October 7, 2022 Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, James Madison, Joseph Stayman, James Whitcomb Riley, Growing Joy by Maria Failla, Thomas Rainer, and Post-Wild World

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Historical Events
 
1747 Birth of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne ("do-Shane"), French botanist, gardener, and professor at Versailles.
A specialist in strawberries and gourds, Duchesne was a student of Bernard de Jussieu at the Royal Garden in Paris.
A plant pioneer, Duchesne recognized that mutation was a natural occurrence and that plants could be altered through mutation at any time.
And when he was a young botanist, Duchesne began experimenting with strawberries. Ever since the 1300s, wild strawberries have been incorporated into gardens. But, on July 6, 1764, Duchesne created the modern strawberry - the strawberry we know and love today.
Strawberries are members of the rose family, and their seeds are on the outside of the fruit. Just how many seeds are on a single strawberry? Well, the average strawberry has around 200 seeds.
Now, if you're wondering whether to cut your strawberry plants back for winter, you should cut your plants back about three inches after your final harvest. 
As you tidy up your strawberry plants for winter, you can remove all dead leaves and trimmings.
Right about now, strawberry growers are winterizing their plants, which is pretty straightforward. Simply cover your plants with 6-8 inches of mulch. Then when spring returns, remove the winterizing mulch as your strawberry plants wake up and start growing. 
 
1817 On this day, James Madison, America's fourth President, was elected to serve as the President of his local Agricultural Society.
James had just retired from his presidential duties and quickly resumed his passion for cultivating the land. James spent many hours every day working in his four-acre Montpelier garden. The horse-shoe-shaped bed was assumed to be an homage to the floor of the house of representatives. 
The following May, James spoke to his fellow farmers and gardeners in the Agricultural Society about some of the latest discoveries in agriculture, such as the benefits of incorporating manure to leverage nitrogen and optimizing the water for plant uptake. 
James Madison was one of America's earliest conservationists. He was primarily concerned with preserving the land and wise stewardship of natural resources.
 
1817 Birth of Joseph Stayman, Kansas horticulturist.
His obituary announcement said,
Dr. Stayman is dead at Leavenworth. He came to Kansas in 1859 and brought a half million fruit grafts with him, from which he started the fruit industry of the state. The doctor was well-named, and lived true to the name as his fruit trees were.
 
Joseph helped establish the Kansas State Horticultural Society in 1866. He dropped