ARTHUR YOUNG 1 (of England) August 6, 1786. 



This is an excellent letter to show Washington s great in 

 terest and enthusiasm in agriculture. In the third para 

 graph, he makes some rather pointed criticisms of the atti 

 tude then commonly held toward anything new in agriculture, 

 and the reasons which may account for it. 



The twentieth century farmer will be interested in the list 

 of seeds which Washington orders from England to try out 

 on his land. 



TO ARTHUR YOUNG (OF ENGLAND) 



Mount Vernon, 6 August, 1786. 

 Sir, 



I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 7th of 

 January from Bradfield Hall in Suffolk, and thank you 

 for opening a correspondence, the advantages of which will 

 be so much in my favor. 



Agriculture has ever been among the most favored of my 

 amusements, though I never have possessed much skill in 

 the art, and nine years total inattention to it has added 

 nothing to a knowledge, which is best understood from prac 

 tice; but, with the means you have been so obliging as to 



i Arthur Young was the first Secretary of the National Board of Agri 

 culture, established in England, 1793. He was one of the greatest Eng 

 lish writers on agriculture, and carried into that field the spirit which we 

 generally associate with the great revolution of manufacture. He was 

 indefatigable in observation, inquiries, researches, and experiments. His 

 works on agriculture have been translated into French, German, and 

 Russian. 



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