George Washington: Farmer

Paul Leland Haworth

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• Publié par: anna
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 39
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, George Washington: Farmer, by Paul Leland Haworth This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: George Washington: Farmer Author: Paul Leland Haworth Release Date: March 31, 2004 [eBook #11858] Language: English Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER*** E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team By permission of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association Mount Vernon Stable Built in 1733 Showing also the Powell Coach. GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS HOME LIFE AND AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES By PAUL LELAND HAWORTH Author of THE PATH OF GLORY, RECONSTRUCTION AND UNION AMERICA IN FERMENT, ETC. WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS FACSIMILIES OF PRIVATE PAPERS, AND A MAP OF WASHINGTON'S ESTATE DRAWN BY HIMSELF 1915 "The aim of the farmers in this country (if they can be called farmers) is, not to make the most they can from the land, which is or has been cheap, but the most of the labour, which is dear; the consequence of which has been, much ground has been scratched over and none cultivated or improved as it ought to have been: whereas a farmer in England, where land is dear, and labour cheap, finds it his interest to improve and cultivate highly, that he may reap large crops from a small quantity of ground." Washington to Arthur Young, December 5, 1791. PREFACE The story of George Washington's public career has been many times told in books of varying worth, but there is one important aspect of his private life that has never received the attention it deserves. The present book is an attempt to supply this deficiency. I desire to acknowledge gratefully the assistance I have received from Messrs. Gaillard Hunt and John C. Fitzpatrick of the Library of Congress, Mr. Hubert B. Fuller lately of Washington and now of Cleveland, Colonel Harrison H. Dodge and other officials of the Mount Vernon Association, and from the work of Paul Leicester Ford, Worthington C. Ford and John M. Toner. Above all, in common with my countrymen, I am indebted to heroic Ann Pamelia Cunningham, to whose devoted labor, despite ill health and manifold discouragements, the preservation of Mount Vernon is due. To her we should be grateful for a shrine that has not its counterpart in the world--a holy place that no man can visit without experiencing an uplift of heart and soul that makes him a better American. PAUL LELAND HAWORTH. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. A MAN IN LOVE WITH THE SOIL. II. BUILDING AN ESTATE. III. VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE IN WASHINGTON'S DAY. IV. WASHINGTON'S PROBLEM. V. THE STUDENT OF AGRICULTURE. VI. A FARMER'S RECORDS AND OTHER PAPERS. VII. AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. VIII. CONSERVING THE SOIL. IX. THE STOCKMAN. X. THE HORTICULTURIST AND LANDSCAPE GARDENER. XI. WHITE SERVANTS AND OVERSEERS. XII. BLACK SLAVES. XIII. THE FARMER'S WIFE. XIV. A FARMER'S AMUSEMENTS. XV. A CRITICAL VISITOR AT MOUNT VERNON. XVI. PROFIT AND LOSS. XVII. ODDS AND ENDS. XVIII. THE VALE OF SUNSET. INDEX. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Mount Vernon Stable, Built in 1733, Showing also the Powell Coach. Mount Vernon, Showing Kitchen to the Left and Covered Way Leading to It. The Washington Family. Driveway from the Lodge Gate. The Porter's Lodge. One of the Artificial Mounds. The Tree Upon It Was Set Out by Mrs. Grover Cleveland. The Seed House. Beyond Lay the Vegetable Garden. The Mount Vernon Kitchen (restored). Map of Mount Vernon Drawn by Washington and Sent by Him to Arthur Young in 1793. Gully on a Field of Union Farm, Showing Susceptibility to Erosion. Looking Across Part of Dogue Run Farm to "Woodlawn," the Home of Nelly Custis Lewis. First Page of Washington's Digest of Duhamel's Husbandry. Dogue Run Below the Site of the Mill. On the Road to the Mill and Pohick Church. Part of Washington's Plan for His Sixteen-Sided Barn. Bill of Lading for "Royal Gift". Experimental Plot, with Servants' Quarters (restored) in Background. West Front of Mansion House, Showing Bowling Green and Part of Serpentine Drive. First Page of the Diary for 1760. Part of a Manager's Weekly Report. The Butler's House and Magnolia Set Out by Washington the Year of His Death. Spinning House--Last Building to the Right. Weekly Report on the Work of the Spinners. The Flower Garden. A Page from a Cash Memorandum Book. One of Washington's Tavern Bills. [pg 001] GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER CHAPTER I A MAN IN LOVE WITH THE SOIL One December day in the year 1788 a Virginia gentleman sat before his desk in his mansion beside the Potomac writing a letter. He was a man of fifty-six, evidently tall and of strong figure, but with shoulders a trifle stooped, enormously large hands and feet, sparse grayish-chestnut hair, a countenance somewhat marred by lines of care and marks of smallpox, withal benevolent and honest-looking--the kind of man to whom one could intrust the inheritance of a child with the certainty that it would be carefully administered and scrupulously accounted for to the very last sixpence. [pg 002] The letter was addressed to an Englishman, by name Arthur Young, the foremost scientific farmer of his day, editor of the Annals of Agriculture , author of many books, of which the best remembered is his Travels in France on the eve of the French Revolution, which is still read by every student of that stirring era. "The more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs," such were the words that flowed from the writer's pen, "the better I am pleased with them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits. In indulging these feelings I am led to reflect how much more delightful to an undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth than all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of conquests." Thus wrote George Washington in the fulness of years, honors and experience. Surely in this age of crimson mists we can echo his correspondent that it was a "noble sentiment, which does honor to the heart of this truly great man." Happy America to have had such a philosopher as a father! [pg 003] "I think with you that the life of a husbandman is the most delectable," he wrote on another occasion to the same friend. "It is honorable, it is amusing, and, with judicious management, it is profitable. To see plants rise from the earth and flourish by the superior skill and bounty of the