THE FARMERS' CABINET, 

 AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of the Earth will always hp in oroportion to the culture bestowed upon it." 



Vol. VII.— No. 7.] 



2nd mo. (February) 15th, 1843. 



[Whole No. 97. 



JOSIAH TATUM, 



PROPRIETOR AND PUBLISHER, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Edited by the Proprietor and James Pedder. 

 Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



From the Southern Planter. 



Agricultural Letter from Gen. Wash- 

 ington. 



•■ We are indebted to the kindness of an old friend for 

 the following; valuable document; valuable not only 

 pn account of the source from which it emanates, but 

 .because it affords many excellent lessons from an able 

 land practical farmer; it is strongly characteristic of 

 the American hero. We see here the exercise in pri- 

 vate life of that attention to detail, and that inflexible 

 levotion to order and discipline, which so eminently 

 narks the public character of Washington. No one 

 ;an read this letter without seeing at once that the 

 writer was an industrious, sound, practical farmer, 

 'rhis great man did not esteem the most minute details 

 nf agriculture unworthy bis attention. 



It will probably surprise the reader, to find General 

 Washington insisting upon the use of harrows and 

 cultivators in the cultivation of his corn ; this we 

 tiave been accustomed to plume ourselves upon as a 

 much more modern invention. 



\ This letter, directed to his overseers, is taken from 

 the manuscript copy in Washington's own handwri- 

 ting, and, as we are informed, now appears in print 

 for the first time. Ed's. S. P. 



Philadelphia, July lith, 1793. 



Gentlemen, — It being indispensably ne- 

 cessary that I should have some person at 

 Mount Vernon through whom I can commu- 

 nicate my orders — who will see that these 

 orders are executed ; or, if not obeyed, who 

 will inform me why they are not; — who 

 will receive the weekly reports and transmit 

 them ; — receive money and pay it ; and in 

 general to do those things which do not ap- 

 pertain to any individual overseer — I have 

 sent my nephew, Mr. Howell Lewis, (who 

 lives with me here) to attend to them, until 

 t can provide a manager of established re- 

 putation in these matters. You will, there- 

 fore, pay due regard to such directions as 

 you may receive from him, considering them 



Cab.— Vol. VII.— No. 7. 



as coming immediately from myself. But 

 that you also may have a general knowledge 

 of what I expect from you, I shall convey 

 the following view, which I have of the bu- 

 siness committed to your charge, as it ap- 

 pears to me, and direct you to govern your- 

 selves by it: as I am persuaded nothing 

 inconsistent therewith will be ordered by 

 Mr. Lewis, without authority from me to 

 depart from it. 



1st. Although it is almost needless to re- 

 mark that the corn ground at the farm you 

 overlook, ought to be kept perfectly clean 

 and well ploughed — yet, because not only 

 the goodness of that crop depends upon such 

 management, but also the wheat crop which 

 is to succeed it, I cannot forbear urging the 

 propriety and necessity of the measure in 

 very strong terms. 



2nd. The wheat is to be got into the barns 

 or into stacks, as soon as it can be done with 

 any sort of convenience, that it may not, es- 

 pecially the bearded wheat, which is subject 

 to injury by wet weather, sustain loss in 

 shocks — and because the shattered grain in 

 the fields may be beneficial to the stock; 

 but no hogs are to be put on stubble fields 

 in which grass seeds were sown last fall, 

 winter or spring; other stock, however, may 

 be turned on them, as it is rooting that would 

 be prejudicial. 



3d. The whole swamp, from the road from 

 Manley's bridge up to the lane leading to 

 the new barn, is to be got into the best and 

 most complete order for sowing grass seeds 

 in August — or, at farthest, by the middle of 

 September. The lowest and wettest part 

 thereof is to be sown with timothy seed 

 alone. All the other parts of it are to be 

 sown with timothy and clover seeds mixed. 

 The swamp on the other side of the afore- 

 said lane, now in corn and oats, is to be kept 

 in the best possible order, that the part not 

 already sown with grass seeds, may receive 

 them either this autumn, as soon as the corn 

 can be taken off* with safety, or in the spring, 

 as circumstances shall dictate. 



No exertion or pains are to be spared at 

 Dague-run to get the swamp from Manley's 

 bridge up to the meadow above, and the two 

 enclosures in the mill swamp, in the high- 



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