WASHINGTON, THE FARMER. 429 



that with slight subdivisions and experimental deviations, this sci- 

 entific system of rotation was pursued with great success, from about 

 1785 to the close of his life. 



After about four years the most agreeable, doubtless, of his 

 whole life passed at Mount Vernon, in its improved condition, he 

 was again called, by the spontaneous voice of one people to the 

 Presidency. Much has been said and written about the reluctance 

 of Cincinnatus to leave his farm, and return to the service of the 

 Roman Republic ; but the sources for regret in his position must 

 have been small, compared to those which Washington felt, when 

 he left Mount Vernon on this occasion. The farm of Cincinnatus, 

 which has been rendered famous in classical history, was an heredi- 

 tary allotment of four acres, and its cultivation was part of the 

 daily toil of his own hands. Mount Vernon, on the other hand, 

 was one of the largest and loveliest estates in America ; it stood 

 amid the rich landscape beauty of the Potomac, its beautiful lawns 

 running down to the river, its serpentine walks of shrubbery, its 

 fruit and flower-garden, planted by its master's own hands,* and its 

 broad acres rendered productive by an intelligent and comprehen- 

 sive system of agriculture of his own construction think, oh ye 

 who have never thus taken root in the soil, how hard it must have 

 been for Washington the Farmer, to surrender again, even to the 

 flattering wish of a whole nation, the life that he so much loved, for 

 the hard yoke of what he felt to be the most difficult public 

 service. 



It is the best proof of how thoroughly devoted by natural taste 

 was Washington to agriculture, that instead of leaving Mount Ver- 

 non to the charge of the excellent agent whom he had well 

 grounded in his own system of practice, and who could no doubt 

 have continued that practice with success, he never lost sight for a 



* Washington's residence exhibited every mark of the cultivated and 

 refined country gentleman. He appears to have had considerable taste in 

 ornamental gardening ; he decorated his pleasure-grounds with much effect : 

 and his diary shows that he collected and planted a variety of rare trees 

 and shrubs with his own hands, and watched their growth with the greatest 

 interest. He employed skilful gardeners, and pruning was one of his favor- 

 ite exercises. 



