1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



389 



ul" th(» commuiiicaiions published by the Board 

 ot" Aii'i-icdliure (p. 374,) a cnpy of wliirh I Iti'ir 

 leavf, 10 lay before the reader, I'ruin that publi- 

 cation. 



Philadelphia, lOth December, 1796, 



"The results of the experiments entrusted to 

 the care of Dr. Fordyce, must be as curious as 

 they may prove interestiuix to the science ol" hus- 

 bandry. Not less so, will be an inlellijient solu- 

 tion of those queries relative to hve slock, which 

 are handed to the public. 



" A {t^w months more, say the 3d of March 

 next (^1797,) and the scenes of my political life 

 will close, and leave me in the shades of retire- 

 ment; when if a tew years are allovvetl me to en- 

 joy it (many I cannot expect, being upon the 

 verjxe ot' sixty-five,) and health is continued to 

 me, [ shall peruse with pleasure and edification, 

 the fruits of the exertions of the Board l()r the im- 

 provement of ao;ricullure ; and shall have leisure, 

 1 trust, to realize, some of the useful discoveries 

 which have been made in the science of husban- 

 dry. 



*' Until the above period shall have arrived, and 

 pnr'icularly during the present session of congress, 

 which commenced the 5th instant, I can give but 

 liitle attention to matters out ot the line of my im- 

 mediate avocations. I did, not, however, omit 

 the occasion, at the opening of the session, to call 

 the attention of ihat body to the importance of 

 agriculture. What will be the result, I know not 

 at present ; but if it should be favorable, the hints 

 which you will have it in your power to give, can- 

 noi jail of beinnj frratelully received by the mem- 

 bers who may constitute the board." 



CONCLUSION. 



On the Character of General Washington. 



Whoever has perused the preceding letters, 

 will, I trust, concur with me* in the folio vving re- 

 flections. 



1. That nothing could possibly place the char- 

 acter of this distinguished statesman in a more 

 estimable light, than that of beholding the same 

 individual, whose nnlitary exploits had spread his 

 fame over the universe, and who had been invest- 

 ed with supreme power in the country where he 

 was born; in the midst of all his various public 

 avocations, carrying on an extensive correspon- 

 dence, with the native of distant country, on ag- 

 ricultural and other general inquiries of a similar 

 nature. 



2. That those who are blessed with a reflecting 

 and phiIoso[)hical mind, must contemplate with 

 pleasure and delight, a person elevated, by the 

 voice of his fellow-citizens, to the summit of po- 

 litical authority; who, instead of wishing to ag- 

 grandize himsellj and to extend his power, was 

 anxiously bent to quit that situation, to which so 

 many others would have fondly aspired, and to 

 return to the comfort and enjoyment of private 

 life : belying thus the insinuations of those malig- 

 nant spirits, who are perpetually railing airainsl 

 the talents and virtues which, conscious of want- 

 ing themselves, they do not believe that others 

 can possess. 



3. Is there, on the whole, any individual, either 



• Sir John Sinclair. 



in ancient or modern history, who hne prouder 

 claims to distinction and pre-emnience, than the 

 great character whose letters this volume con- 

 tains? His military talents were early celebrated; 

 first in the service of (ireai J{riiain, and after- 

 wards in that o(" America. His powers as a states- 

 man, and as the founder of a constitution, which, 

 with British prejudices, I may consider as inferior 

 to our own, but wliicli promises to secure the hap- 

 pniess of the great nation it was fiirmed logovern, 

 cannot possibly l»e quesiioned. His public virtue, 

 as the uncorrupted magistrate of a free people, 

 who reluctantly received supreme authority, when 

 it was judged necessary lor the public good for 

 him to assume ii,and who anxiously wished to re- 

 sign it into their hands when it could be done with 

 public safely, can hardly be equalled in history. 

 His literary endowments were unquestionably of 

 a superior order : his letters in this collection, his 

 addresses to the American Congress, and his liire- 

 well oration, when he f|uitted, lor the last time, 

 the presidency of" the United Slates, are models 

 of each species of com[)Osilion, His closing a 

 well-spent lile, atier a short illness, without having 

 his strength or faculties impaired by any previous 

 disorder, or any untoward circumstance having 

 occurred, that could materially afliect his feelings, 

 or could possibly tarnish his fiime, is an uncom- 

 mon instance of good fortune. The scene in 

 which he acted also, and the object which he 

 achieved, are the most memorable which history 

 fijrnishes. For it was such a man alone, who by 

 combining the li)rce, and commanding the confi- 

 dence, of thirteen separate states, could have dis- 

 solved those ties which siibjecied America to Eu- 

 rope, and to whom the political separation of two 

 worlds is to be attributed. Bui, above all, what 

 distinguished this celebrated warrior and statesman 

 is, that to all those military and public talents, 

 and to those literary endowments, which are so 

 rarely united in the same person, he added the 

 practice of every virtue that could adorn the pri- 

 vate individual. It were in vain for me to attempt 

 adequately to express the ideas I entertain of a 

 character, in every respect so peculiarly splendid. 

 The pen of the immortal Shakspeare, is alone com- 

 petent to the task, and on the tombstone of the 

 illustrious Washington let it be engraved, — • 



"His life was gentle, and the elements 



So mixed in him, that Nature mi^ht stand up 



And say to all the world — This was a man, 



■ take him for all in all. 



We shall not look upon his like again.*" 



From tlie British Farmer's Magazine. 



ON RAISING MIXED CROPS, WITH A VIEW OP 

 SECURING OR INCREASING PROFITS. 



Although, in general, the different species and 

 varieties of field crops are sown or planted by 

 themselves, they are, in a few cases, intermixed; 

 that is, two sons are sown, reaped, and thrashed 

 together. This practice depends on a few circum- 

 stances which are favorable thereto, such as suit- 

 ability to the same soil; sowable at the same sea- 

 son, and in the same manner; ripening together; 

 separable, if necessary, in the barn; or, if not, 

 that may be used or sold together. 



*Julius Cesar, Act V. Scene 5 — and Hamlet, Act I. 

 Scene 2. 



