With a Heart of Oak: John Quincy Adams, Scientific Farmer and Landscape Gardener

Abstract

This thesis explores the work of John Quincy Adams as a scientific farmer and gardener. The details of his study of botany and his accomplishments in horticulture and landscape gardening have been overlooked. I studied Adams's diaries and a select group of his letters to explore why he gardened and why he grew his own trees from seed. Here we learn what gardening meant to him. Adams promoted scientific research among American farmers to benefit agriculture. He sought to fulfill George Washington's plan for a national university and botanic garden in the federal city. As a member of numerous scientific societies, Adams contributed to the progress of horticulture and landscape gardening during the early national period in America. His efforts to unite scientific work among various states contributed to the emergence of an American science.