april 19, 1810 (thurs.)

What a mess. Last year, Mr. Jefferson prepaid for a copy of Philip Freneau's new book, Poems Written and Published During the American Revolutionary War. There was a mix-up, and Lydia Bailey, the printer, thought he'd ordered eleven copies. It's being worked out, but it shows that mail-order transactions can go awry even in the 19th century.

The other theme in the last couple of days has been food. They're running low on salad oil at Monticello -- "a necessity of life here." (They -- especially Mr. Jefferson -- do like salad around here.) So Mr. Jefferson has written to see if his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, can get some in Richmond. And he sent detailed instructions as to how to pack it so the bottles won't break.

Mr. Jefferson is very much interested in alternate crops and in trying a wide variety of foods. He's sent Henry Skipworth some millet seed, along with instructions on how to plant it and prepare it.-- "to be used at the table as homony, boiled or fried." He probably means as hominy grits, since the consistency is closer to that than to whole hominy. He says it takes two hours to cook. In the 21st century it usually takes about half an hour. Either the 19th century grain is a lot denser, or he likes it really mushy.