INTRODUCTION. 5 



been for the great loss in my horses in 

 going over, the whole of my venture 

 would have proved very profitable. But 

 the wonderful disappointment I met with in 

 the barrenness of the land, was beyond 

 any description. Would General Wash- 

 ington have given me the twelve hundred 

 acres, I would not have accepted it, to have 

 been confined to live in that country ; and 

 to convince the General of the cause of my 

 determination, I was compelled to treat 

 him with a great deal of frankness. The 

 .General, who had corresponded with Mr. 

 Arthur Young and others on the subject 

 of English farming and soils, and had been 

 not a little flattered by different gentlemen 

 from England, seemed at first to be not 

 well pleased with my conversation ; but I 

 gave him some strong proofs of his mis- 

 takes, by making a comparison between the 



