Orchard

History

The definitions of orchard found in both English and American garden treatises describe an enclosed space devoted to the growth of fruit trees. Noah Webster, in his 1828 definition of the term, differentiated between British usage—as a department of the garden appropriated to fruit trees (chiefly apple)—and American usage—as any piece of land set with only apple trees. Webster’s focus on one species reflected the popularity of this fruit in early nineteenth-century America.

Some British treatises distinguished between a fruit garden and an orchard. For example, according to Jean de La Quintinie (translated by John Evelyn in 1693), fruit gardens (like kitchen gardens) were generally walled and thus could sustain espaliered fruit trees. In contrast, orchards typically were enclosed with natural barriers, such as hedges and ditches, and were planted with standard fruit trees. Thomas Jefferson, for example, indicated the use of thorn hedges surrounding his orchard [Fig. 1]. In American garden literature, the term “fruit garden” occurs in a few instances, as when George Washington referred to the space behind his stables laid out with closely set fruit trees. The term also appeared in Thomas Green Fessenden’s New American Gardener (1833), but this may have been due more to the practice of emulation in treatise writing than to the circulation of the term in America. (Fessenden, in fact, borrowed heavily from his British predecessors.) More common to American culture was the term “orchard,” which appeared very early in accounts of the American designed landscape.

Although the American orchard was not considered a subgroup of a larger garden complex to the same degree as it was in the British flower garden, it was nevertheless recognized as part of the broader designed landscape associated with a residence or plantation. Like many other features of the American design landscape, such as canal, meadow, or wood, the orchard was both utilitarian and aesthetic. It united, in the words of Loudon, “[t]he agreeable with the useful” (1826). The primary function of orchards was growing fruit, and apples and peaches seem to have been the fruit of choice for many colonial and federalist landowners in New England and in the mid-Atlantic states. he orchard ground, as a cultivated area of land, also could be used for growing grass or hay under the trees. This practice was somewhat controversial, as indicated by the lengthy commentary on the subject by treatise writers. John Abercrombie (1817) suggested trimming the lower branches of trees to prevent damage by cattle.

Like the planting of grasses in orchards, the arrangement of trees was disputed by treatise writers. John Smith’s 1629 account mentions the arrangement of fruit trees into rows, a practice recommended by numerous treatise writers. Another possibility, found in several treatises, was to arrange trees in a quincunx formation, where trees would be planted in a manner resembling the plan of a five-face on a die [Fig. 2]. Debate also focused on the spaces between trees that were aligned in rows and also on the distance between rows.

Images reveal much information about the arrangement of trees in American orchards. Orchards typically were represented as square or rectangular plots placed adjacent to or situated near houses, and they often were bounded by fences, ditches, or hedges [Fig. 3]. Most plots contained regularly arranged trees, as in Clarissa Deming’s orchard plan, after 1798 [Fig. 4]. The frequency, however, with which regularized arrangements of trees appear in images suggests that many images may have been governed by a visual convention dictating that orchards be represented with straight rows of trees. This convention is apparent in a 1757 view of Bethlehem, Pa. [Fig. 5]. Nonetheless, a few plans imply that orchard trees could be arranged in patterns other than linear rows. A 1778 sketch by Thomas Jefferson of the orchard at Monticello depicts a pinwheel-like arrangement of fruit trees that included apple, peach, quince, pear, apricot, and plum [Fig. 6].

With the development of the so-called “natural” style in America in the early nineteenth century, orchards became more varied in character. The 1847 plan of Point Breeze in Bordentown, N.J., represents the orchard as an irregularly shaped piece of land located at a distance from the mansion and sited within woodlands [Fig. 7]. In Downing’s 1849 plan for a “picturesque orchard,” he broke with the convention of rigidly arranging trees in straight lines and presented them loosely clumped in groups “for the sake of effect.”

In travelers’ accounts of America, the term “orchard” figures prominently in descriptions of the settled countryside. In these texts, as well as in treatises and descriptions of specific estates, orchards were imbued with both utilitarian and aesthetic values. (The practical associations of husbandry with orchards distinguished them from groves, which except for citrus groves, were generally discussed in only aesthetic terms; see Grove.) Orchards signaled planning for the needs of the future, since trees took many years to mature. William Penn, in his 1685 advertisement for potential colonialists, characterized an orchard as a property improvement and investment. Orchards also exemplified the careful grooming of the countryside by American settlers, who transformed uncultivated woods and fields into ordered plantations of fruit trees. Timothy Dwight, in particular, offered a myriad of orchard descriptions in order to conjure up his early nineteenth-century vision of America as a highly cultivated, prosperous nation. That very prosperity, however, eventually seemed to threaten the existence of orchards. According to Edward Sayers (1835), the expansion of America’s transportation network of railroads, canals, and roads promised to eradicate orchards as trees were cut down and not replaced. Yet sixteen years later, Downing claimed that railroads and steamboats had, in fact, brought about a boom in orchards as farmers could then easily transport their produce by rail and thus capitalize upon such markets.

-- Anne L. Helmreich

Texts

Usage

Smith, John, 1629, describing the Charles River in Massachusetts (quoted in Miller and Johnson 1963: 2:399)

“in the maine you may shape your Orchards, Vineyards, Pastures, Gardens, Walkes, Parkes, and Corne fields out of the whole peece as you please into such plots, one adjoyning to another, leaving every of them invironed with two, three, foure, or six, or so many rowes of well growne trees as you will, ready growne to your hands, to defend them from ill weather.”

Donck, Adriaen van der, 1655, describing New York, N.Y. (quoted in Hedrick 1988: 55)

“The Netherlands settlers, who are lovers of fruit, on observing that the climate was suitable to the production of fruit trees, have brought over and planted various kinds of apple and pear trees which thrive well. . . . The English have brought over the first quinces, and we have also brought over stocks and seeds which thrive well and produce large orchards.”

Anonymous, 1667, describing a proposed orchard in Somerset County, Md. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 247)

“[The planter stipulated in his will that his executors were] to make an orchard of 200 trees the one halfe winter fruite the other summer leaving sufficient fencing on it & aboute itt.”

Glover, Thomas, 1676, describing fruits on plantations in his Account of Virginia (quoted in Martin 1991: 18)

“few planters but that have fair and large orchards, some whereof have 1200 trees and upward bearing all sorts of English apples . . . of which they make great store of cider . . . likewise great peach-orchards, which bear such an infinite quantity of peaches.”

Penn, William, 12 October 1685, in a letter to Richard Blome, describing Pennsylvania (quoted in Blome 1687: 127–28)

“3. . . . Say I have five thousand Acres, I will settle ten Families upon them in way of Village . . . they shall continue seven years, or more, at half increase, being bound to leave the Houses in repair, and a Garden and Orchard,I paying for the Trees, and at least twenty Acres of Land within Fence, and improved to Corn and Grass. The charge will come to about sixty pounds English each Family; at the seven years end, the improvement will be worth, as things go now, one hundred and twenty pounds, besides the value of the encrease of the Stock.”

Thomas, Gabriel, 1698, describing Pennsylvania (quoted in Hedrick 1988: 77)

“There are many Fair and Great Brick Houses on the outside of the Town which the Gentry have built for their Countrey Houses . . . having a very fine and delightful Garden and Orchard adjoyning it, wherein is variety of Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers.”

Byrd, William, II, 3 January 1712 and 13 July 1720, describing Westover, seat of William Byrd II, on the James River, Va. (Wright and Tinling, eds., 1972: 428, 464)

“I walked into the orchard and ate so many plums that I could not sleep.”

“In the afternoon I set my razor and then went to prune the trees in the young orchard and then I took a walk about the plantation and my wife and Mrs. Dunn came to walk with me.”

Jones, Hugh, 1724, describing the Governor’s Palace, Williamsburg, Va. (quoted in Hedrick 1988: 110)

“a magnificent structure, built at publick Expense, finished and beautified with Gates, fine Gardens, Offices, Walks, a fine Canal, Orchards.”

Anonymous, 28 July 1733, describing a property for sale in Charleston, S.C. (South Carolina Gazette)

“A Plantation about two Miles above Goose- Creek Bridge . . . [having] an Orchard of very good Apple and Peach Trees.”

Ball, Joseph, February 1734, letter regarding property in Virginia (Library of Congress, Joseph Ball Letterbook)

“The young Peach orchard must be made up new all round, as Substantial, Close, Strong, and high, as I have made part of it already: and they must take up out of the old Peach orchard, what trees may be wanting to fill up that piece of Tobacco Ground in the young Peach orchard. And I would have all the rest of the Peach trees in the old orchard Cut down; and that Ground laid into the Little Pasture. This mowing of the trees must be in a proper time next Spring. . . .

“The Peach orchard must be how’d up, and after that Chopt over, once, or twice, to kill the Broom grass, else the Grass will kill the trees.”

Pinckney, Eliza Lucas, 1742, in a letter to Miss Bartlett, describing Wappoo Plantation, property of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, Charleston, S.C. (1972: 35)

“O! I had like to forget the last thing I have done a great while. I have planted a large figg orchard with design to dry and export them. I have reckoned my expence and the prophets to arise from these figgs, but was I to tell you how great an Estate I am to make this way, and how ’tis to be laid out you would think me far gone in romance.”

Anonymous, 1 February 1746, describing in property for sale near Charleston, S.C. (South Carolina Gazette)

“Whereas Thomas Wright intending to settle in Charles Town, there will be sold at his Plantation in the Parish of St. James’s Goosecreek....

“N. B. The said plantation [has] . . . An Orchard with several apple, Pear and Peach Trees under Fence, with a long Walk in the Middle.”

Anonymous, 17 August 1747, describing property for sale in Somerset County, N.J. (New York Gazette)

“TO BE SOLD, A pleasant Country Seat, fitting for a Gentleman or Store-keeper . . . a good Orchard, containing about 200 Apple Trees, and may be extended at Pleasure.”

Alexiowitz, Iwan, 1769, describing Bartram Botanic Garden and Nursery, vicinity of Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Darlington 1849: 50)

“He next showed me his orchard, formerly planted on a barren, sandy soil, but long since converted into one of the richest spots in that vicinage.”

Fithian, Philip Vickers, 3 April 1774, describing Nomini Hall, Westmoreland County, Va. (1943: 121)

“as I look from my Window & see Groves of Peach Trees on the Banks of Nomini; (for the orchards here are very Large) and other Fruit Trees in Blossom.”

Anburey, Thomas, 20 May 1778, describing Mystic, Conn., and Lancaster County, Pa. ([1789] 1969: 2:215–16, 285–86)

“The trees are now in full blossom, and as every house has an orchard adjoining, the country looks quite beautiful; upon enquiry of the inhabitants, I find most of the European fruits have degenerated in New England, except the apple, which it is said, if it has not improved, it has multiplied exceedingly.”

“Their [the Dumplers sect] little city [Euphrates] is built in the form of a triangle, and bordered with mulberry and apple-trees, very regularly planted. In the center of the town is a large orchard, and between the orchard and the ranges of trees that are planted round the borders, are their houses, which are built of wood, and three stories high.”

Stuart, John Ferdinand Smyth (J.F.D. Smyth), 1784, describing Williamsburg, Va. (quoted in Lockwood 1934: 2:53)

“These are called plantations and are generally from one to four or five miles distant from each other, having a dwelling house in the middle . . . at some little distance there are always large peach and apple orchards.”

Giannini, Antionio, 1786, describing Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (quoted in Nichols and Griswold 1978: 100)

“The apples in the orchard below the garden are producing abundantly. All the varieties of cherry trees are growing well. The ‘Magnum bonum plumbs’ are turning out marvelously and so are the green gages. The apricots are growing satisfactorily. . . . The almonds are still alive but are not improving. The peaches are all doing well. . . . Has grafted many trees of the kinds TJ requested; but no one had told him about grafting the royal white, yellow, and red peaches. This will be done at once. They have not yet finished planting the apples of the north orchards, but the ones planted are doing well and will have a full crop next autumn.”

Dwight, Timothy, 1798, describing Boston, Mass. (quoted in Lockwood 1931: 1:26–27)

“‘Boston enjoys a superiority to all other great towns on this continent. . . . The soil is generally fertile, the agriculture neat, and productive; the gardening superior to what is found in most other places; the orchards, groves, and forests, numerous and thrifty.’” Parkinson, Richard, 1798–1800, describing the vicinity of Baltimore, Md. (1805: 2:612–13)

“from my own experience, what is the general custom of the people in regard to the orchards and fruit planted in fields in America, as it is not at all unusual to plant fields with fruit to the extent of from four to twenty acres: —my orchard [at Orange Hill] contained about six acres, three of which were planted with apples, the other three with peaches of various sorts . . . it being at some distance from the house, (which is the usual manner of planting them the first year).”

Dwight, Timothy, 1799, describing South Hadley, Mass. (1822: 3:262)

“Major White, a respectable inhabitant of South-Hadley, had an orchard, which stood on the North-Western declivity of a hill, of so rapid a descent, that every tree was entirely brushed by the winds from that quarter. The spot lay about four miles direcly South-Eastward from the gap between Mount Tom, and Mount Holyoke. Through this gap these winds blow, as you will suppose, with peculiar strength. Accordingly they swept the dew from this orchard so effectually, that its blossoms regularly escaped the injuries of such late frosts in the spring, as destroy those of the surrounding country. So remarkable was the exemption, that the inhabitants of South-Hadley proverbially styled such a frost Major White’s harvest; because his orchard yielded a great quantity of cider, which in such years commanded a very high price.”

Ogden, John Cosens, 1800, describing the garden of the recitation room and Inspector’s study, Nazareth, Pa. (p. 46)

“The Pedagogium and town are seen from this place. In the rear is an orchard defended by a grove.”

Anonymous, 18 April 1800, describing Willow Brook, seat of John Donnell, Baltimore, Md. (Federal Gazette)

“That beautiful, healthy and highly improved seat, within one mile of the city of Baltimore, called Willow Brook, containing about 26 acres of land, the whole of which is under a good post and rail fence, divided and laid off into grass lots, orchards, garden, &c. . . . The garden and orchard abounds with the greatest variety of the choicest fruit trees, shrubs, flowers, &c collected from the best nurseries in America and from Europe, all in perfection and full bearing.”

Michaux, François André, 1802, describing an orchard in St. Anastasia, Fla. (1805: 349)

“It is fifty years since the seeds of this species [sweet orange] were brought from India, and given to an inhabitant of this island [Sant Anastasia], who has increased them so much as to have made an orchard of them of forty acres. I had an opportunity of seeing this fine plantation when I was in Florida, in 1788.”

Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 2 January 1802,

describing Mount Vernon, plantation of George Washington, Fairfax County, Va. (1987: 2:57)

“On the right [of the house] is an orchard, consisting principally of large cherry and peach trees. At the bottom of this orchard, and nearly opposite the eastern end of the house, is the venerable tomb, which contains the remains of the great Washington.”

Jefferson, Thomas, c. 1804, describing improvements for Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (quoted in Martin 1991: 157)

“all the farm grounds of Monticello had better be turned into orchard grounds of cyder [sic] apple & peach trees, & orchard grass cultivated under them.”

Anonymous, 9 August 1805, describing in The Virginia Herald a property for sale in Stafford County, Va. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

“FOR LEASE, A Lot of Land. . . . Also, on the above lot there is . . . a considerable Orchard of young Apple trees of choice fruit, now in a bearing state.”

Flint, Timothy, 1816, describing his journey from Frankfort to Louisville, Ky. (quoted in Jones 1957: 10)

“Travelling through the village in this fertile region, where the roads are perfectly good, and where every elevation brings you in view of a noble farm-house, in the midst of its orchards, and sheltered by its fine groves of forest and sugar-maple trees, you would scarcely realize that the first settlers of the country, and they men of mature age when they settled it, were, some of them, still living.”

Cobbett, William, 1819, describing Long Island,

N.Y. (Cobbett 1819b: 12) “The Orchards constitute a feature of great beauty. Every farm has its orchard, and, in general, of cherries as well as of apples and pears.”

S., J. W., September 1829, describing André Parmentier’s horticultural and botanical garden, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Gardeners’ Magazine 8: 72)

“In short, this establishment is well worthy of notice as one of the few examples in the neighbourhood of New York, of the art of laying out a garden so as to combine the principles of landscape- gardening with the conveniences of the nursery or orchard.”

Anonymous, 15 October 1830, “Trespassers in Orchards” (New England Farmer 9: 101)

“The following is an abstract of the Statute 1818, Cap. 3d. for the prevention of trespasses in Orchards, and Gardens, &c.

“Sec. 1. If any person enter upon any grassland, orchard, or garden, without permission, with intent to cut, destroy, take, or carry away, any grass, hay fruit, or vegetables, with intent to injure

or defraud the owner: such person shall, on conviction, before a justice of the peace, forfeit and pay, for every such offence, a sum not less than two, nor more than ten dollars; and be also liable in damages to the party injured.”

Dearborn, H.A.S., 1832, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Harris 1832: 65)

“On the southeastern and northeastern borders of the tract can be arranged the nurseries, and portions selected for the culture of fruit-trees and esculent vegetables, on an extensive scale; there may be arranged the Arboretum, the Orchard, the Culinarium, Floral departments, Melon grounds, and Strawberry beds, and Green houses.”

Bryant, William Cullen, 26 February 1834, in a letter to his brother, John Howard Bryant, describing Putnam County, Ill. (1975: 394)

“You talk in your letter to my wife of planting an orchard and eating the fruit of it if you live to be old. Why do you not graft your crab apple trees with scions produced from the older settlements of your state? You would then have apples in a very few years. Did you ever think of this?”

Martineau, Harriet, 1835, describing Northhampton, Mass. (1838: 2:83)

“The stage was stopped by a gentleman who asked for me. It was Mr. Bancroft, the historian, then a resident of Northhampton. He cordially welcomed us as his guests, and ordered the stage up the hill to his house; such a house! It stood on a lofty terrace, and its balcony overlooked first the garden, then the orchard stretching down the slope, then the delicious village, and the river with its meadows, while opposite rose Mount Holyoke.”

Bryant, William Cullen, 24 April 1843,

describing St. Anastasia, Fla., in A Tour in the Old South (quoted in Clarke 1993: 2:161)

“In another part of the same island, which we visited afterward, is a dwelling-house situated amid orange-groves. Closely planted rows of the sour orange, the native tree of the country, intersect and shelter orchards of the sweet orange, the lemon, and the lime.”

B., P., January 1844, “Progress of Horticulture in Rochester, N.Y.,” residence of John Robert Murray, Mount Morris, N.Y. (Magazine of Horticulture

10: 18) “The orchard contains between thirty and forty varieties of well selected pears, an equal number of peach of which over one hundred and fifty trees have borne the past season; among them are five seedlings, raised by J.R. Murray, Esq., senior, said to be superior fruit; ten varieties of plum, eight of cherry, five of apricot and five of nectarine; in all six or eight acres devoted to the culture of fruits.” O’Conner, Rachel, 1844, in a letter to William F. Weeks, describing Evergreen Plantation, estate of Rachel O’Connor, Bayou Sarah, La. (quoted in Turner 1993: 495)

“[24 February] I have my orchard planted with better than four hundred young fruit trees. I did not think I had so many friends. The people sent me trees from all quarters untill [sic] the ground was filled. It adds much to the beauty of the place. . . .

“[23 March] My new orchard is my idol. I am afraid I think too much of it, & that God will punish me for letting my heart cling to earthly treasures. I am not afraid to love the little black children. Christ suffered on the cross for us all.”

Hovey, C. M., December 1846, “Notes of a Visit to several Gardens in the Vicinity of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York,” describing the garden of H. N. Langworthy, near Rochester, N.Y. (Magazine of Horticulture 14: 529–30)

“One orchard planted with alternate rows of the Early York and Early Crawford, had this year just begun to bear, producing specimens of the latter, which quickly sold at five dollars per bushel; the Early York is a very early and profitable peach; the trees vigorous, healthy and abundant bearers: this is the Early York, figured in our Fruits of America, with serrate leaves. The ground is manured and ploughed the first year after the trees are planted; the next year, it is sown to clover, which is turned in as a green crop; this, with a light application of manure, is repeated every year. The trees are thus kept in a vigorous growing condition, and we saw no evidence of a yellow peach tree in the whole orchard.

“The apple orchards, with one or two exceptions, are cultivated in the same manner, that is, manure and a crop of clover every year: pursuing this system, the trees make an exceedingly vigorous growth, and when they begin to bear, are loaded with finest specimens of fruit.”

Downing, A. J., 1849, describing a suburban villa residence in Burlington, N.J. (pp. 117–18)

“The house, a, stands quite near the bank of the river, while one front commands fine water views, and the other looks into the lawn or pleasure grounds, b. On one side of the area is the kitchen garden, c, separated and concealed from the lawn by thick groups of evergreen and deciduous trees. At e, is a picturesque orchard, in which the fruit trees are planted in groups instead of straight lines, for the sake of effect.” [Fig. 8]

Eppes, Francis, c. 1850, describing Eppington, plantation of Francis Eppes, on the James River, Va. (quoted in Weaver 1969: 31)

“and to the right of the lawn, as you entered, was an extensive orchard of the finest fruit, with the stables between, at the corner and on the road. The mansion . . . was almost imbedded in a beautiful double row of the tall Lombardy poplar—the most admired of all trees in the palmy days of old Virginia—and this row reached to another double row or avenue which skirted one side of the lawn, dividing it from the orchard and stables.”

Committee on the Capitol Square, Richmond City Council, 26 July 1851, describing John Notman’s plans for the Capitol Square, Richmond, Va. (quoted in Greiff 1979: 162)

“The most beautiful feature of the contemplated alterations of the Square, however, will be found in the arrangement of the trees and shrubbery. Instead of planting these in parallel rows, like an ordinary orchard some attention will be paid to landscape gardening—groves, arbours, parterres, and fountains will combine to render the Square a place of delightful resort.”