Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book: With Commentary and Relevant Extracts from Other Writings [Hardcover]

"I am going to Virginia," Jefferson wrote latein 1793. "I am then to be liberated from the hated occupations of politics, and toremain in the bosom of my family, my farm, and my books." Although Jefferson'sliberation from public life was to prove temporary, in 1794 he did enjoy an extendedinterlude from political service. He set himself to applying the results of alifetime of studying and eperimenting with agricultural theories on his own farms.The letters, notes, and drawings that Jefferson left to posterity record hiscontributions to scientificagriculture.

Theheart of these records is the Farm Book, a journal of plantation management thatJefferson maintained from 1774 until just before his death in 1826. The Farm Book, reproduced here in facsimile, is a wide-ranging depiction of the agricultural andindustrial activities on Jefferson's plantations, primarily Monticello and PoplarForest. In Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book, the late Edwin Morris Betts, professor ofbiology at the University of Virginia, embellishes this agricultural journal withilluminating commentary and relevant extracts selected from Jefferson'scorrespondence and other memorandum books. Organized topically, the annotations andextracts paint a uniquely complete portrait of plantation life andactivity.

Jefferson's records reveal anexperimental farm, implementing such innovations as horizontal plowing, acrop-rotation plan, and Jefferson's own revolutionary moldboard plow. In addition, the Farm Book is a window to slave life, containing Jefferson's notes regarding therations his overseer distributed, the daily tasks required by particular slaves, andthe number of yards he purchased for slaves' clothing. The book also portrays theindustries pursued by enslaved and free workmen, including th Mulberry Row nailery, joinery, blacksmith's shop, and spinning and weavinghouse.