ESSEX SOCIETY. 109 



her incubation. And some meagre details, thus preserved, con- 

 vince him that a diary, kept by any practical farmer in his vi- 

 cinity, would be a more valuable text book than Loudon's gi- 

 gantic Encyclopedia. 



Washington, (as we are informed by Dr. Sparks,) kept a 

 diary after he had exchanged his victorious sword for a prun- 

 ing-hook, and noted each day's work with minute care. Sub- 

 sequently, when called to the presidential chair, we are told that, 

 " He left with his chief manager at Mount Vernon, full and mi- 

 nute directions in writing, and exacted from him a weekly re- 

 port, in which were registered the transactions of each day on 

 all the farms, such as the number of laborers employed, their 

 health or sickness, the kind and quantity of work executed, 

 the progress in planting, sowing, or harvesting the fields, the 

 appearance of the crops at various stages of their growth, the 

 effects of the weather on them, and the condition of the horses, 

 cattle, and other live stock." 



Many other distinguished citizens of our Republic have since 

 followed the example left by the " Farmer of Mount Vernon," 

 and have testified to its benefits. Their recorded praises would 

 occupy pages, and we will simply copy the opinions of one, 

 who,byhis moral worth, his purity of character, and his fidelity 

 to the public interests, secured a place in the hearts of his con- 

 stituents and friends, — the lamented Daniel P. King. In a 

 statement made by him to this society, (see transactions for 

 1845,) on the management and products of his farm, he says, 

 " I have long kept a sort of diary, in which I have noted the 

 employments of each day, the time of planting, hoeing, and 

 harvesting, the amount of crops, the cost of animals, current 

 receipts and expenditures, &c. The advantages of keeping a 

 journal, to a farmer, are many. By turning to the pages of 

 past years, he will be reminded of work which should be done 

 in its season ; he will see where he has erred, and profit from 

 his experience ; he will know where his money, sometimes 

 difficult to account for, goes." 



A striking proof of the practical value of farmer's diaries, has 

 recently been witnessed in the upper part of this county, where 

 a large farm was worked for several years by foreign laborers, 



