I have access to the Almanac of Thomas Affleck for 1860. Mr. Affleck is not a duck, but a horticulturist from Washington Co. Texas. He also ran a mail order planting business. During the war he took on ice making and beef shipments. He was an ardent Confederate. His almanac lists plantings and other activities for kitchen and plantation gardens for each month. His area of concern was Texas and Louisiana. In his almanac he also includes essays on various crops and livestock that may be of interest to north and south. In addition the monthly information is interesting as to the types of crops that were avaialable at the time.

With your indulgence I will summarize the monthly entries and perhaps include one of the livestock or other farming essays here. Since the majority of the country's population was rural and involved somehow in food production, this should provide a helpful background for the citizen impression.  

--Last edited by annette bethke on 2009-02-17 11:27:41 --

Annette,

This information is great for soldier impression's as well.  I've always had an interet in the heirloom gardening.

Yes, it is. I'll post this in the Camp Gossip section as well just in case some of the military don't venture into the citizen folder very often.

Although, by posting here exclusively you might entice them out of their tough-guy comfort zone, where they just might learn a thing or two.

As an avid gardener, I'm quite interested in 19th C. growing tips and techniques.

So let’s start off with what Mr. Affleck has to offer in his nursery. The front piece advertises “Descrïptive and price Catalogues of the Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Plants, Cultivated and for Sale at the Central Nurseries, Near Brenham, Washington County, Texas; and at the Southern Nurseries, Washington, Adams County, Miss. Will be forwarded on application.

“The packing season for Nursery Stock generally, begins here about the 1st of November. Roses, Evergreens generally, Strawberries, Verbenas etc., may be sent off sooner, and that advantageously to the purchasers.

Trees planted before the winter rains are over, will, as a general thing, do better than those planted later in the season…”

“Uncle Sam’s mail is not very trustworthy where cash remittances are concerned! When money is sent through the mail, the notes had best be cut in two, and mailed at different times, registering the letters.”

Here is a partial list of the stock for 1859-1860 season:
Apple trees 30-50 cents each
Pear, dwarfs and standards 50 cents to $1 each
Peach 30-50 cents each
Nectarine 50 cents each
Apricot $1 each
Almond 50 cents each
Fig 50 cents each
Cherry $1 each
Plum 75 cents each
Quince 50 cents each
Grape, American: several varieties. 50 cents each
Grape, European: several varieties including wine and raisin $1 each
Strawberry Peabody’s New Houtbois $3 per 100, additional varieties at $2 per 100 and 50 cents per dozen
Gooseberry 50 cents per doz
Currants 25 cents each
Pomegranate 50 cents each, $4 per dozen
Pecans 50 cents & $1 each
Blackberry $5 per dozen
Raspberry $3 per doz

Affleck's Southern Rural Almanac, and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860 pgs 11-14

To be continued, next edition evergreen trees and plants.  

--Last edited by annette bethke on 2009-02-17 20:16:39 --

Annette, do you have a good line on where you can pick up seeds or starters for heritage vegetables? I'd be interested in growing strains that are similar to those raised during the CW. I'm pretty sure they did not have Beefmaster tomatoes or Butter and Sugar corn.

Not right off hand, but I know where to find out. I'll get back with that shortly.

Here is a link to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, http://www.southernexposure.com/index.html. They are in Virginia. Also Vicki Betts is sending me some of her kitchen garden research that she has agreed to let me share. In addition available foods in western Louisiana about the first of April 1864. You also might want to check out the Association of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums http://www.alhfam.org/index.php. Hope this helps.

Thanks Annette. I'll look into 'em. There's a nursery out of Troy, NY that I'm trying to talk to about old-time plants too. I'll let you know how things progress.

Affleck's Nursery Stock

Ornamental Plants
Roses 75 cents each, $6 per dozen

Evergreen Trees and Plants
Magnolia Grandiflora (Little Gem Magnolia) $1-5 each
Magnolia Fuscata (Banana Shrub) $2 50 each
Holly $1-2 50
Holly, Llex vomitaria or Yopan $1-2
Arbor Vitae $5 per 100 or $30 per 1000
Junipers, different varieties 50 cents - $1
Cupressus ericoides (Cedar-of-Goa) $1
Laurier amandier, (wild peach) $6 per 100 to $1 each
Crataegus pyracantha (evergreen thorn) 50 cents each, $25 per 100, $7 50 per 1000
Photinias $1-2
Euonymus 30 cents to $1
English Laurel 50 cents - $1
Tree Box 50 cents - $2
Dwarf box price as to size
Myrtles 25 cents – $1
Scotch and Portuguese Broom 50 cents - $1
Privet 25 cents - $1
Mespilus (Japan Plum) $1-2 50 each
Cape Jessamine 50 cents - $1
Annasina $1
Pittosporum 50 cents - $1
Olea fragrans (Sweet Olive) $2 50
Laurus nobilis (Bay Laurel) $1
Carolina Laurel $1
Laurustinus 50 cents
Live Oaks $1 each or $30 per 100
Water Oaks 50 cents - $1
Cork Oaks $1
Turkey Oaks 50 cents
Spruce $1-5
Roman Cedar $1-4
Cupressus horizontalis (Italian Cypress) $1-4
Cupressus Tournefortii (Himalayan Cypress) $1-4
Irish Giant Ivy 50 cents each

Affleck's Southern Rural Almanac, and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860 pgs. 14-15

Affleck’s nursery inventory continued

Deciduous Trees
Paulownia Imperialis 50 cents
Silver-leaved Abele (New Chinese) 50 cents
Napoleon and Curled leaved Weeping Willow 50 cents each
Magnolia Macrophylla (Umbrella Tree) $1
Flowering Acacia 50 cents
Crape Myrtles 50 cents each
Maples 50 cents to $2
Catalpa 50 cents each
Lombardy Poplar 50 cents
Ceraussu Mahaleb (Perfumed Cherry) 50 cents
Deutzias, Spireas, buddleas 25-50 cents each
Sonwballs, Lilacs 50 cents each
Venetian Sunnach or Fringe Tree 50 cents - $1
Northern Weeping Elm 50 cents - $1 each
Laburnum or Yellow Pea Tree 50 cents
English Hawthorns 50 cents
Kentucky Coffee Tree 50 cents
Texas Wild China Tree 50 cents
Mountain Ash or Rowan Tree of Scotland $1
Varnish Tree 50 cents - $1
Wistaria consequana or Chinese Cornucopia 50 cents
Glycine frutescens (American Wisteria) 50 cents
Forsythia viridissima (Bronx Green Forsythia) 50 cents each
Paeonies $1 each
Amaryllis $1 each
Crinum amabile (Giant Spider Lily) $1 50 each
Tuberose $2 dozen
Double Blue Neapolitan Violets 25 cents each or $1 50 per dozen
Single Blue Violets 25 cents each or $1 50 per dozen
Phloxes $3 per dozen
Verbenas $3 per dozen
Asparagus (Grayson’s Purple Giant) $1 50 – $3.

Cuttings of Various Plants
Basket Willow $2 per 100 or $10 per 1000
Cherokee Rose per 1000, $5
Crataegus pyracantha $7 50 per 1000

Affleck's Almanac
January 1860 highlights
Cotton should have all been gathered and baled and sent to market.
Plant and sow Cauliflower, Cabbage and Lettuce, Peas, Radishes, Parsnips, Beets, Carrots, Turnips, Salsafy, Spinage [sic], Parsley, Sweet herbs, Early Corn, Irish Potatoes, Horse-radish, Artichokes, Onions
Ground for melons, cucumbers, okra, strawberry, raspberry, etc should be prepared.

New Orleans, etc.
Sow Peas, Lettuce, Radishes, Parsnips, Asparagus, beets, Carrots, Salsafy, Turnips, Sweet herbs
Plant Beans, early Corn, Okra, Irish Potatoes, Horseradish, Artichokes, Asparagus, Cauliflower, early Cabbage
Large white Brocoli shold now begin to head
Sow in hot-bed, seeds of Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Melons, and Cucumbers.

Affleck’s Southern Rural Almanac and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860, pages 20-23  

--Last edited by annette bethke on 2009-02-23 20:09:54 --

February 1860
Plant Irish Potatoes and also Spring Oats
Pick over sufficient Cotton Seed to plant a part of the crop
Plant Corn during the first favorable weather after the 10th or 20th
Sow two or three acres of good land in corn in drills, 2 1/2 to 3 feet apart--invaluable for green fodder. Break up the ground intended for Sweet Potatoes
Look carefully after the safety, cleanliness and warmth of ewes when lambing. If hogs are allowed to range in their pastures or lots, not a lamb will be saved. They should have a large open shed, upon a sheltered knoll--keeping the shed well littered--to which they can have free access during wet weather. Salt frequently. Give once a day about a half pint to each sheep of fresh, clean cotton seed. Hogs, too, require to be well looked after. They will yet find good picking in the woods, of a good mast year; and still better in a patch of pindars [?], artichokes or sweet potatoes, reserved for them.

Kitchen Garden
Plant a few Melons, Squashes or Cymblins [no idea what these are], Cucumbers, Snap-beans, Okra, etc.
Plant out all sorts of Aromatic and Pot-herbs; Carrots, Parsnips and Turnips
More Peas should be sown for succession....
Sow, also, early Corn, Radishes, Lettuce, early and summer Cabbage, and the main crops of Beets, Carrots, Parsnips, and Salsafy....The finer varieties of Brocoli will now be in perfection.
Affleck’s Southern Rural Almanac and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860, pages 32-35

[cit]Annette Bethke wrote : February 1860
Plant Irish Potatoes and also Spring Oats
Pick over sufficient Cotton Seed to plant a part of the crop
Plant Corn during the first favorable weather after the 10th or 20th[/quote]

Planting corn in February. Wow. We're not in Kansas anymore. The danger of frost must be gone. Or--dumb question--is there a danger of frost in any part of Louisiana? It's funny though that a lot of things like parsnips, radishes, etc. are only being planted a few weeks earlier than up here in Ohio.

Quote :

Hogs, too, require to be well looked after. They will yet find good picking in the woods, of a good mast year; and still better in a patch of pindars [?], artichokes or sweet potatoes, reserved for them.

The artichokes I guess would be Jerusalem artichokes, and not the above-the-ground kind?

Pindars would be peanuts.

Quote :

Squashes or Cymblins [no idea what these are]

Cymblins (with lots of spelling variations) are summer squash, generally the patty-pan kind.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net  

--Last edited by hanktrent on 2009-02-21 12:34:25 --

Hank,
don't have a clue regarding the crops other than what he writes; I haven't researched crops much. No, we're not in Kansas . Last frost in Texas is usually mid-February; this year was a little later.

Oh shoot, I just realized, that info is just Texas'.
Here's Louisiana or as he IDs it New Orleans etc. for February 1860

Plant early dwarf Beans, Corn and Peas,
Plant Squashes, Pumpkins, Cucumbers, Melon; although the last of the month is gnerally early enought for the main crop. So of the Lima or Butter and Seewee Beans
Sow Radishes, Spinage, Beets, Carrots, Parsnips and Salsafy
Make several plantings of Okra
Transplant Lettuces, Cabbages and Cauliflowers
Irish potatoes may yet be planted

I'll go back and add Louisiana to the earlier entries and will be sure to include in future.

Affleck's Almanac 1860
March

Push forward the preparations for planting cotton and finish planing coarn
From the 10th to the 20th plant cotton...put in, during this month, from a third to a half of the intended crop
Oats may still be sown, but are uncertain at this late season
Complete the bedding of Sweet potatoes
The teams will now require particular care and attention...We have found both mules and horses peculiarly liable to sickness during this and the preceding months, deaths not unfrequently occurring.

Kitchen garden
If any early Cabbage plants yet remain in the beds, sit them out the first favorable weather.
Okra must be got in by the middle of the month.
Cow Peas should now be planted
Toward the end of the month, plant Melons, Squashes, Cucumbers, Snap-beans, Lima or Butter, and Carolina or Seewee Beans, etxc.
Plant more early Corn
Tomatoes, Peppers, Egg-plants, etc may be set out in the open ground, providing means of protection in the event of severe weather
Sow Cabbage, Carrots, Beets, Parsnips, Salsafy, Tomatoes, Peppers, Radish, Lettuce, etc.

New Orleans, etc.
Plant Cucumbers, Melons, Tomatoes, Squash, Okra, Egg-plants, Corn, etc.
Plant Beans of all kinds
Spinage, Radish, Lettuce may yet be sown...
Drumhead Cabbage may yet be planted
Brocoli will be nearly, if not quite done heading.
Cauliflower should begin to head

Fruit Trees
...may still be planted
Prune Raspberries

Affleck’s Southern Rural Almanac and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860, pages 42-44

Affleck's Almanac 1860
April

All of the Corn being now planted,
fininsh Cotton-planting also, as quickly as the
weather will admit of....Soon as the Cotton is in, or even
before, commence upon the Corn,
Continue to set out Sweet Potato sprouts,
About the last of the month, sow Millet....A bushel of clean seed will sow four acres of good land.
Continue to sow Corn in drills,
Plant Pumpkins, Melons, Squash, Peas, etc.
If the spring is a mild one, shear Sheep. They should previously, however, be washed, at same time picking out what burrs may be in the wool....

Garden Calendar.
Plant Melons, Squash, Cucumbers. Set out Tomato, Pepper and Egg-plants. Plant Beans, the Lima, Seewee and other pole sorts, and also dwarfs.

He is still not saying much about the fruit trees, mainly what he has the nursery, which has already been posted.

New Orleans, etc.
Garden work very similar as above.


Affleck’s Southern Rural Almanac and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860, pages 54-56  

--Last edited by annette bethke on 2009-02-25 22:02:10 --

Affleck's Almanac 1860
May
Permit nothing to interfere with the early scraping of the Cotton
Oats, Rye, and other small grains, will
require to be cut during this month....
every acre of small-grain stubble should be broken up and planted with Peas or Sweet Potatoes...
Late Corn must be planted about the end of this month, or early in the next. When thought advisable to plant Peas among the Corn, let half-a-dozen be dropped between each hill at the second hoeing...
Bermuda-grass meadows should be cut over early in the month...

Garden Calendar
Continue to plant Melons, Squash, Cucumbers, Corn for roasting ears, Okra for succession.
Set out more Tomato and Pepper plants, sowing more seed for plants to be set out last of June and July; the Tomatoes set out in the spring cease to bear by the first of August...
Do not fail to secure large beds of Drumhead, Savoy, etc.
Cabbage and Brocoli plants, sowing during showery weather....
Continue to set out Sweet Potato sprouts or cuttings of vines...
A bed of Celery seed may be sown.

New Orleans, etc
The preceding hints...will apply here.
Sow cabbage
Sow Tomatoes for plants to set out in July
Plant more Melons, Squash, Cucumbers, Gherkins, snap and black pole Beans.

Affleck’s Southern Rural Almanac and Plantation and Garden Calendar for 1860, pages 64-65

Vicki Betts has sent me her gardening paper; I'll post information from it soon.  

--Last edited by annette bethke on 2009-03-14 09:25:30 --

Affleck's Almanac 1860
June

Spring-sown Oats and Millet willnow be cut. If stacked, let it be
done with much care, and upon a platform of rails raised from the
groud on blocks. Cotton will require constant work, this month. Corn must be laid by. PUmpkins if neglected last month, may yet be planted; the earlier the better. If the season is a  moderatley dry one, ordinary woodland pastures will now begin to fail; in which case, the great value of a few rods of drilled Corn, put in once a week during March, April and May, will show itself; as food for work-oxen, cows, and even mules, we have found it indispensable. Open pastures of Bermuda-grass are now in perfection, continuing so during the entire summer. Every preparation should be made for Cotton picking; sacks and baskets made, if not already done; scaffolds arranged; and every other arrangement made that may facilitate the great business of the fall; and which should all be completed before fodder-pulling begins.

[futher discussion of weevils and corns and the reccommended
construction of corn cribs; if you want this info let me know]

Showery weather is usually expected this moth; during which a good deal of sowing and transplanting may be done. Plant for succession, Melons, Okra and Corn. Tomato plants should be set out; or if none are ready, cut back the earliest bearing plants, manure and dig around them, and they will usually make a fresh growth and bear anew. Should the previous sowings of Cabbage seed have failed, sow more now. Plant out a few, both Early York, Drumhead and Green-glazed. Continue to plant cuttings of Sweet Potatoe vines; those planted this month, and especially of yams, will make the finest and best keeping potatoes. It will be well to gather a portion of what Irish Potatoes may yet be in the ground, and spread them on a floor of rails, raised from the ground, in a dry, cool, airy cellar....This is the best time to sow Celery seed, for the main crop, to be planted last of August. Everything which it may be desirable to keep ina growing state, will require polw, spade and hoe. Watering may be requisite.

New Orleans, etc,
Much of the above work may be done now. Sow Creole and Drumhead Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brocoli and Brussels-sprouts. Plant Beands, a few Beets, and Squash. Plant out Tomatoes, Peppers, Egg-plants, etc. Sow Celery.

An orchard of choice apples, would prove a pleasant and a profitable appendage to every plantation in the country. Land is cheap enough with us, and trees can now be had at rates sufficiently low....Even for stock, the apple is found more profitable than grain, acre for acre. The late fall and winter sorts require cool fruit-rooms to keep them in. Otherwise the high temperature at which they are kept causes them to decay too soon to be of very great value.

[In this month is also a listing of publications available through a Saxton, Barker and Co. Publishing. Let me know if you would like these]