1From George Washington to Arthur Young, 15 November 1786 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed is a duplicate of the letter I had the honor of writing to you the 6th of August. The evil genius of the Vessel by which it was sent (which had detained her many weeks in this Country after the letters intended to go by her were ready, agreeably to the owners appointment) pursued her to Sea, and obliged the Captain (when many days out) by the leaky condition in which she appeared,...
2To George Washington from Arthur Young, 9 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
I beg leave to present your Excellency with a book I have published; &: to request that you will pass over the first half of it & read only the second. The age is so frivolous that if a work contain only a subject of importance it has but little chance of attention unless it proceed from a genius of the first class, and this circumstance induced me to publish some rubbish to tempt people to...
3From George Washington to Arthur Young, 20 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
I must beg your acceptance of my best thanks for the book that accompanied your polite letter of the 9th of June which came duly to my hands. I presume you have long before this received my letter which was committed to the care of Mr Pinckney, our Minister at the Court of Great Britain, and shall be very glad if the contents of it afforded you the information which it was intended to...
4From George Washington to Arthur Young, 20 March 1793 (Washington Papers)
Having had occasion in some late communications to you, to speak of the District which has been decided on (under a law of Congress) for the permanent seat of the government of the United States; I do myself the pleasure of sending you a plan of the intended City, which is now laying out in the centre thereof. It will serve to shew you, and such as may have the curiosity to look at it, that...
5From George Washington to Arthur Young, 2 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
I must begin this letter with an apology—no apology ought to be so satisfactory as the truth—and the truth is—that not receiving the account of the taxes of a Virginia Estate for which I had written (before I left this City during the recess of Congress) as mentioned in my letter to you of the 18th of June, the promise I then made of forwarding it to you in my next, had escaped me altogether,...
6From George Washington to Arthur Young, 1 September 1793 (Washington Papers)
Instead of commencing this letter with an apology for suffering your favor of the 17th of last Jany to remain so long unacknowledged, I will refer you to the bearer, who is perfectly acquainted with my situation, for the reason why it has done so. The bearer Sir, is Mr Lear, a gentleman who has been a member of my family seven years; and, until the present moment, my Secretary—consequently...
7From George Washington to Arthur Young, 7 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
At the request of several Gentlemen of my particular acquaintance in this City, I have taken the liberty of putting this letter into the hands of Dr Edwards, as an introduction of that Gent[l]eman to you. I am informed that Dr Edwards has two objects in view by going to Europe—the establishment of his health—and a desire of obtaining a knowledge of the agriculture of that part of the world. In...
8To George Washington from Arthur Young, 7 January 1786 (Washington Papers)
I scarcely know what apology to make for a letter so out of common forms as the present; but the spectacle of a great commander retiring in the manner you have done from the head of a victorious army to the amusements of agriculture, calls all the feelings of my bosom into play & gives me the strongest inclination, I fear an impotent one, to endeavour in the smallest degree to contribute to...
9From George Washington to Arthur Young, 15 August 1789 (Washington Papers)
Recollecting that in one of your letters to me you had requested me to send to you a sample of the wool produced by my sheep, I directed that a fleece of a middling quality should be sent to me at this place after the season of shearing, which has been done, and I now transmit it to you by the british Packet, directed to the care of Messrs Wakelin Welch and Son in London. I am Sir, your most...
10From George Washington to Arthur Young, 15 August 1791 (Washington Papers)
That I may not be thought inattentive to your favor of the 25th of Jany—which came to my hands about ten days ago only—I avail myself of the first Packet since the receipt of it to inform you that the Annals, and Chicorium Intybus have got safe to my hands. A set of the former I have presented in your name, agreeably to your request, to the Agricultural Society in this City. For the other...
11To George Washington from Arthur Young, 2 June 1794 (Washington Papers)
I should have done myself the honour of answering Your Excellency’s letter more fully than was in my power by the farmers I recommended to you, long since, but I waited to be able to transmit the second edition with large additions of my Travels. I now have that pleasure, & shall be happy if the book is honoured with a place in your library. The doubts you were pleased to express as to the...
12To George Washington from Arthur Young, 1 July 1788 (Washington Papers)
I recd the honour of Your Excellency’s Letter of Nov. 1 some weeks past but I have been so engaged in opposing the progress of our Wool Bill through both Houses of Parliament, that it was utterly impossible for me to make the necessary enquiries for answering it. I am very glad to hear the things I sent arrived tolerably safe but I am not surprized at the sainfoine coming up but thinly; for it...
13From George Washington to Arthur Young, 9 November 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 2d of June, with the second edition of your travels; and two sets of the 19th 20th and 21st vols. of your Annals (one set of which I shall send to the Agricultural Society of this City) came to my hands a few days ago only. The letter alluded to therein, as being sent by some farmers—whom you had the goodness to recommend to me, has not yet been received; nor had I, before,...
14From George Washington to Arthur Young, 1 November 1787 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 1st of Feby came to hand about the middle of May last. An absence of more than four months from home, will be the best apology I can make for my silence ’till this time. The Grain, Grass-seeds, Ploughs &ca arrived at the sametime agreeable to the list; but some of the former were injured (as will always be the case) by being put into the hold of the Vessel; however, upon the...
15To George Washington from Arthur Young, 18 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
Within these few days I recieved the honour of the letter Your Excellency has had the goodness to write, wth the very important communications annexed. It is impossible for me fully to express the high idea I have of your goodness in condescending to take so much trouble, so unusual with persons that fill your splendid station; but while the interests of an empire and the welfare of a great...
16From George Washington to Arthur Young, 6 August 1786 (Washington Papers)
I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 7th of Jany from Bradford-Hall, in Suffolk, and thank you for the favor of opening a correspondence, the advantages of which will be so much in my favor. Agriculture has ever been amongst the most favourite amusements of my life, though I never possessed much skill in the art, and nine years total inattention to it, has added nothing to a...
17From George Washington to Arthur Young, 4 December 1788 (Washington Papers)
I have been favored with the receipt of your letter dated the 1st day of July; and have to express my thanks for the three additional volumes of the Annals which have also come safely to hand. The more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs the better I am pleased with them. Insomuch that I can no where find so great satisfaction, as in those innocent & useful pursuits. In indulging these...
18To George Washington from Arthur Young, 19 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I should long since have acknowledged the receipt of your Excellency’s Letter but I waited from time to time in expectation of some curious seeds which I hoped to be able to send, but being disappointed repeatedly I postpone no longer the pleasure of thanking you with great sincerity for the confidence you honour me with in relation to publishing extracts from your letters. I dare not presume...
19To George Washington from Arthur Young, 17 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
I am to acknowledge the rect of three of Your Excellencys letters which contain information so truly valuable and important that I know not how to use expressions adequate to the occasion of thanking you for so great a condescention in gratifying the curiosity, however useful a curiosity of an individual with no greater claims than myself. Your information has thrown me affloat upon the High...
20From George Washington to Arthur Young, 5 December 1791 (Washington Papers)
In a letter which I addressed to you on the 15th of August, acknowledging the receipt of your favor dated the 25th of January preceeding, I promised to answer the queries contained in it, in detail. Accordingly, I took measures for that purpose, by writing to some of the most intelligent Farmers in the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland & Virginia; as you will perceive by...
21From George Washington to Arthur Young, 12 December 1793 (Washington Papers)
I wrote to you three months ago, or more, by my late secretary and friend, Mr Lear; but as his departure from this Country for Great Britain, was delayed longer than he or I expected, it is at least probable that that letter will not have reached your hands at a much earlier period than the one I am now writing. At the time it was written, the thoughts which I am now about to disclose to you...
22To George Washington from Arthur Young, 25 January 1791 (Washington Papers)
It would give me pain if I thought Your Excellency had the least idea of my neglecting your Wool: as no judgment could be formed of it correctly but by having it manufactured as far as spinning and combing &c. were concerned, I put it into the hands of an ingenious person at Bury who has but now returned it. The following is the account. It weighed 5 lb. 3 oz. value at present here 8d. per...
23To George Washington from Arthur Young, 1 February 1787 (Washington Papers)
I recd both the letters wch you did me the honour of writing, & the duplicate of one of them. It gives me a satisfaction not easily expressed to find that the liberty I took so much against common forms in writing to you, met with so favourable an interpretation; & the testimony you are so kind as to give in favour of my exertions in the Annals is the most flattering applause I could receive;...
24From George Washington to Arthur Young, 18–21 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 18th of Jany was received about a fortnight ago. For the Annals which you have had the goodness to send me, I pray you to accept my thanks. No directions having accompanied the second sett, and presuming they were intended for the Agricultural Society in this City, I have, in your name, presented them to that body. As far as it is in my power, I will endeavour to solve the...
25Enclosure: Extracts from Arthur Young to George Washington, 17 January 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
Extract of a Letter From Arthur Young Esquire To The President of the US. dated 17. Jan. 1793. “Your information has thrown me affloat on the high-Seas. To analyse your Husbandry has the difficulty of a problem. I cannot understand it, and the more I know of it, the more surprising it appears. Is it possible that the Inhabitants of a great Continent not new settlers, who of course live only to...