Bernard McMahon
Encyclopedia
Bernard McMahon or M'Mahon (Ireland ca 1775 — Philadelphia, 18 September 1816) was an Irish-American horticulturist settled in Philadelphia, who served as one of the stewards of the plant collections from the Lewis and Clark expedition
and was the author of The American Gardener's Calendar: Adapted to the Climates and Seasons of the United States (1806 and following years). He circulated the first extensive gardener's seed list in the United States, which he attached as an appendix to his Calendar.
McMahon's most enduring contribution was his Calendar, the most comprehensive gardening book published in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. It finished in its eleventh edition in 1857. It was modeled on a traditional English formula, of month-by-month instructions on planting, pruning, and soil preparation for the "Kitchen Garden, Fruit Garden, Orchard, Vineyard, Nursery, Pleasure Ground, Flower Garden, Green House, Hot house and Forcing Frames". In some particulars, McMahon followed his English models so closely that J. C. Loudon suggested in 1826 that the derivative character of the Calendar was such that "We cannot gather from the work any thing as to the extent of American practice in these particulars." Ann Leighton notes the absence of Indian corn among the "Seeds of Esculent Vegetables" in 1806, though he lists old-fashioned favorites like coriander
, corn-salad, orach, rampion, rocambole
and skirret.
McMahon emigrated in 1796. By 1800 he was in Philadelphia, working for William Duane and the newspaper the Aurora. He entered the nursery and seed buisness by 1802-1803, when he issued his broadsheet Catalogue of Garden Grass, Herb, Flower, Tree & Shrub-Seeds, Flower Roots, &c which comprised 720 species and varieties of seed. This was the first published seed list in the United States. In 1804 he published another catalogue, of thirty pages, mostly devoted to native American seeds.
Through the Calendar McMahon was Thomas Jefferson
's gardening mentor; a steady stream of correspondence passed between them. Jefferson selected him in 1806 as one of two nurserymen to receive and grow the seeds and roots collected by Lewis and Clark. In 1807, when it came time to find a draftsman to illustrate the published journals of Lewis and Clark, it was M'Mahon who recommended the German-born botanist Frederick Pursh, who found himself with the botanical materials when the natural history publication did not materialize, and took them with him to London, where he published 130 plants from the Lewis and Clark expedition in Flora Americae Septentrionalis, 1813.
Jefferson received from McMahon seeds for Monticello
.
In 1808 McMahon purchased twenty acres on the Germantown Road, in Penn Township, Philadelphia for a nursery and botanic garden that would enable him to expand his business. He named it “Upsal Botanic Garden” in commemoration of Linnaeus' connection with Uppsala University
. It was located at the north edge of the then urban part of the city. Part of the M’Mahon garden is currently occupied by Fotterall Square, a small park in Philadelphia.
In 1818 botanist Thomas Nuttall
complimented McMahon's role in bestowing the genus name Mahonia
on a group of West Coast broadleaf-evergreen shrubs still popular in American gardens. McMahon, growing the seedlings that were protected from commerce as Federal property, had the mortification to see published in British journals, and to see Mahonia nervosa itself introduced by Prince Nurseries, Flushing, Long Island
, at twenty dollars a plant.
At his death the nursery business was left to his wife,and their son, Thomas P. M'Mahon, who continued to revise and republish The American Gardener's Calendar.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
and was the author of The American Gardener's Calendar: Adapted to the Climates and Seasons of the United States (1806 and following years). He circulated the first extensive gardener's seed list in the United States, which he attached as an appendix to his Calendar.
McMahon's most enduring contribution was his Calendar, the most comprehensive gardening book published in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. It finished in its eleventh edition in 1857. It was modeled on a traditional English formula, of month-by-month instructions on planting, pruning, and soil preparation for the "Kitchen Garden, Fruit Garden, Orchard, Vineyard, Nursery, Pleasure Ground, Flower Garden, Green House, Hot house and Forcing Frames". In some particulars, McMahon followed his English models so closely that J. C. Loudon suggested in 1826 that the derivative character of the Calendar was such that "We cannot gather from the work any thing as to the extent of American practice in these particulars." Ann Leighton notes the absence of Indian corn among the "Seeds of Esculent Vegetables" in 1806, though he lists old-fashioned favorites like coriander
Coriander
Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...
, corn-salad, orach, rampion, rocambole
Rocambole
Rocambole may be* A name of two kinds of garlic, Allium scorodoprasum and Allium ascalonium, the latter of which is also called shallot...
and skirret.
McMahon emigrated in 1796. By 1800 he was in Philadelphia, working for William Duane and the newspaper the Aurora. He entered the nursery and seed buisness by 1802-1803, when he issued his broadsheet Catalogue of Garden Grass, Herb, Flower, Tree & Shrub-Seeds, Flower Roots, &c which comprised 720 species and varieties of seed. This was the first published seed list in the United States. In 1804 he published another catalogue, of thirty pages, mostly devoted to native American seeds.
Through the Calendar McMahon was Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's gardening mentor; a steady stream of correspondence passed between them. Jefferson selected him in 1806 as one of two nurserymen to receive and grow the seeds and roots collected by Lewis and Clark. In 1807, when it came time to find a draftsman to illustrate the published journals of Lewis and Clark, it was M'Mahon who recommended the German-born botanist Frederick Pursh, who found himself with the botanical materials when the natural history publication did not materialize, and took them with him to London, where he published 130 plants from the Lewis and Clark expedition in Flora Americae Septentrionalis, 1813.
Jefferson received from McMahon seeds for Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
.
In 1808 McMahon purchased twenty acres on the Germantown Road, in Penn Township, Philadelphia for a nursery and botanic garden that would enable him to expand his business. He named it “Upsal Botanic Garden” in commemoration of Linnaeus' connection with Uppsala University
Uppsala University
Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
. It was located at the north edge of the then urban part of the city. Part of the M’Mahon garden is currently occupied by Fotterall Square, a small park in Philadelphia.
In 1818 botanist Thomas Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall was an English botanist and zoologist, who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841....
complimented McMahon's role in bestowing the genus name Mahonia
Mahonia
Mahonia is a genus of about 70 species of evergreen shrubs in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North America and Central America. They are closely related to the genus Berberis. Botanists disagree on the acceptability of the genus name Mahonia...
on a group of West Coast broadleaf-evergreen shrubs still popular in American gardens. McMahon, growing the seedlings that were protected from commerce as Federal property, had the mortification to see published in British journals, and to see Mahonia nervosa itself introduced by Prince Nurseries, Flushing, Long Island
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
, at twenty dollars a plant.
At his death the nursery business was left to his wife,and their son, Thomas P. M'Mahon, who continued to revise and republish The American Gardener's Calendar.
Further reading
- Joseph Ewan. "Bernard M’Mahon (c. 1775–1816), pioneer Philadelphia nurseryman, and his American Gardener’s Calendar" Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 3 (1960:363–380).
- Joel Munsell. The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. (New York) 1858.