The Life and Travels of John Bartram: From Lake Ontario to the River St. John Book

I am SO glad to BE done. I am also glad I read it. Had no idea. He was definitely a smart self made man with loads of curiosity.

Two (ok maybe 10) things stood out. His lack of higher education made others snobbish about their education and doubtful of his skills. But to be able to converse, document, observe with such appetite for each makes 'self made' a powerful presence; greater character to overcome disadvantages and still hob nob with the highest. Why is it that smart well educated people often trip up about this sort of character observation. Are we SO stupid about pecking order that our powers of logic collapse? Best to focus on what's worthwhile now; i.e. great brain, willing to work, need useful tasks.

Second, he wrote what he saw, as a scientist would but when it came to publishing 'his journal' others cut/paste to suit their motives; IE buying Florida and Georgia was a very good idea, good 'futures'. I had to throw the book down when I read how extensively his words were cherry picked to fit Great Britain's real estate sales pitches.

8-10 other standouts were ecological; Soils, agriculture that works/fails. The first one (for me, everyone else will be different) was he made a farm pond, then tossed manure in it, and used the 'tea' as fertilized irrigation throughout the summer. I had never thought about 'polluting' a pond on purpose. He got better acre yields. This was Pennsylvania in the 1740s. Or the soils of southern coastal states. Looked good but clear the trees off, get in two crop cycles, soil (humus) blows away, down to sand. Or that rice wears out the soil. Or that when a swamp is dry, burn it and what will grow back is a coarse savannah grass. Ha, human interactions change things. Imagine that.


I would like to see his homestead gardens someday.