3SS 



F A R M K K S ' R K G I S T K R , 



[No. 7 



by nie, nl the optMiimjof (he session. But this did 

 tio , I believe, proceed from any disinelinrition to 

 thi> lOHiit^ure, but from their limited siilinur, and a 

 fircssure of, what tl)ey (;oiiceived. more im|)oriaMt 

 i>. r-iiiess. i think it hiirhly probable that next 

 session will bring this matter to maturity. 

 I have the honor to be, sir, &f.. 



G. VVashiivgtoiv. 

 Sir John Sinclair. 



Mount Vernon, July \5th, 1797. 

 Sir: 



Since mv last to you, dated in Philadelpliia the 

 6fli of March, I have been hononui with your's 

 ami Lord Hawke's joint liivor of the 2Sih of 

 March, 1796, introductory of Doctor Scandalla ; 

 who gave me the pleasure of his company in June 

 last, and whom I found a very sensible and well 

 inlbrmed man. 



I have also received your separate f]ivors of the 

 21sl of February, and 29ih of March, in the pres- 

 ent year. 'J'he last accompanying your printed 

 account of the origin of the Board of Aiiricullure 

 and its progress for the three years after its estab- 

 lishment. For 3'our kindness in forwarding of 

 them. I pray you to accept my best thanks. 



I will keep one copy of this work myself, and 

 shall read it, I am sure with pleasure, so soon as [ 

 have passed through my harvest, which is now 

 nearly finished ; the other copies shall he put into 

 such hands, as I conceive will turn them to the 

 best account. 



Your not having, in either of the letters ac- 

 knowledged above, mentioned the receipt of two 

 from rne, dated the 10th and llih of December, 

 17i>6 ; the last a private and very Innir one, fills 

 n)\' mind with a[)prehension of a miscarriage, al- 

 ihontrh I do not see how it should have ha(ipened, 

 as they went with several other letters under cover 

 to Mr. King, (our Minister in Ijondon.) who in a 

 letter to me. dated tlie6ih of February Ibllowing, 

 after giving information of what he had done with 

 my other letters, adds "and as soon as Sir John 

 Sinclair returns to town, I will also deliver the 

 letter addressed to him." Was it not for this in- 

 formation r should by this conveyance, have for- 

 warded a duplicate. 



The result of my inquiries of members of con- 

 gress, attending the December session, varied so 

 little from the details I had the honor to give you 

 concerning the prices of land, &c. in my private 

 le'ter of the 11th of December, as to render a sec- 

 ond edition unnecessary. The reduction how- 

 ever, in the price of our produce since last year, 

 (flour having fallen from fifteen to seven or eiijht 

 dollars a barrel, and other articles in that propor- 

 tion,) iTiay occasion a f;\ll in the price of lands : a 

 stagnation it has already produced : and, F have 

 been told, a reduction also, in some of the latter 

 sales. 



Our crop of wheat this year, from the best in- 

 formation I have been able to obtain, will be 

 found very short, owing to three causes; an un- 

 common drought last autumn, a severe winter 

 with but little snow to protect it, and which is still 

 more to be regretted, to what with us is denomi- 

 nated the Hessian fly, which has spread devasta- 

 tion, more or less, in all qutirters ; nor has the lat- 

 ter wheat escaped the rust. The grain however, 

 except where the rust appeared before it was hard, 

 is extremely fine. We are equally unluck}- in 



our oats, occasioned by a severe droiisjht since the 

 month ot April. With sentiments of high esteem 

 and regard, 



1 have the honor to be, sir, &c. 



G. WASHUVGTOHf. 



Str John Sinclair. 



Sir: 



Mount Vernon, 6ih JVovember, 1797. 



Since 1 had the honor of writing you on the 

 15ih July, I liave been favored with your letter of 

 the 13ih ot' February, introductory of Thomas 

 Macdonald, est), and your note o!' the 9lh of 

 June, by General Kosciusko; together with the 

 surveys, and papers accompanying both. For 

 your goodness in sending them, I pray you to ac- 

 cept my best thanks, and that I may not be a 

 burthensome member of the board, I enclose a 

 small bill of exchan<ie, to be deposited in the 

 hands of your bookseller, to defray the cost of the 

 several copies of your works which may be for- 

 warded to me. VVhen this is expended, I will 

 make another deposite for the same purpose. 



As neither of these notes, the receipts of which is 

 acknowledged above, nor any other has intimated 

 in the most distant manner, that nty letters of the 

 10th and 11th of December, (the latter a private 

 one) had ever reached your hands, I now do, as 

 well for the purpose of evincing that 1 was not in- 

 atten'ive to your request, as to give information 

 which may yet (though late) be useful, forward a 

 duplicate of the private letter, liom a press copy 

 taken at the time, and of my last also, of the 15th 

 of July; being more disposed to trouble you with 

 a repetition of the sentiments then expressed, than 

 to lay under the suspicion of inattention to your 

 commands. 



I can now, with more certainty than on the 15th 

 of July, inform you that lands havt; fiillen in price; 

 ascribable to two causes, liie shockinir depreda- 

 tions conmiitted on ourconmierce (within the last 

 six or eight months by the French,) and the re- 

 duction in price of our produce. 



Our crops of grain are, in places, tolerable, but 

 upon the whole below mediocrity. 



An eight years' absence fi-om home (except oc- 

 casional short visits to it,) has thrown all my 

 building and other matters of private concern, 

 into so much disorder, that at no period of my 

 life have I ever been more engaged, than in the 

 last SIX or eight months, to repair and bring them 

 into tune again : this has prevented me from look- 

 inir into the agricultural surveys of the counties of 

 Enoland and Scotland, with the attention I pro- 

 pose to do the ensuing winter. I shall certainly 

 be very desirous of having a complete set of 

 them, and if any are missing will apply according- 

 ly, as it is my intention to have them classed, and 

 bound neatly. With great pleasure, I received a 

 visit from Mr. Macdonald a few days ago, who 

 liilly answers the character given of him, as a po- 

 lite and sensible man. 



I have the honor to be, sir, &c. 



G. Washingtok. 



Sir John Sinclair, Bart. 



Since this work was sent to the press, I find that 

 one of General Washington's most interesting 

 letters has been lost. There is fortunately, 

 however, an extract from it, in the first volume 



