-31- 



Mrs. Washington is thankful for your kind remembrance of her, and 

 unites with me in best v/ishes for you. With very great esteem and 

 regard, I am, dear Sir, &c. - E. W. Brooke, ed.. The Agric u ltural Papers of 

 George Washingto n, p. 92-95 (Boston, Gorham Press, 1919). 



LAST AmWAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 7, 1796 



In his first, third, and seventh annual messages on the state of the Nation, 

 Washington specifically recommended that Congress give general atten- 

 tion to the advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufact- 

 ures. In his last annual message to Congress on December 7, 

 1796, he urged the creation of a board of agriculture 

 which, had the proposal been adopted, might well have 

 developed into a Department of Agriculture. The 

 Nation had to wait many years for the execu- 

 tive department which he envisioned. 



It will not be doubted that with reference either to individual 

 or national welfare agriculture is of primary importance. In pro- 

 portion as nations advance in population and other circumstances of 

 maturity this truth becomes more apparent, and renders the culti- 

 vation of the soil more and more an object of public patronage. 

 Institutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the public purse; 

 and to what object can it be dedicated with greater propriety? Among 

 the means which have been employed to this end none have been attended 

 with greater success than the establishment of boards (composed of 

 proper characters) charged with collecting and diffusing information, 

 and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encourage and 

 assist a spirit of discovery and improvement. This species of estab- 

 lishment contributes doubly to the increase of improvement by stimu- 

 lating to enterprise and experiment, and by drawing to a common 

 center the results everywhere of individual skill and observation, 

 and spreading them thence over the whole nation. Experience accord- 

 ingly has shev/n that they are very cheap instruments of immense 

 national benefits. - J. D. Ricl^ardson, ed., A Com pilat ion of the Mes sag es and 

 Papers of the Presidents . 1:202 (Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 18S6) . 



