-)  A currently available retail book.

Below are some modern rhubarb seed dealers.  Following that are a few articles from the 1800s and some rhubarb ephemera.  Enjoy!

There are few varieties commonly offered anymore. 

Rhubarb

Rheum rhabarbarum

Rhubarb is a garden anchor common around old farm houses.  It is long lived and typically     grown by dividing the plant crowns.  Starting from seed is not difficult but you will need to     plant at least twenty seeds to cull out ones that do not exhibit the desired traits for the         variety.  For the average family, three plants will be enough.                                                

Rhubarb 'Glaskin's Perpetual'

Rheum x hybridumHardy Perennial
Started in heat in late winter Rhubarb 'Glaskins Perpetual' can be harvested lightly the following year. The large, juicy stems are excellent for tarts, pies, jam, and wine. As its name suggests, this reliable rhubarb can be harvested late in the season due to its low oxalic acid content. This easy to grow garden variety will produce some variation in the seedlings ranging from green to pink and even red stemmed plants. Height: 60cm (24"). Spread: 120cm (47").   1 packet (60 seeds)

Victoria Heirloom Rhubarb Seed

Perennial. OP Heirloom. Victoria has been around since 1837, and originated in England. It is reliable, productive, and long lived. It has a gourmet, winey/tart flavor that complements strawberries just perfectly. We can up dozens of jars of strawberry/rhubarb jam and syrup from our Victoria patch every year. It also freezes well, so you can have rhubarb cake in January! Rhubarb is easy to grow from seed. It does not require bottom heat. It prefers cool room temperature to germinate. The plants start small, however, and should not be harvested from until the second year. Folks seem to want their rhubarb red, although we have never noted a taste difference between red and green. Grown from seed the color is variable. If you want red, start extra seeds and select the reddest seedlings. Germinated at 80%.

Old Homestead

This variety has been grown on my family’s farm in Fisher Branch, Manitoba since my great grandparents first settled there. The greenish stems are good for pies and very hardy and long lived! Perennial. Zone 2   Package Qty: 25-50 seeds - Price: $3.00

Strawberry (Pre 1930)

An old extremely rare variety that I obtained from the noted food historian William Woys Weaver. It was part of his grandfather’s collection in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A very nice rhubarb with reddish stalks. In general, seed grown rhubarb is quite variable, but a good number of seedlings should have red stalks like the parent. Rhubarb is very easy to grow from seed and is usually ready to harvest lightly the following year. Perennial. Zone 2 "Not Available for 2014" Package Qty: 25-50 seeds Price: $3.00

VictoriaExcellent cooking quality in this early, abundant producer.

Victoria is well-adapted to most regions and is widely grown commercially. The large, tender, rosy-red stalks gradually turn to pink and then solid green towards the tip. Sweeter and milder than other varieties. Grows best in Zones 2-8. Avg. 31,300 seeds/lb. Packet: 100 seeds.

Now, here are the varieties from the 1865 - The Field and Garden Vegetables of America! 
We used to be more serious about our rhubarb!

 Rhubarb was a very useful and effective cathartic, as the period literature called it, and much valued.  Basically a good laxative, rhubarb is well tolerated by people, including children, so it was used in many concoctions.

Here are some recipes from A Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts, and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades, Including Medicine, Pharmacy, and Domestic Economy: Designed as a Comprehensive Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, and General Book of Reference for the Manufacturer, Tradesman, Amateur, and Heads of Families. 1856

Rhubarb is the earliest "fruit" and it was looked forward to by people craving fresh produce after a long winter.  I called it a fruit because in the United States it was classified as such, letting it be imported with less tariff than vegetables.

Me, I like it baked in the oven until "stewed" when I plop sweetened biscuit dough on top.  I use mostly stevia for the sweetener, but add some brown sugar to give the sweet taste some deeper "notes".  Orange zest added before stewing is really good!  And a pinch of real cinnamon, I think...my hands usually do it without me thinking...but that is it I believe.  Happy Spring!