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holes cd. be prepared. The ground, in which these Oats have been 

 sowed and in which the Barley seeding had commenced, has been plowed, 

 cross plowed, listed (as it is called, that is 3 furrow ridges) and 

 twice harrowed before the drill plow was put into it; with this the 

 furrow is made and the seed harrowed in with the manure afterwds. 



Began also to sow the Siberian Wheat which I had obtained from 

 Baltimore by means of Colo. Tilghman, at the Ferry Plantation in the 

 ground laid apart there for experiments. This was done upon ground 

 which, sometime ago, had been marked off by furrows 8 feet apart, in 

 which a second furrow had been run to deepen them. 4 furrows were 

 then plowed to these, which made the whole 5 furrow Ridges. These 

 being done sometime ago, and by frequent rains prevented sewing at 

 the time intended had got hard, I therefore before the seed was sowed, 

 split these Ridges again, by running twice in the same furrow. After 

 wch. I harrowed the ridges, and where the ground was lumpy run my 

 spiked Roller with the Harrow at the tale over it, wch. I found very 

 efficacious in breaking the clods and pulverising the earth; and wd. 

 have done it perfectly if there had not been too much moisture remain- 

 ing of the late rains; after this harrowing and rolling where neces- 

 sary, I sowed the Wheat with my drill plow on the reduced ridges in •. 

 rows 8 feet apart. But I should have observed that, after the ridges 

 were split by the furrow in the middle, and before the furrows were 

 closed again by the harrow, I sprinkled a little dung in them. Finding ^ 

 the barrel discharged the Wheat too fast, I did, after sowing 9 of the C^^J^ 

 shortest (for we began at the furthest corner of the field) rows, I 

 stopped every other hole in the barrel, and in this manner sowed 5 

 rows more, and still thinking the seed too liberally bestowed, I 

 stopped 2, and left one hole open, alternately, by which 4 out of 12 

 holes only, discharged seeds; and this, as I had taken the strap of 

 leather off, seemed to give seed enough (though not so regular as were 



to be V^ished) to the ground. - J. C. Fitzpatrick, ed.. The Diaries of George 

 Washington . 1748-1799 . 3:38-41 (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Co . , 1925). 



Washington continued his interest in the latest developments in agriculture 

 during his residence in New York as President of the United States. 

 Baron Poellnitz, who conducted an experimental farm near Murray 

 Hill, urged Washington to encourage the Government to under- 

 take a similar enterprise. In January 1790, Washington 

 visited the Baron's farm, primarily to inspect a 

 threshing machine, and recorded the following 

 description in his Diary 



Friday , 22d. Exercised on horseback in the forenoon. 



Called in my ride on the Baron de Polnitz, to see the operation of 



