John Adams: Farmer and Gardener - Arnoldia - Harvard University

10----o~ .. , .........., ,.~- ..,....The unfinished Signing of the Treaty of Paris, 1783, by BenjaminWest. The artist began with portraits (left to nght) of john jay, JohnAdams, Benjamin Franklm, Henry Laurens, and William TempleFranklin. However, the Bntish commissioners refused to pose.riences in the outdoors stayed with himthroughout his life. Early in his working lifehe wrote for the Boston Gazette and BostonEvening Post as "Humphrey Ploughjogger,"¡,extolling the virtues of the farming life and urgingthe cultivation of hemp, Cannabis sativa(marijuana), for the manufacture of cordage andcloth; high on the list of actions he wantedCongress to take in 1771 was promotmg hempfor use in making duck.’ He also referred tohemp’s mind-altering capability, writing, asPloughjogger: "Seems to me if grate Men dontleeve off writing Pollyticks, breaking Heads,boxing Ears, ringing Noses and kickingBreeches, we shall by and by want a world ofHemp more for our own consumshon."Z Hedescribed hemp’s culture in great detail,explaining how to propagate it, how to treat theseed, and how to harvest the mature plant.~As a farmer, Adams was naturally interestedin increasing the fertility of his land, and theoriesabout compost pepper his letters. (He sharedthis interest with George Washington, whorecorded his experiments with compost overmore than thirty years.) In 1771 hewrote a recipe for compost that woulddelight organic gardeners today. Ingredientsinclude "20 loads of sea weed, i.e.Eel Grass, and 20 Loads of Marsh Mud,and what dead ashes I can get from thePotash Works and what Dung I can getfrom Boston, and What Rock Weed fromNat. Belcher or else where." This mixture,combined with livestock waste,weeds, and kitchen scraps "in theCourse of a Year would make a greatQuantity of Choice manure. "’ In a letterto his wife Abigail during one of hismany absences over the years, he wrotethat he was leaving the farm’s managementto her good judgment and theadvice of those working for the family,but instructed her to "Manure in hills ifyou think best, but manure your barleyground and harrow it well."5IAs the Revolution wore on into thelate 1770s, Adams was appointed to avariety of consular posts in Europe.Taking a break from his duties in Londonin 1786, he took a walk, inspectingon the way a piece of land belonging toa "cow keeper." "These Plotts are plentifullymanured," he wrote in his diary. "There are onthe side of the Way, several heaps of Manure, anhundred Loads perhaps in each heap. I havecarefully examined them. This may be goodmanure, but is not equal to mine." In France hewent twice to see the gardens of the writerBoileau, which he estimated to be five or sixacres in size. "It is full of Flowers and of Rootsand Vegetables of all Kinds, and of Fruits.Grapes of several sorts and of excellent Quality.Pears, Peaches, etc. but every Thing suffers forwant of Manure. "6Separations were many and long in the lives ofAbigail and John Adams, and we’ve profitedfrom those separations in their diaries and letters.Nonetheless, John could not always findtime to write as often as he-and Abigailwouldhave liked, and she often complainedabout it. His answer to one such complaintbespoke his sense of priomties: "Suppose Ishould undertake to write the Description ofevery Castle and Garden I see as Richardson