New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-20
WASHINGTON AS FARMER
The First Scientific Agriculturist
of America.

GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER Being an
Account o, His Home LIFE and Agricultural Ac-
t,itles By Paul Leland Haworh. With MANY
illustrations. Facsimilcs o. Private Papers and
Map Of WAshingion's Estate Drawn By Nm
self. l2mo pp ~ SSs The B06os- Merrill Com
pany.
Washington the Soldier we know,
Washington the Statesman. and Wash
ington the Father of his Country-in
Lees sentertious phrase, First in War.
First in Peace, First in the Hearts OF
his Countrymen. All this is well. and
of perpetual pertinence and value. But
there were other phases OF the
man also we'll worthy of remem-
brance and of study, and among them
not the least was that which was sug-
eested by Byron's eloquent tribute to
"the Cincinnatus of the West" 1t Is
with that side Of Washington's life
that Mr.. Haworth deals.
Washington has been credlted-or IN
these days shall we say charged =
with having been the richest American
of his time. That estimate is probably
an exaggeration. But he was certain
" man of what was then excep-
tional wealth, ranking among the Tore
most. Few probably have reflected
upon the sources of his wealth, though
they are Of instructive interest and are
not puzzling 70 discern. He did not
inherit fortune. He was not bank
err or a merchant. He was an extern
sive landowner, and he was en- indus
trious, practical farmer; and ne him.
self got his wealth from the soil.
From his father, as younger son
in the days of primogenlture favor
itism, he inherited less than 300 acres.
But in his youth he obeyed the
promptings of land hunger and &C
ouired new tracts at every opportunity;
His earnings as a surveyor enaDled
him in q few years to acquire, at nom
inal prices, more than 1000 acres more,
chiefly wild land. Then, soon AFTER
his half-brother Lawrence's death IN
1852, he came into possession OF the
Mount Vernon estates, OF more thah
$500 acres. Thus at the outbreak OF
the French and Indian war he had
domain Of nearly 5000 acres, or be-
tween seven and eight square miles.
That. however, was only the beginning:
He married the Widow GUSTS, who had
the then large fortune of perhaps
500 900. and with that capital and
through other means his acquisition OF
land proceeded apace. Before the Kew
olution ne had added TO his Virginia
estates 12,463 acres more. besides w.
900 acres in the upper Ohio valley,
which was given to him for his SER
vices in the French and Indian war.
But he did not stop there. Al ,he
close of the Revolution he wrote that
he had patents for 10000 acres IN the
West. and surveys and patents PEND
ing for 10000 acres more. BY the
time he became President he had oo'-
900. ;.h
He was not satisfied, however, with
beinp n mere landowner, possessing
vast tracts which would rapidly IN
crease in value. He aimed still more al
being a land cultivator. So he cult
vated as much Of his holdings as he
could. and with intensive cultivation
which he was probably the first Amer.
can TO practise. II was the fault oil
American farmers, he said, that tne!
lust scratched over the surface OF the
Ground and cultivated and improved
none OF it as they should. That was
because here land was cheap and LABOR
dear. In England, on the contrary
where land was dear and labor cheap,
they improved and cultivated the land
as highly AS possible, so as TO get large
crops from small areas. With Engll5h
and other European farmers getting
twice as much from an acre as Ameri-
can farmers do, it is obvious that agri,
culture relatively has not changed
much in the last $50 years.
There was then little attention paid
10 rotation of crops, or TO fertllizing
the land. Said Thomas Jefferson, him
self a practical farmer on large scale,
ave can buy an acre Of new land
cheaper than we can manure an old
one" Not so George Washington. lie
had. in Carriers words, respect for the
future. lie was the pioneer OF con-
servation. To keep the soil fertile and
productive. rather than to exhaust II,
was his rule. SO he fortified his land.
He practiscd rotation of crops which
would play OF one against the other
and let the land while il was producing
one crop, recover from the strain OF
producing its predecessor. He studied
soils and crops, so as TO adapt the one
TO the other. He was our first inten-
sive farmer. He was the first in this
country to grow alfalfa; as also the
first to grow and work mules. He de-
voted much attention 10 the breeding of
frst-class cattle and horses. He ex-