222 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



tion and soil erosion were problems he was continually fight- 

 ing, and he made extraordinary efforts to preserve the texture 

 of the soils along the river banks. His Mt. Vernon estate 

 amounted to over eight thousand acres, and was subdivided into 

 five farms, the home farm being called Mansion House Farm. 

 In 1760 his principal crops were clover, rye, grass, hops, tre- 

 foil, timothy, and speltz. His operations as a livestock man 

 were particularly comprehensive. He raised cattle, sheep, swine, 

 horses, deer, turkeys, and geese, with his greatest interest in 

 sheep, horses and mules. At this day it is rather curious to 

 find negroes listed among the livestock products of his farm. 

 General Washington kept stallions for public service, prin- 

 cipally of the Arab breed, but he also in his later days had a 

 few Narragansett pacers. General Washington imported a 

 number of sheep from England, mostly rams, these animals 

 being of the Dishley-Leicester breed, originated by Robert 

 Bakewell (72). He was the first breeder of mules in America, 

 having imported several Spanish jacks, and was presented with 

 a pair of Bedford pigs by a British Admiral, which had an 

 important influence in the foundation of the Chester White 

 breed of swine. 



Modest, disinterested, generous and just, he sought nothing 

 for himself in the way of public favor, and declined all public 

 reimbursement beyond his original outlays, scrupulously 

 accounted for. What better eulogy has ever been written than 

 Richard Henry Lee's "First in war, first in peace and first in 

 the hearts of his countrymen." 



