Biography/History:

The creator of this collection is unknown. However, two notes on the title page give the writer’s possible location as being in Mississippi and at a "latitude about 32°." The entries in the diary pages suggest that the author ran a large, diversified farm and engaged in experimental agriculture.

This collection consists of an 1819 farmers’ almanac published by Solomon W. Conrad of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that is interleaved with diary pages. The almanac includes monthly moon-phase charts and calendars for the federal supreme, circuit, and district courts and the New Jersey and Pennsylvania supreme, circuit, and county courts. Also included is information of interest to farmers, such as how to recover frost-damaged potatoes, cure poisoned sheep, and make rye coffee.

Dating from January to August of 1819, the diary contains detailed information about activities occurring on the writer’s farm. Of particular interest are the entries that indicate the farmer engaged in experimental agriculture. In these entries, the writer mentions allowing his cows to graze on Egyptian oats to increase milk and butter production.

1. Diary (Anonymous). 1819. 1 item.