1.06.2011

"Vegetables All the Year Round"





Europe and the Northern States of this Union possess numerous works on Farming and Gardening, of which many have been widely disseminated throughout the Southern States; their directions, however, are not intended for, nor adapted to such a climate as we possess, so that a work developing the principles, and pointing out the method of their application to the Farming and Gardening of the South, and particularly of our low country, has been for many years a great desideratum.

So begins the preface to the 1852 edition of "The Southern Farmer and Market Gardener." And shucks, those 19th-century folks could sure write a sentence. I mean look at that thing up there - it's one sentence! Check out the proper use of the semi-colon and, yeah, there's a bunch of arguable commas in there, but still: it works. And "desideratum"? That's some AP vocab right there. By the way: The Oxford English Dictionary says it means "Something for which a desire or longing is felt; something wanting and required or desired." Anyway, this book was something of a first of its kind: a how-to for farmers and planters living in the Southern low-country.

The illustration above folds out from just within the front cover to show the reader which vegetables should be planted and which “should be fit for use” during a given month. What an abundant land, to provide "Vegetables All the Year Round."

View the illustration on Flickr, read the full text online, or visit the Littlejohn Collection and view our two copies of the 1852 edition.

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