2010/12/01 by Fredrik Albritton Jonsson · 1 citation
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Economic Theory and Institutions #Political Economy and Marxism #Adam smith #Enlightenment #Natural (archaeology) #Order (exchange) #Scottish Enlightenment #Capitalism #Foundation (evidence) #Invisible hand #Natural philosophy #Environmental ethics #Sociology #Neoclassical economics #History #Epistemology #Philosophy #Political science #Law #Economics #Archaeology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/ahr.115.5.1342
openalex publication_date 2010/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The very first plant that the Finnish naturalist Pehr Kalm noticed as he set foot in America in 1748 was a tuft of native grass, a species of the genus Andropogon. The sight induced a flash of taxonomic vertigo. How could a single natural historian cope with a whole continent of new species? “Whenever I looked to the ground I found everywhere such plants as I had never seen before … I was seized with terror at the thought of ranging so many new and unknown parts of natural history.”1 While Kalm's moment of confusion perhaps was exaggerated for rhetorical effect, the episode captures the new centrality of natural knowledge in the world of eighteenth-century commerce. Between 1748 and 1751, Kalm surveyed the colonial environment from Philadelphia through New Jersey and then north up the Hudson Valley to Quebec. The naturalist had been sent on a mission of classification and bio-prospecting funded by the Swedish state and masterminded by his teacher Carolus Linnaeus. The taxonomic aim was to extend Linnaeus's new system of binomial classification to North America by collecting plants and gathering local knowledge. His other priority was to harness nature for the purpose of national improvement. Kalm was among a group of nineteen “apostles” [lärljungar] trained by Linnaeus to scour the globe for a harvest of useful plants that would help diversify and enrich the natural wealth of Sweden. But this was not simply some eccentric preoccupation of a small northern nation. When an English translation of Kalm's travel journal was published in 1770–1771, it contributed to a growing interest in Linnaean science among British elites. Other students of Linnaeus were recruited as expert travelers on James Cook's voyages of circumnavigation. After sailing with Cook in 1768–1771, Daniel Solander became the trusted collaborator of Sir Joseph Banks, the manager of the imperial plant exchange at Kew Gardens. In Scotland during the 1760s, John Walker and John Hope introduced the Linnaean method as a tool of internal colonization in the Highlands. At the same time, the French gardener André Thouin aimed to diversify and strengthen French agriculture by adding new plants to the royal botanic garden in Paris. His physiocratic correspondent Pierre Poivre pioneered an early form of scientific conservationism on the Isle de France in the Indian Ocean in 1767–1772. Across Western nations and empires in the second half of the eighteenth century, natural history became a privileged instrument of power to shape the natural order.2 For Kalm and Linnaeus, the knowledge of grass offered a crucial foundation for agricultural improvement. Without good cattle fodder, it was impossible to reach the high levels of manure production required to maintain soil fertility in a regime of commercial mixed husbandry. Sown grasses and new fodder plants were indispensable elements of the green revolution that swept across western Europe in the early modern era.3 As Kalm set out for America, Linnaeus was completing the Pan Svecicus, a list of close to 900 indigenous Swedish grasses that could be used for livestock grazing. Kalm, too, had been involved for many years with experiments in grass cultivation together with his aristocratic patron Sten Carl Bielke. Before the journey to America, he had collected grass species in Russia and overseen their introduction on Bielke's Swedish estate Lövsta, north of Stockholm.4 But in America, he discovered little interest in this kind of husbandry. While Kalm's investigations yielded a rich inventory of American grasses, he found that European settlers treated the question with indifference at best. They left their cattle to range freely through the forest, grazing on the abundant native annual grasses, which allowed the livestock to multiply greatly. Soon the expanding herds destroyed the original food supply and fell into rapid decline, in both numbers and stature. For Kalm, this conduct was an object lesson in poor husbandry and worse morals. Settlers greedily took advantage of the fertility stored in “virgin soils,” yet they refused to replenish the land with manure when it showed signs of exhaustion. This was madness when God had filled the land with useful native plants that could serve as good hay for cattle to increase manure production. But the majority of American farmers appeared blind to the blessings of natural history: “the grain fields, the meadows, the forests, the cattle … are [all] treated with equal carelessness.” Crucially, Kalm's condemnation contained a strong political undercurrent. The divine utility of nature required expert management. This interpretation of nature was firmly grounded in the northern European tradition of cameralism, a movement that sought to strengthen the revenue base of landlocked northern states through projects of improvement and internal colonization. After his long journey through British America, Kalm singled out the governor of New France, Marquis de La Galissonnière, as a paragon of husbandry: “He told me several ways of employing natural history to the purposes of politics and to make a country powerful.” By implication, British husbandry in North America would prosper only if experts were elevated to positions of power.5 Kalm's cameralist politics of grass was not the only interpretation of colonial husbandry to enter the Enlightenment. Against Kalm's ecology, Adam Smith articulated a liberal view of the problem of American agriculture. Smith relied directly on Kalm's Travels into North America for his own account of American agriculture in The Wealth of Nations (1776). He agreed with Kalm that the early settlers had adopted wasteful practices. The “great abundance” of land in North America had encouraged the proliferation of free-ranging cattle, by farmers to on the of native After an in the cattle had the by the annual grasses early in the before they had to form their As a the livestock from to growing in the same as the which was Scotland years But in to Kalm, Smith was the of colonial husbandry. He that cattle had from the of and were … through the of the of cattle and in and a in would in North America as farmers to an interest in grasses and the of manure to mixed husbandry of the English This grass and cattle a new to and In the of pioneered in the was to the improvement of the natural But from the the of nature into a question of management. the to the of the natural the of an this problem the to natural history with political a single of improvement. that the long eighteenth … the natural and political became … into an of in the and After the of European this a new as the of … became the of and of and are good to that this of a of improvement the of among of a to James involved a of to make nature not of which were For Adam Smith and his in the liberal nature as a for exchange in a They looked to the natural world for a of that their own in At the same time, they the as the of the of and were by the and of Against this liberal a of and that the natural was to be left on the of the and They commercial it to of the of and such as Kalm and Linnaeus their on a of local knowledge and that indigenous into a of and They with liberal a strong interest in the of the state to their expert into and In the eighteenth the of of This of other to the history of in of a of and as and The of and not the of a of the foundation of and the of from of to and of natural history a from Linnaeus's and conservationism to imperial projects of exchange and plant the natural across Europe expert in the environment of the and eighteenth-century such as de Linnaeus, and the state in projects to diversify and national and colonial through and for this from the Swedish Linnaeus's new system of For Linnaeus, natural history to make the Swedish state the of in through the of indigenous for and the of But was and natural When the Linnaean method was introduced to it was by the aristocratic to up the imperial state in an of the up a of and travelers and plants to his at Kew Kew became a for the movement of useful plants from of the to the in France that were by in the history was Swedish British French and such as and But the of political was a that natural a in the of modern and The to shape colonial in the a political to the by the of and the New and the had in ways on both of the In the early of were the of local by the was the first power to to exchange through scientific and of in the as the de it was only in the eighteenth that natural history became a tool of European used his close with the of the to on projects of this the of from America to from to the from to the plants from to and from to of projects But were The was by the of the was the of a to was the and plants that were out on the to the New in as the for new and and By the of the had and it could serve as a for British into the the for the environment of New into a of eighteenth-century natural history was a growing interest in Linnaeus and other that divine had the natural world in a system of food supply and and and This of an of to to of The French physiocratic naturalist Pierre Poivre pioneered a new form of in the on the Isle de France by a and In his Travels of a published in in French and Poivre that would to the of the He to the governor of to a of to the and to agriculture the were set in by Linnaeus's shape a land in the In British colonial trained in the first In the the voyages of Linnaean travelers such as James and John Walker in the and the of conservationism by the national of a too, that would the At the of was a The of a western European of and of and in the a of and But the in North America de and the New as a of the European that plants and in America into and The and naturalist took it to such by the and of American In other the American the of naturalist and to a of natural this the of in and The of and on were only The of up the of the eighteenth and early such as Poivre had to with other the of northern Europe as an of and the of and they a history of that with the and of this of the of European colonization was to the of the time, at if their were by and from natural When and with a new to and plant in he a of nature firmly by his His on the of New was with on the state and in the The improvement of nature a of the European the of a by experts in the was to be of Nations are of early modern agriculture and ranging such as plant a cattle and At Smith to the natural world in of to his His of was by a of the natural exchange and on an land by the the and the of the wealth of he a by “the natural of first to to and of to While of agriculture are the to the had little to the of his Smith his liberal of nature with a of from to In he a to the French and their that a grain was the foundation of national But an on the French grain other of his the of natural history to his of exchange and the of agricultural improvement in his native of his first a to the in not only introduced on the of and to a offered some the natural history of and de When Smith from his to a for the of of his was to on the commercial and improvement of the in the His contained in natural history and agricultural improvement such as Linnaeus's introduction to the Linnaean system and Kalm's Travels into North America Smith to Kalm, and in The Wealth of In during the years when he was the in the of his native of he to the of close and were several with strong in agricultural improvement and natural the James the the Joseph and the many and projects were in of a rich of improvement in the and Smith to had a to an interest in and natural He became a of in of his was the of an in the form of a from Smith and his James and on the and of a of a by as a of the crucial of natural knowledge to of the imperial at the same from and the of natural For his of and colonial agriculture in of early modern imperial relied on the travel of natural it to his as an of the of naturalist the of European In The Wealth of Nations a to the range of natural that as of a a of for exchange and had not yet eighteenth-century of knowledge. Smith found the for his the ground and natural history mixed and Smith with the natural a preoccupation with His of on a of supply and He the of in the and manure production and soil and and agriculture. and natural history a of For of his of and a were by the annual of the this could be in of plants into new they not a into a of the of the before the The Smith and the natural the and of Smith natural history in to the of natural across the His of and soil to a and This was the of the of The physiocratic was was the only to nature own In natural a and world in which the of natural could be a this the European with new and In it the of the colonization ranging from and to and For Kalm that both cattle and in the New He that the of many species of and had European had natural were not a of so as a for imperial a to natural history as the tool of the colonial state in on the was the of such For of and soil as for on a tradition to he that the of and across the world and to for and in of and very good be in But the from would the French was when natural could be through the experiments of natural His John Hope to plants to the in the of His were with of exchange as a The to the of natural was not to the to liberal of Smith was never to the of He was of the of the In the of his of he that of be as in the British and had in been a the cultivation in the When the and his of cultivation during the of American they to Smith for and to the of on their of exchange was in He in The Wealth of Nations that and were “the which the agriculture of Europe … from the of and the had only for the and by the could to the as a the … the and food of the it would be maintain a of on grain was Smith with the of and had been on a of and the perhaps in the British In this he used exchange to the of colonial in of a of agriculture. He the of as a form of the of he was to that could not be stored for years in the of soil fertility account of equal into a of that of the … In agriculture nature with and and soil fertility an of from the of natural a that not to it a political was a strong of physiocratic such as the the of and of the fertility of the This of nature was the of a that agriculture to production. the of nature which … which be as the of a and a of the whole equal of in so a In nature Smith his in a of the agricultural and and the of As long as the of cattle was allowed to freely in to supply and Smith “the and system of natural such offered for farmers to and of land The the for the farmers had to increase the of their herds and The for encouraged the improvement of By and such as and farmers the of grazing herds The of a high cattle was on soil Before the of cattle farmers relied on increase the of the expanding cattle became in then could reach their in of As food production the and with it the of and the of commercial Smith introduced the of cattle before and the of Scotland and in He the question of improvement directly to a of and political When the were into a English for up to The to the in a new foundation for the improvement of agriculture in the the in manure the grain production that growing in and and were the of high cattle would be manure and For the same of cattle, and improvement to the colonial he to Kalm's natural history of North America for While Smith agreed with Kalm that the early settlers had adopted wasteful he that the problem could be through the of crucial to his in exchange of local knowledge and naturalist This to that Smith the of and North American husbandry a to this The land and good husbandry in Kalm's a that would American agriculture into the and in of colonial the American the of Kalm's to their by for a botanic garden on the of the in the British In Smith of Kalm's inventory of native grasses his English he the of grasses in the improvement of British husbandry in The Wealth of But if the introduction of new plants was the for his he not to make his Smith simply adopted a of natural This with his of British be treated as of they would the of to reach the and of the The problem of the political to liberal account of on were by the of the English in the and eighteenth from some of the northern had not a the to agricultural production and The the same the of the But a of on the and in the was in this that new for as the and Smith a liberal the English of the 1760s, the French as the of and other This movement was by the liberal of by and the Marquis de and Against of Smith that the interest of the grain that of the of the were in years of the the exchange could the and of the to a as as to the supply of the The as the of the poor to their when of and good among the Smith that a “the of his the of the would the by this of he would be left with at the of the of the that agricultural of nature was and by implication, that the natural was Smith that harvest a in the of Europe if exchange an the parts of which a and the by the never be so as to a Smith a for his After of “the history of the and … of he was that never from other the of … to the of a This was a the natural While natural such as Poivre and soil a and natural to in which of and an In and would a view of the environment a in the of the But the of the natural it to of the for the the of the grain For the state had to by the grain and interpretation of nature the of the state with as the of that he an to the in of this be as an of his political a that agricultural For the political of Europe to the His was the of the of had been by the British in when the the the of of land the The of in from agriculture. The had been and by during in the for land together with the natural of the in the of the agricultural in the this political was to and and the of the the on After the British of the new regime of revenue the of the native to a the of was When the in in and The in and then to The of to a of the of were for in the first by in at of the In the from to that the been to of the a among and of the The for a and and a of the of and was close in The Wealth of Nations used the to the practices. were to the of the of the to on account of the levels of required for in such the so as to a if the would a Smith that and by the of the the to into a Smith this political of the by that of among the by the and of the were a of the He by a which and to the agriculture of the North American He the of that it yielded a and a was and was by it was crucial to his By from the he was to the of liberal of across the This from very with and The of when it to the of in the of the the on the to of The of and for of the land of the for the of the of the first to revenue in They the of the in For both and the question of was to their of a They that on by were in the history of country in been to and to the same agriculture in the were to the of during the of the the state could the high of such and in the of as the in of early of set a for a of natural in the of the that the a in British of an of as a land to the of nature and as a and to for in the of the the naturalist British his in he a of colonial experts and botanic the and in as as their James in the of and the of the of in such as and the mission of the natural in the the for in to … from and other of the in the of which in to a of in and in the state of political had to be and a of the The same of an of Adam Smith by Sir Joseph in in to be in the ways of a would the of his In the of British involved several on the colonial state a to and grain and was in The of the of and of the for the of and the of in during the the to the that been to the fertility of to the the of a of for in the of in were the for After the of the James to the to perhaps the of the in the of the The was to the of an early of in James in a and of to a of the western of the offered a account of the the harvest and local on the of and in his of from In this British to European in of a of plant and such to of and In the same to a on agricultural the on the to and the of of the botanic garden of in to serve in as a to of Smith were to a of grain in The Wealth of Nations only in on the of the and of offered an early of an on the question of His the problem in a of the of the when he the in the of and in a The a on in a to the in the of was little he to that state was by such a of own to a from a of the natural of the He that the he had from the of could be directly to the in the British The priority of the in a of was to that grain the and to of the would of the of … an which from the of the same time, on the of the question of into new While he ways with Smith by on in the food supply as the of he that an natural on this was by the of the on the of grain for the of national and He a and were in grain and the of nature for was not a to be and The of was to early to the of the from a set of he in for the of his James The long list on not of The of political was by the of to the in in New such as and this the of in western they adopted a in with the of and natural knowledge. They a form of political that of and were in and This into other of colonial state of in in of in and to that such a the But the if the of liberal and the of to and were privileged of state as that of were in and such as a in was pioneered a new of scientific with his of the in an to the of the In to the of the of the of the of Smith to me to to country in an early of For the to a new of with were of with the that would an and in the which in became to a new form of expert the the for a of with the of and the of British were and in at the of local management. sought and a of local and were a power by and national the of to the of the into the of modern The improvement of nature the foundation of as it been by other such as and the of the liberal and and other are the problem of a question of the of thought the to that the power of the natural and in their in the of the a and But the agricultural to They of an problem so that it the system with to In this system of be for the to to with of little of the and political of their own for a state of national local to the of the of on a as a of their on an to a of political in the of species the for new of it it as a problem of In such a science the of