Hog Meat and Hoecake: Food Supply in the Old South, 1840-1860

9. Rounding out the fare

g Rounding out the fare As elsewhere in the country, the garden and orchard were important segments of the southern food supply industry. Both small holders and planters had substantial acreages set aside to supply their fruit and vegetable needs; slaves often tended their own plots; and even urban dwellers cultivated small gardens that supplied "in-season" plants for table use. Throughout the South these plots, ranging in size from a few hundred square feet up to thirty or forty acres, produced cabbages, beans, peas, okra, turnips, potatoes , melons, peaches, scuppernongs, grapes, apples, and other vegetables and fruits for a host of hungry mouths, and though production statistics are lacking, the total quantity must have been enormous. The common generalization is that the yeoman farmers in the inland South were the better food producers, and it is likely that their gardens and orchards were similar to those of farmers elsewhere in the nation. But, the large slaveholder had special problems in providing for the needs of his labor force. Some planted huge acreage and many kept their plots quite well, but most found it difficult to keep a large slave force well supplied with a variety of fruits and vegetables. This section deals with the role of gardens and orchards in the food supply system of the South, and discusses some of the fruits and vegetables involved. The garden Southerners had a distinct advantage when it came to producing vegetables. With a growingseason approaching three hundred days for most of the area, it was possible for gardens to produce continuously from March to November.The early spring was a real advantage, and southern gardens were always well ahead of those farther north. In writing to her parents in New York, a young North Carolina bride marveled at the early season. 172 Rounding out the fare 173 In our garden wehave peas, radishes, beets, cabbages and corn up. Plum trees are out of blossom, the peach blossom giving place to fruit and leaves. Crab apple trees are in blossom and others soon will be.1 Furthermore, hardy vegetables such as cabbage and turnips commonly were grown during winter, while garden peas and white potatoes were planted for spring harvest. Early planting of other vegetables in February was common, but the major part of the garden was planted in March or early April. A second planting could be made in May or June, and diligent gardeners often planted a third. In fact, many producers maintained huge gardens consisting of continuous plantings of a number of items. Beans, radishes, turnips, butter beans, and sweet corn were planted every few weeks to ensure a good supplyof fresh produce. Others, such as okra and summer squash, were favorites that produced all summer long if tended properly and harvested regularly. A number of vegetables were grown in southern gardens. This was especially true of the more knowledgeableand ambitious planters and farmers who had elaborate gardens in which every conceivable vegetablewas represented. On one plantation the list of garden vegetables was so long it resembled a seed catalogue.2 There were, however, some crops which became regional favorites and they were the plants most widely grown. These included white and sweet potatoes, cowpeas (as opposed to "green" or "garden" or "English" peas), turnips, squash, several kinds of greens, green corn, beans, watermelon, canteloupe, okra, collards, cabbages, green peas, onions, and pumpkins. "Roastin' ears"were a staple though it is likely that much of the green corn consumed in the South came straight from the cornfield rather than as sweet corn from the garden. The tomato, a favorite of twentieth-century southerners, was used very little as a vegetable during antebellum times. It was regarded primarily as an ornament and was more often found among flowers than in the vegetable garden. The typical garden plot of a rural white family probably varied in size from a quarter acre up to one or two acres. In many cases, though, its size was quite misleading since most southerners planted a number of garden plants as field crops.3 The garden plot itself contained beans, green peas, squash, collards, okra, cabbage, and a few other vegetables, but many plants were used in such quantities that they could be called field crops. This was especially true where a large labor force was involved. Obviously, 174 HOG MEAT AND HOECAKE fifty to one hundred slaves required acres and acres of vegetable...