THE FARMEUkS' IIEGISTEK. 



Vol. V. 



NOVEM BER 1, 1837. 



No. 7. 



EUMUND RUPFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



LETTEUS OP GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON TO 

 ARTHIIH YOUNG, KSQ., AM) SIU JOHN SIN- 

 CLAIR, &C. 



[Concluded from No. 6.] 



Philadelphia, October 20, 1792. 

 Sir: 



I have receiv^ed your letter of the I'^ih of May, 

 enclosiiiiT 'li« |)ain[)hlet and papers vvhicli you had 

 the goodness to send me. While I be<r your ac- 

 ceptance of my acknowledjjnienl, lor the polite 

 maii( of attention in transmittinu: these tliini>s to 

 me, I flatter myself yon will be assured, that I con- 

 sider the subject therein recommended as highly 

 important to society, wiiose best interests I hope 

 will be promoted by a proper invesiiiraiinn of them, 

 and the happiness of mankind advanced thereby. 



1 have to resrret, that the ihiiies of my public 

 station do not allow me to pay that attention to ag- 

 riculture and the objects attached to it ('whi('h 

 li;ive ever been my iiivorite pursuit) that I could 

 wish ; but [ will put your queries respecting sheep 

 into the hands of such gentlemen as I think most 

 likely to attend to them, and answer them satisfac- 

 torily. I must, however, observe, that no impor- 

 tant information on the subject can be expected 

 from this country, where we have been so little in 

 the habit of attending either to the breed or im- 

 provement of our stock. 



With great respect and esteem, 

 I have the honor to be, sir. 



Your most nbedi'-nt servant, 



G. Washington. 



Sir John Sinclair. 



Philadelphia, July 20, 1794. 



Sir: 



I am indebted to you for your several favors of 

 the lotli of June, 15th of August, and 11th of 

 September of the last — and for that of the 6th ol 

 February, in the present year ; for vvhi(di, and the 

 pamphlet accompanying them, my thanks are par- 

 ticularly due. To say this, and to have suffered 

 them to remain so long unacknowledfjed, needs 

 explanation. The truth is, they came to hand — 

 the first of them about the opening, and the sec- 

 ond set, towards the close of a long and interesting 

 session of Congress, during which my time was 

 very much occupied, and at the end thereof, I had 

 a pressing call to my estate in Virginia, from 

 whence I have not been returned more than ten or 

 twelve days. 



I have read with peculiar pleasure and approba- 

 tion, the work yon patronize, so much to your own 

 honor and the utility of the public. Sich a gen- 

 eral view of the agriculture in the several counties 

 of Great Britain, is extremely interesting; and 

 cannot fail of being very beneficial to the agricul- 

 tural concerns of your country and to those of every 

 other wherein they are read, and must entitle you 

 to their warmest thanks for having set such a plan 

 on foot, and for prosecuting it with the zeal and 

 intelligence you do. 



1 am so much pleased with the plan and execu- 

 tion, myself, as to pray you to have the goodness to 

 Vol. V— 49 



direct your bookseller to continue to forward ihem 

 to me, accompanied with the cost which hIiuII be 

 paid to his order; or remitted so soon as tlie 

 amount is made known to me. VVheii the wlmle 

 are received, I will promote, as fiir as in me lays, 

 the reprintini; of them here. 



I know of no pursuit in which more real and im- 

 portant services can be rendered to any coiuiiiy, 

 than by improvinij its agriculture — its breed ot" 

 iiselul animals — and other branches of a husbaiui- 

 man's cares ;— nor can I conceive any plan inoin 

 conducive to this end, than the one you have in- 

 troduced lor bringing to view the actual stale of 

 iheni, in all parts of the kingdom ; by which good 

 and bad habits are exhibited in a manner too plain 

 to be misconceived ; for the accounts given to the 

 British Board of Agriculture, appear in general, to 

 be drawn u|) in a masterly manner, so as fully to 

 answer the expectations Ibrmed in the excellent 

 plan which produced them; afibrding at the same 

 lime a fund of inlbrmation useful in political econ- 

 omy — serviceable in all countries. 



Commons, tithes, tenantry (of which we feel 

 nothing m this country) are in the list of impedi- 

 ments I perceive, to perfection in English farming; 

 and taxes are heavy deductions ii'om the profit 

 thereof. Of ihesewe have none, or so liglit as 

 hardly to be It'll. Your system of ai>-ricul!ure, ii, 

 must be conlessed, is in a style superior, and ot" 

 course much more expensive than ours; i>ut when 

 the balance at the end of the year is struck, fiy 

 deducting the taxes, poor-rates, and incidental 

 (diarges of every kind, from the produce of tlie 

 land, in the two countries, no doubt can remain in 

 which scale it is to be Ibund. 



it will be some time, I fear, before an aiiricultu- 

 ral society with congressional aids will be estab- 

 lished in this country ; we must walk, as other 

 countries have done, before we can run. Smaller 

 societies must prepare the way for greater: but 

 with the lights before us, I hope we shall not be 

 so slow in maturation as older nations have been. 

 An attempt, as you will perceive by the enclosed 

 outlines of' a plan, is making to establish a state 

 society in Pennsylvania, for agricultural improve- 

 ments. If it succeeds, it will be a step in the lad- 

 der; at present it is too much in embryo to decide 

 on the result. 



Ourdomesticanimals, as well as our agriculture, 

 are inferior to yours in point of size ; but this does 

 not proceed li-om any delect in the stamina of them, 

 but to deficient care in providing for their support; 

 experience having abundantly evinced, that, where 

 our pastures are as well improved as the soil and 

 climate ivill admit — where a competent store of 

 wholesome provender is laid up, and proper care 

 used in serving it, — that our horses, black cattle, 

 sheep, &c. are not inferior to the best of their res- 

 pective kinds which have been imported from Eng- 

 land. Nor is the wool of our sheep inferior to tfiat 

 of the common sort with you : — asaprootj alter the 

 peace of Paris in 1783, and my return to the occu- 

 pation of a farmer, I paid particular attention to 

 my breed of sheep (of which 1 usually kept about 

 seven or eight hundred). By this attention, at 



