J837J 



F A R JNl E R S ' REGISTER, 



32S 



In adililioii to tlie articles which my last rerjuest- 

 ed the favor oC you to procure me, I pray you to 

 have tlie (joothiess of Ibrwardinij what IoIIowp: 



Eiiiht huslielf! of what you call velvet* wheat, 

 of which 1 [jcrceive you are an admirer. 



Four biisliels ol'beaiii=, of the kind you most aj)- 

 prove lor the purposes of a fiirm. 



Eiiiht bushels of tiie best kind of spring barley. 



Eiiiht bushels of tlie best kind of oats. 



And ei^fJit bushels of saiuluin seed. All to be 

 in irood sacks. 



JMy soil will come under the description of loam; 

 with a hard clay, or (il' it had as much of the pro- 

 perties as ihe a()pearance miyht be denonunated) 

 marl, from eighteen inches to three leet below the 

 surlace. 'J'he heaviest soil I have, would hardly 

 be called a stitj" or binding clay in England; and 

 none of it is a blowing sand. The sort which ap- 

 proaches nearest tlie ibrmer, is a light gray; and 

 that to tlie latter, of a 3ellovv red. In a word, the 

 staple has been good; but by use and abuse, it is 

 brodirht into bad condition. 



I have added this information, sir, that you may 

 be belter able to decide on the kind ol' seed most 

 proper liir my farm. 



Permit me to ask one thing more. If is to fa- 

 vor me with your opinion, and apian, of the most 

 complete and uselul larm-yard, tor liirms of about 

 500 acres. In this I mean to comprehend the 

 barn, and every appurtenance which ought to be 

 annexed to the yard. Thesimplest and most eco- 

 nomical plan would be preferred, provided the re- 

 quisites are all included. Mr. Welch will answer 

 your draft for the cost of these articles, as before. 

 Pie is advised of it. 



I have the honor to be, sir. 



Your most obedient 



And most humble servant, 



G. Washington. 

 Arthur Young, esq. 



Sir: 



Mount Vernon, Nov. 1, 1787. 



Your favor of the first of February came to 

 hand about the middle of May last. An absence 

 of more than four months from home, will be the 

 best apology I can make lor my silence till this 

 time. 



The grain, grass seeds, ploughs. &c., arrived at 

 the same time, agreeable to the list ; but some of 

 the former were injured, (as will always be the 

 case,) by l)eing put info the hold of the vessel; 

 however, upon the vvhole. they were in much bet- 

 ter order than those things are generally found to 

 be, when brought across the Atlantic. 



I am at a loss, sir, how to express the sense 

 which I have of your particular attention to my 

 commissions, and the very obliging manner in 

 which you ofl'er me your services in any matters 

 relating to agriculture, that I may have to transact 

 in England. If my warmest thanks will, in any 

 measure, compensate for these favors, I must beg 

 you to accept of them. I shall always be exceed- 

 irigly happy to hear from you, and shall very rea- 

 dily and cheerfully give you any information rela- 

 tive fo the state of agriculture in this country, that 

 I am able. 



* The books being at the bookbinder's, I may have 

 miscalled this wheat. 



I I diti myself the honor to hand the set of An- 

 I iials to the Agricultural Society in Philadel[)hia, 

 which you sent to that body, through me. The 

 president wrote a letter to you, expressive of the 

 sense they entertained of the favor which you did 

 them; and mentioned therein, the ellects ol some 

 experiments which had been made with plaister of 

 Paris, as a manure: I intended to have given you 

 an account of it mysellj as I find the subject is 

 touched upon in your Annals, but this letter has 

 [irecluded the necessity of it. 



The fifth volume ol' the Annals, which was 

 committed to the care of Mr. Athawes for me, did 

 not come to hand till some time afier 1 had receiv- 

 ed the sixth. 



The quantity of sainfoin which you sent me, 

 was fLilly sufficient to answer my purpose; I have 

 sown part of it, but find that it comes up very thin; 

 which is likewise the case with the winter wheat, 

 and some other seeds which I have sown. 



I have a high opinion of beans, as a preparation 

 for wheat, and shall enter as largely upon the cul- 

 tivation of them next year, as the quantity of seed 

 I can procure, will admit. 



I am very glad that you did not engage a plough- 

 man for me at the high wages which you mention; 

 for 1 agree with you, that that single circumstance, 

 exclusive of the others which you enumerate, is 

 sufficiently objectionable. I have tried the ploughs 

 which you sent me, and find that they answer the 

 description which you gave me of them; this is 

 contrary to the opinion of almost every one who 

 saw them belbre they were used; for it was 

 thought their great weight would be an insupera- 

 ble objecnori to their being drawn by two horses. 



I am now preparing materials lo build a barn 

 precisely agreeable fo your plan, which ! tliink an 

 excellent one*. Before I undertake to give the 

 inlormation you retjuest, respecting the arrange- 

 ments of farms in this neighbourhood, &c. I must 

 observe that ihere is, perhaps, scarcely any part of 

 America, where farming has been less attended 

 to than in this slate. The cultivation of tobacco 

 has been almost the sole object with men of landed 

 property, and consequently a regular course of 

 crops have never been in view. The general cus- 

 tom has been, first to raise a crop of Indian corn, 

 (maize,) which, according to the mode of cultiva- 

 tion, is a good preparation for wheat; then a crop 

 of wheat; after which the ground is respited, (ex- 

 cept from weeds, and every trash that can contri- 

 bute to its foulness,) for about eighteen months; 

 and so on, alternately, without any dressing, till 

 the land is exhausted; when it is turned out, with- 

 out being sown with grass-seeds, or roots, or any 

 method taken fo restore it, and another piece is 

 ruined in the same manner. No more cattle is 

 raised than can be supported by lowland meadows, 

 swamps, &c., and the tops and blades of Indian 

 corn; as very few persons have attended to sowing 

 •rrasses, and connecting cattle with their crops. 

 The Indian corn is the chief support of the labor- 

 ers and horses. Our lands, as I mentioned in my 

 first letter to you, were originally very good; but 

 use, and abuse, have made them quite otherwise. 



The above is the mode of cultivation which has 

 been generally pursued here; but the system of 

 husbandry which has been found so beneficial in 



*The plan of this barn is engraved, 

 vol. xvi. p. 149. [A. Y.] 



See Annals, 



