American Gardener: or, A Treatise on the Situation, Soil, Fencing and Laying-Out of Gardens; On the Making and Managing of Hot-beds and Green-houses; ... Herbs, Fruits, and Flowers

Modern Library Gardening

by William Cobbett

British journalist William Cobbett's 1819 work is considered one of the first classics of American gardening literature, written specifically about his time farming on Long Island, New York. For modern day gardeners, Cobbett's 19th century ideas on self-reliance, family strength through agriculture, and gardening before chemicals and genetic modification are certainly timely - and organic!

Genres: Gardening, Nature, Nonfiction, History

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2003

About the author

William Cobbett (1763-1835) was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly. He was also against the Corn Laws, a tax on imported grain. Early in his career, he was a loyalist supporter of King and Country: but later he joined and successfully publicised the radical movement, which led to the Reform Bill of 1832, and to his winning the parliamentary seat of Oldham. Although he was not a Catholic, he became a fiery advocate of Catholic Emancipation in Britain. Through the seeming contradictions in Cobbett's life, two things stayed constant: an opposition to authority and a suspicion of novelty. He wrote many polemics, on subjects from political reform to religion, but is best known for his book from 1830, Rural Rides, which is still in print today.

Reviews

[Helen]

gardening for every decade

This is an OLD text, pertinent to Long Island, zone 5 but it is filled with many interesting facts, ideas, common sense, and indeed wisdom. He was obviously a gardener, even with all his other talents. I bought the book because of the foreward by Verlyn Klinkenborg - as I can never get enough of his writing - and this has a wonderful biography to start the read.

[Jay Wright]

Originally published in 1820, it has some very interesting views on gardening including a section on howto do a "hot bed." I had heard the expression but I had no idea what it was. Gardening actually has changed relatively little and yes it is still all about the soil. Not really a how to, it is just a look back.

[Mary]

Cobbett argues that gardens are created partly for the present, but mostly for future generations. His detailed descriptions of how to grow a wide range of plants are a gift to all those who followed him.