346 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



I presume you have long before this received 

 my letter, Avhich was committed to the care of 

 JVIr. Pinckney, our minister at the court of Great 

 Britain, and shall be very glad if the contents of 

 it afforded you the information which it was in- 

 tended to communicate ; for I am purpuaded that 

 I need not repeat to you, how sincerely I wish suc- 

 cess to those laudable exertions which you are 

 making, to promote the important interest of ag- 

 riculture, and the cause of humanity. 



With very great esteem, I am, sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



G. Washington. 

 Arthur Young, Esq. 



Sir: 



Philadelphia, Dec. % 1792. 



I must begin this letter with an apology — no 

 apology ought to be so satisfactory as the truth — 

 and the truth is, that not receiving the account of 

 the taxes of a Virginia estate, lor which I had 

 written (before I leltthis city, during the recess of 

 congress,) as mentioned in my letter to you of the 

 18th of June, the promise I then made of for- 

 warding it to you in my next, had escaped me al- 

 together, until I was reminded of it lately, by a 

 circumstance too trival to mention. 



A copy of the account is now annexed. The 

 name of the proprietor of the estate is not insert- 

 ed, but on the authenticity of it you may rely. 

 That you may understand the principles on which 

 the land-tax in Virginia is founded, it vvill be ne- 

 cessary to inform you, that by a law of that state, 

 the inhabitants of it are thrown into districts — say 

 parishes ; in each of which, or for two, or more of 

 them united, commissioners are appointed to assess 

 the value of each man's land, that lies within it ; 

 on which a certain per centum is uniformly paid. 



No negroes under twelve years of age are tax- 

 ed, nor are any under sixteen subjected to the pay- 

 ment of country or parish levies. Horses, at pres- 

 ent, are only in species of stock in that state which 

 pays a tax. Carriages were, when 1 left Virginia, 

 and 1 believe still are, subject to a tax by the 

 wheel. It was then, if I recollect rightly, about 

 five dollars each wheel ; but whether it is more or 

 less now, or whether there be any at all, is more 

 than I am able with certainty to inform you. 

 With very great esteem and regard, 



I am, sir, your most obedient, 

 And much obliged servant, 

 G. Washington. 



Arthur Young, Esq. 



FOR PUBLIC TAXKS — FOR 

 PARISH LEVIES. 



COUNTY AND 



do. 



3670 lbs. 



23 county and parish 

 levies, at 29 lbs. of 

 tobacco each, lbs. 567 



lbs. 3670 &£ 39 10 10 

 tobacco, at 15s. per 

 cwt. 27 10 6 



Total— (Dollars, at 6s.) 



£67 1 4 



Note. — There ought to have been in the above 

 account, a discrimination in the charge for county 

 and parish levies. — The first is for building and 

 repairing court-houses, gaols, &c., criminal pro- 

 cesses, &c., the latter is lor the support of the poor, 

 and other parochial charges. 



EXTRACTS FROM SOME REMARKS SENT [bY 

 ARTHUR YOUNG, ESQ.] TO GEN. WASH- 

 INGTON ON THE PRECEDING ACCOUNTS. 



A reaper, 3s. to 3s. 9d. a day, and does three- 

 fourths of an acre; say 2s. 2d. sterling, and board, 

 which, with us, is called 16Z. If a farnier boards 

 his men with his bailiff', he pays in that propor- 

 tion: this is lOi^-fZ. a day; but the better fare of 

 harvest will make it at least Is. 6d. or 3s. 8d. for 

 three-fourths of an acre — 4s. lOld. per acre. We 

 have no part of England, in which this is done 

 so cheapl}^ It rises from 5s. to 20s. per acre; 

 with you, the same expense mows an acre, viz: 

 3s. 8d. This, on the contrary, is deater than 

 with us, if for grass; and, for corn, a man mows 

 two or tvvo and a half acres a day. 



The next minute is a watron, four horses, and 

 (I suppose a man) 15s. or 10s. sterling. This is 

 nearly the price with us all the year, except in • 

 very busy seasons, when not to be had at all. 



In Maryland, wages 20/. and all found but 

 clothes; sterling, 12/. — with us, the head man lOL; 

 the rest 8/. 



On the Fluvanna and Rivanna, a negro 9/. 

 and every thing tbund : and in a former letter, 

 all labor with slaves. Hence quere — Is the labor 

 noted in these minutes, accidental, and not to be 

 commanded in any amount; or, is it the standard 

 employment of the state? Reckoning a negro 

 at 50/. and estimating his life in any ratio, he 

 must surely be cent, per cent, dearer than the la- 

 bor of England. Governor Glen, in his descrip- 

 tion of South Carolina (one of tfie best accounts 

 of a country, I have met with), says, that a slave 

 can manage two acres of indigo, or six of Indian 

 corn: this must be less than the half of what our 

 laborers do, who will set out, and clean effectually 

 half an acre of turnips every day, for the first 

 hoeing; and from three-fourtlis to one acre the 

 second. 



I see no reason to calculate it less than 100 per 

 cent, higher than in f^ngland; and the general 

 information I have at various times had from oth- 

 er persons, seems to confirm the idea: no wonder, 

 while every man, by going over the mountains, 

 can have land for himself. 



The next difficulty is in respect of the pur- 

 chase of land, which in the notes is every where 

 per acre, very properly (I suppose the statute 

 English acre, or it would have been mentioned to 

 the contrary^; but it is not mentioned what state 

 the lands are in, which are thus valued; whether 



