Researched and written by Patrick A Malcolm, Ty Ty Nursery Author

Thomas Jefferson was the United States minister to France following the great American, Benjamin Franklin in 1785. While acting as the French minister to the United States, Jefferson surveyed crops of agriculture in France searching for fruit trees, nut trees, grape vines, berry plants, and many other potentially useful crops that might be commercially grown in the United States. Many of these seed plants and trees were exported to the American colonists and planters for experimental growing on United States farms and plantations. In exchange to the French, many native plants of the United States were exported to France and Europe for testing. Plants and trees such as red, and black raspberries, scuppernong grapevines, muscadine grape vines, pecan tree seed, Citrus seed, and plants such as mutated cultivars of orange, lime, grapefruit, kumquat, lemon, and tangerine, that centuries before had been introduced by the Spanish colonists into Florida from Europe and Africa. Grains such as corn and the famous American tobacco products were also favorite imports to Europe. The Indian Blood peach tree produced exceptional fruit, even from planted seed, and American grapevines, wild plum and cherry trees were used as root stock for grafting fruit trees and grapevines. Mulberry trees, pawpaw trees, and strawberry plants were also exciting new plant introductions into Europe. American native nut trees such as the American chestnut, Castanea dentata, and the Chinquapin nut, Castanea pumila, as well as many species of Hickory trees, Pecan trees (Carya illinoinenis), several species of walnut trees including Juglans nigra, and the American filbert, Corylus americana (Hazlenut) were all received for commercial agricultural testing in European countries.

Thomas Jefferson made a note on his plant interests to the State of Virginia in the year 1787 #VI, “A notice of the mines and other subterranean riches, its trees, plants, fruits, etc.” with his interests in “the orchards produce apples,pears, cherries, quinces, peaches, nectarines, apricots, almonds, and plums.” Thomas Jefferson was also a learned botanist who could intelligently discuss the fruit trees, berry plants, grapevines, and nut trees in the Latinzed, scientific language with the agricultural elite authorities of his time. In his writing to the state of Virginia, he wrote: “Scarlet strawberries, Fragaria Virginiana of Millar; Whortleberries, Vaccinium uliginosum; Wild gooseberies, Ribes grossularia; Cranberries, Vaccinium oxycoccus; Black raspberries, Rubus occidentalis; Blackberries, Rubus fruticosus; Dewberries, Rubus caesius; Cloud-berries, Rubus chamaemorus.”

About native wild and escaped plants, trees, and vines, Jefferson reported on wild fruits like Elderberry, Elder, Sambucus nigra; Pawpaw, Annona triloba” and the mulberry, proper for its food, grows kindly, pomegranates and figs. Wild cherry, Prunus Virginiana, Cherokee plumb, Punus sylvestris fructu majori, Wild plum, Prunus sylvestris fructu minori, Clayton, Wild crabapple, Pyrus coronaria; red mulberry, Morus rubra; Persimmon, Diospyros Virginiana.

Oak trees were valuable to the early colonists for use in building houses, furniture, tools and fuels, Jefferson listed these as: “Black Oak, Quercus nigra; White Oak, Quercus alba; Red oak, Quercus rubra; Willow Oak, Quercus phellos; Chestnut Oak, Quercus prinus; Black jack Oak, Quercus aquatica, Clayton, Query?; Ground Oak, Quercus pumila, Clayton; Live Oak, Quercus Virginiana, Millar;

Many flowering trees were planted in Thomas Jefferson's garden estate at Monticello, such as Dogwood trees, Grancy Greybeard, Redbud tree and Locust trees listed as: “Wild pimento, Laurus benzoin; Sassafras, Laurus sassafras; Locust, Robinia pseudo-acacia; Honey-locust, Gleiditsia la; Dogwood, Cornus florida; Fringe or snowdrop tree, Chionanthus virginica; Redbud, or Judas-tree, Cercis, canadensis.”

The importance of evergreens was obvious to Thomas Jefferson, and he listed them as: “Black or pitch-pine, Pinus taeda; White pine, Pinus strobus; Yellow pine, Pinus Virgincia; Spruce pine, Pinus foliis singularibus, Clayton; Hemlock spruce fir, Pinus Canadensis; Aborvitae , Thuya occidentalis; Juniper, Juniperus virginica (called cedar with us) Cypress Cupressus disticha; White cedar, Cupressus Thyoides.”

Jefferson reported that many cash agricultural crops of America were of native or mysterious origin that included: “Tobacco, Nicotiana; Maize, Zea Mays; Round potatoes, Solanum tuberosum; Pumpkins, (Squash) Cucurbita pepo; Cymlings, Cucurbita verrucosa; Squashes, Cucurbita melopepo”

Besides the production of crops from native plants, Jefferson wrote that American farms produced: “wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, broom corn, and Indian corn, rice, tobacco, hemp, flax, cotton and indigo.”

Long and the round potatoes, “turnips, carrots, parsneps, pumpkins, ground nuts.” Ground nuts were today's peanut, Arachis hypogaea.

By Pat Rick