all again, enjoying further of your questions. i take leave now in order to continue my communication. and i look forward when we meet more personally and visit here at monticello. i remain your humble and obedient servant, thomas jefferson. godspeed. announcer: up next, thomas jefferson, portrayed by bill barker, discusses his love of gardening from the west lawn of monticello. he talks about his planting methods, experiments, and the enslaved people who tended and maintained his gardens. he also recounts how he learned about new plants in his travels in europe and from lewis and clark's travels across the west, and how he introduced those plants to american society. ofs video is courtesy charlottesville, virginia.

thomas jefferson: well, good afternoon, my friends, my fellow citizens. what a pleasure to greet you once more here on our mountain here at monticello. and what a pleasure to be out of doors here amongst the wonders of nature, particularly that we can stand together underneath of myive oak, one favorite places to the fishpond, to welcome the balloon of the snowfall. there, the beautiful purple iris the pansies, and the digitalis, the foxglove about to bloom. so, what a pleasant occasion, and particularly to welcome our friend, mr. steve light, to be with us again, to welcome your questions forward. so, without any further comment, as i have a few moments before i continue my walk through the garden, and i think gardens is the most pleasant subject to attend to today, i ask for the

first question, mr. light, if you will. >> yes, thank you, president jefferson. we do have a number of questions for you today related to the theme of gardening. the first question is, have you always loved gardening? thomas jefferson: oh, you asked me if i have always loved gardening? well, i assure you that you cannot be born out here in the wilderness and the forest primeval without an early, early love of all of nature's wonders, the great abundance, and to realize to cut out what pleases us and plant accordingly. i served 40 years in public service, and yet i have often thought, if heaven had given me a position, to my great delight, it would have been upon a small spot of ground, well-watered, and near a good market for the produce. gardening is one of my greatest delights.

and the cultivation of the soil, i think the most noble vocation of man. your next question, mr. light. >> we have been told that you keep some pretty detailed records about your gardening adventures. thomas jefferson: so, you know about some of my jottings. yes, i do have a number of journals and diaries and a garden book, a farm book, and an account of rainfall. i was looking at some of them the other day, and i had realized i commenced these jottings when i was only 23 years of age. i was not yet living here on our little mountain. i was living at shadwell, about 2.5 miles to the northeast. and then in 1776, i first recorded at the end of march the bloom, if you will, of the purple hyacinth. and a short time later, the first few weeks of april, and near to my birthday, the bloom of the narcissus.

remember, that is what we used okun. and iinued to do so, continued to take the observations of the weather to provide for the temperature at least three times a day. i take the temperature first at the coolest time of day, that is just before sunrise. then i take the temperature at the meridian, at the sun's height during the day. and then usually at the warmest time of the day. now, of late, that has become arguable. some consider it 3:00, others consider 4:00. i asked them why and they tell me, well, it is because of daylight savings. i have no idea what they are referring to. but either 3:00 or 4:00 is the warmest time of the day. now, a few moments ago, i recorded the temperature at 54 degrees on the fahrenheit scale. early this morning before sunrise, it was 41.

so, i shall wait until later in the afternoon to see where the day will lead us. your next question, mr. light. >> we had a question from benjamin asking what your favorite plant was. thomas jefferson: my favorite plant. oh, well, you asked me, benjamin, something that i do not think i can give an immediate or ready answer. so much of nature's wonders are my favorite plants and flowers. i continue to enjoy the hollyhock. i enjoy that snowball bush that you see behind me. the digitalis i think is properly named one of my favorite flowers. the foxglove. i say properly named because it may be used medicinally to slow down rapid heartbeats. you know, benjamin, i wish i had known that during my younger years when i was first courting. your next question. >> we have a question from lynn

asking if there's anything you tried to grow at monticello book -- but could not because of the environment. thomas jefferson: you are asking me of my many failures in the garden. i say, yes, many. but know this. i always try to plant an overabundance, a great variety, a flowers and plants. the reason is because i know there will be a failure. but rest assured, we will always have successes. i am afraid i have failed, if you will, with the pear. i have failed with the plum, almonds, apricots, i have never been successful with olive tr ees. i speak of the foreign vines. that has remained a great failure. we need not pursue that any further. your next question.

stephen: well, actually, mr. president, we have people wondering. mr. jefferson: i need not pursue my attempts of cultivating wine. now, mr. light, if you ask me about my efforts, i can assure you this. i continued to cultivate wine. it has been the foreign wines that have been the failure. our native vines, they continue to flourish as they have from time immemorial, and i refer to them as muscat grapes. one of our former governors in williamsburg -- i spent five delightful years in france, when i met an italian nobleman, and i write it phonetical. there was an introduction from dr. benjamin franklin. he was accompanied by tenant. they referred to themselves as the one company to sell shares for the cultivation of cabernet and pinot noir. i went further. i invited a man to come and visit in the realms of albemarle, and as my daughter says, we started out before sunrise, that i might introduce him to the terrain, and by the time we returned near sunset, she said that the two of us had great smiles upon our face and a great sense of jocularity.

she was certain that a deal had been made, and it was. about 150 acres nearby, which he proceeded to name, which in italian means "small hill," rather quaint, monticello, small mountain, and that is where he began to cultivate the foreign winds, but, unfortunately, my fellow citizens, they never rooted properly. there appears to be something in the soil here that prohibits their routing, and that is a limit, because i think the composition of our soil, the climate, the altitude, the precipitation is just as good as anything you can find throughout the kingdoms of europe to cultivate this fine wine.

but, unfortunately, until one becomes a necessity in our nation, i doubt it will be successful. here in virginia, the efforts for productivity and cultivation -- the most cash crops, you know what they are, tobacco, tobacco, tobacco, in that order, so until we relieve ourselves from that, i doubt we will be successful in viniculture. stephen: what plants did lewis and clark bring back during their great expedition? mr. jefferson: oh, my. i gave instructions to them about the waterways into great missouri, not only to be attended with the many natives that we had not known of before, but also to -- the composition of the soil, the degree of climate, and the flora and fauna that they encountered. they encountered over 150 varieties, over 175 varieties of animal life, as well. i delighted in receiving the cornflower, which i sent to bernard mcmahon, a horticulturalist in germantown, pennsylvania, nearby the city of philadelphia.

he put it to sale. i also received wild salsify. i enjoy it from out west. i enjoy the sweet and scented cranberries that were sent and also, as well, a flower that, if you will, i sent out to a man who quickly referred to it as a name on behalf of my good friend and co-commander of that expedition, lieutenant william clark, so these are but a few of the many, many plants.

now, mind you, lewis and clark also sent me many, many dried plants that they had sewn into pages of books, and i immediately sent those plants and seeds to a professor of horticulture and botany at the university of pennsylvania. captain lewis had studied with him before he embarked on that expedition, and so it was that those plants became most useful for further study. i have always believed that botany is foremost among the sciences. your next question, mr. light?

stephen: well, mr. jefferson, it is quite clear you have extensive gardens here, and someone asks how many plants you have in the garden. mr. jefferson: how many plants do i have in the garden? i would reckon to say if you're speaking of flowers, upwards of 330 varieties. of vegetables, much near the same. the vegetables, i cultivate 1000 foot of garden divided into 24 sections in which i cultivate various vegetables, so to state them precisely, i daresay we would be here at the same spot through next week. next question. stephen: with such extensive flower and vegetable gardens, who maintains and creates the gardens here? mr. jefferson: you asked me who maintains all of this beauty that surrounds us. i know distinctly and properly. my people, the enslaved. all of what you see could not have been accomplished without their attentions, without their

aid, without their artistry. i may have come up with some ideas, and many of them, of course, came to mind when i was in france and went through england and visited gardens, but no, to be able to plant them and manifest them has been accomplished by such as gardner and john, veteran aides, such as george granger, the elder, and his son, george granger, the younger, and wormley hughes. and then there was part of my wife's property, and so it was the grangers had several family members who became artisans, and isaac granger became a tinsmith here. they were of great help for the longest time, a good 25 years in preparing our gardens at monticello, but lamentedly, george, his wife, ursula, and son george, all three passed away. the grandson of elizabeth hemings. wormley grew up to marry ursula

granger, a granddaughter of the grangers i just referred to, and it was the grangers and, as well, the hughes that provided not only my gardens here but the vegetable gardens below, and mr. hughes came up to washington city along with his wife ursula. she was a cook at the president's house, and it was there that they began their family. did you know that they had 13 children? and the very first of their children, a young boy, asnet, was born in the president's house during my first administration, the first child born in the president's house was a hughes, wormley granger and his wife ursula's child. i do not know what i would do without them. your next question.

stephen: we have a question asking if you brought seeds back. mr. jefferson: did i bring seeds

back from europe? i certainly did. i brought many seeds i thought would be useful here, especially of the seed kale. i became familiar with it along the shores of the ocean in great britain. it is the most tasty leaf and vegetable, likened unto the asparagus. i brought seeds back that i could send to mr. bernard mcmahon, and a horticulturalist in new york, and as well to be distributed to the agricultural society in south carolina. i think of one particular seed, and that is the rice. i became aware of the agricultural society in south carolina to pursue an upland rice.

they had heard about this as being a great product, and so during my five years as minister to france, i found an opportunity to venture into the italys. i went into the riviera, south of france. i traveled across and then took three days to travel and came down and traveled up to finally milan, and there i discovered the upland rice that was of interest to south carolina, the great product of milan. i also understood that contracts for purchase or further negotiations would be necessary before we could ever procure it. well, i was not the minister to milan. i was ambassador to france. and so i realized a necessity to satisfy south carolina that i would have to resort to walking

into the rice fields and grabbing handfuls of that upland rice and then sewing it up into my coattails, and so i left milan, went to genoa and south to france and finally sent that rice to south carolina. if i have been caught, the sentence would have been death by hanging. i apologize for sharing that story with you, but i will go to any end to satisfy our country. a new plant, i think it is the most important thing that people can do is to introduce a new plant. your next question, mr. light. stephen: we had a question about things you like to eat.

in fact, we had a question about whether or not it was all vegetables on your plate and other questions asking if you like tomatoes. would you care to comment? mr. jefferson: you ask me amongst all things in the gardens, what are my favorite vegetables, whether i am fond of tomatoes. i would like to say i am very much in favor of fruits and roots and leaves. the fruits, i do consider the tomatoes and the leaves, and yes, i enjoy the tomatoes to be prepared. that is actually a course that i serve at the table at monticello. i understand it is called a "salad course." when i grew up, we knew nothing of a salad course. it was in france that i learned of it. i have enjoyed ever since i returned, and yes, tomatoes are

used extensively. of the roots, i enjoy carrots and beets, and of the leaves, i enjoy lettuce and cabbages. in fact, i purchased most of my cabbages from the enslaved on my farms. they enjoy and cultivate it in their own gardens, and i procure it from them for a price. your next question. stephen: one last question, president jefferson. someone asks if you ever had contests about growing vegetables with your neighbors? mr. jefferson: you ask if i have contests amongst my neighbors as to who might grow vegetable before the other or to introduce one to another, and i can assure you this. it has become well-known in the

vicinity of charlottesville that one nearby and i have contests as to who may cultivate the first batch of peas. do you know that by the end of february, let alone during the first weeks of march, and whoever lets it be known throughout the community that they have the first batch of peas at the table, and everyone is welcome to come and enjoy those peas at that particular home, so he and i over several years enjoyed a meal. you know, this year, i was happy to see the very first peas rise up at the end of february. this has been the most magnificent spring, and i was about to let it know until my daughter informed me that george

said he had just witnessed the first patch of peas to sprout, and i thought for a moment and decided no, i will not make any statements publicly, because we can rest assured that having a very delicious meal at farmington. well, i thank you, mr. light, and i think all of you for this opportunity. lamentedly short that we could gather on our mountain. i will continue to walk and look forward to when all of you can accompany me and us all be together. i will tell you this, as i wrote to charles in philadelphia. i continue to grow an older man, but i know i will forever remain a young gardener. until the next time we meet, perhaps next time at this time, i remain your humble and obedient service, thomas jefferson. godspeed. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

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