LETTER TO 



work at it on wet days, and when we could not work in the fields. 

 We never were stopped by want of wind or water. The horses 

 were always ready ; and / know, that our grinding was done at 

 one half the expence at which it was done by the millers. 



1035. The farmers and millers used to say, that I saved nothing 

 by my mill. Indeed, gain was not my object, except in con 

 venience. I hated the sudden calls for going to the mill. They 

 produced irregularity : and, besides, the millers were not more 

 honest than other people. Their mills contained all sorts of grain : 

 and, in their confusion, w r e sometimes got bad flour from good 

 wheat : an accident that never happened to us after we got our 

 own mill. But, as to the gain, I have just received a letter from 

 my son, informing me, that the gentleman, a farmer born and bred, 

 who rents my farm in my absence, sells no wheat : that he grinds 

 all : that he sells flour all round the country ; and that this flour 

 is preferred before that of the millers. I was quite delighted to 

 hear this news of my little mill. It awakened many recollections ; 

 and I immediately thought of communicating the facts to the 

 public, and particularly to you. 



1036. You will observe, that my farm is situated in the midst 

 of mills. So that,, you may be sure, the thing answers, or it 

 would not be carried on. If it were not attended with gain, it 

 would not be put in motion. I was convinced, that any man 

 might grind cheaper with a horse-mill than with a water or wind 

 mill, and now the fact is proved. For, observe, the mill costs 

 nothing for scite : it occupies a very small space ; it is inde 

 pendent of wind and water ; no floods or gales can affect it. 



1037. Now, then, if such a mill be preferable to wind or water- 

 mills in a place where both abound, how useful must it be in a 

 situation like yours ? Such a mill would amply supply about 

 three hundred families, if kept constantly at work. And then, 

 it is so much more convenient than a windmill. A windmill is 

 necessarily a most unhandy thing. The grain has to be hauled up 

 and the flour let down. The building is a place of no capacity : 

 and, there is great danger attending the management of it. My 

 project is merely a neat, close barn, standing upon stones that rats 

 and mice cannot creep up. The waggon comes to the door, 

 the sacks are handed in and out ; and every thing is so convenient 

 and easily performed, that it is a pleasure to behold it. 



1038. About the construction of the mill I know nothing. I 

 know only the effect, and that it is worked by horses, in the manner 

 that I have described. I had no Miller. My Bailiff, whom I had 

 made a Bailiff out of a Carpenter, I turned into a Miller ; or, 

 rather, I made him look after the thing. Any of the men, how 

 ever, could do the millering very well. Any of them could make 

 better flour than the water and wind-millers used to make for us. 

 So that there is no mystery in the matter. 



1039. This country abounds in excellent mill-wrights. The 

 best, I dare say, in the world ; and, if I were settled here as a 



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