From George Washington to John Sinclair, 10 December 1796
To John Sinclair
Philadelphia 10th Decr 1796
Sir
Since I had the honor of writing to you in June last,1 I have been favoured with your letters of the 14th & 30th of May and 10th of September; accompanying the additional appendix to the chapter on manures; your address to the Board of Agriculture; and other valuable productions relative to that important subje⟨ct.⟩2
For your goodness in sending the⟨m⟩ to me, I pray you to accept my best thanks, and regrets at the sametime for the inflamation in your eyes; which, to a man as actively, and as usefully employed in one of the most interesting pursuits that can occupy a rational mind as you are must be doubly afflictive. If my wishes could contribute to a removal of the malady, they would be offered with much Sincerity.3
The result of the experiments entrusted to the care of Doctr Fordyce, must be as curious as they may prove interesting to the Science of Husbandry.4 Not less so wi⟨ll⟩ be, an intelligent solution of those querie⟨s⟩ relative to live stock, which are handed to the public.
A few months more, say the third of March next—and the scenes of m⟨y⟩ political life will close, & leave me in t⟨he⟩ shades of retirement;5 when, if a few yea⟨rs⟩ are allowed me to enjoy it (many I cannot expect, being upon the verge of sixty five) an⟨d⟩ health is continued to me, I shall peruse⟨, with⟩ pleasure and edification, the fruits of you⟨r⟩ meritorious labours, for the improvement of Agriculture; and shall have leisure I trust, to realize some of the useful disco⟨ve⟩ries which have been made in the Science of Husbandry—Patronised by you, so much for the interest of mankind, & your own hono⟨r.⟩
Until the above period shall have arrived, and particularly during the present Session of Congress, which commence⟨d⟩ the 5th instant; I can give but little atten⟨tion⟩ to matters out of the line of my immediate avocations: I did not, however, omit the ocasion at the opening of the Session, to call the attention of that body to the importance ⟨of⟩ Agriculture. What will be the result, ⟨I⟩ know not at present, but if it should be favourable, the hints which you will have it in your power to give, cannot fail of being gratefully received by the members who may constitute the Board.6
The articles entrusted to the care of Doctr Edwards came safe, and while all of them are curious—& entitled to my particular acknowledgments, none deserve to be held in higher estimation than the head of the Egyptian Wheat. They came much too late however for our usual seed time, but I delayed not a moment in sending them to my manager at Mount Vernon, with particular directions how to dispose of them to the best advantage; reserving one head as a resource, in case of failure from late sowing.7
Certainly no good reason can be assigned why the Hemp of New Zealand should not thrive with us, as that country lyes in about the same Southern latitude that our middle States do in the northern.8 The Hemp of the East Indies grows well here (from my own experience) and I have no doubt of the Tea plant succeeding in So. Carolina & Georgia.9
The Gentlemen whose names you have mentioned in your letter of the 10th of September, will, I am persuaded, be gratifie⟨d⟩ for your civilities.10 The true policy of this country is to live in peace & amity with all the World; and I am sure it is the wish of the government that it should do so, as long as is consistent with the respect that is due to itself.
I cannot conclude without requesting your acceptance of my grateful acknowledgments, for the expression of your wishes to see me in Great Britain, and under your hospitable roof;11 But I believe there are few things more certain than that ⟨after⟩ I have retired to Mount Vernon, I shall never go twenty miles beyond the limits of it; unless per chance, I should visit some landed property (under leases) at the distance of about Seventy miles from it.12 With very great esteem & respect I have the honor to be Sir Your most Obedt & Obliged
Go: Washington
ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW. Where the letterpress copy is mutilated, the text in angle brackets has been taken from the letter-book copy. GW transmitted this letter to Sinclair through Rufus King (see GW to King, 22 Dec.; and GW to Sinclair, 15 July, in 1:250–52). An extract of this letter was printed in Communications to the Board of Agriculture … (London, 1797), 1:374. That publication was in GW’s library at the time of his death (see , 91).
2. With his letters to GW of 14 and 30 May, Sinclair had enclosed copies of the Additional Appendix … On the Subject of Manures, Sir John Sinclair’s Address to the Board of Agriculture …, and Queries Relating to Live Stock (see also GW to Richard Peters, this date, and n.1 to that document). Other 1796 publications by the British Board of Agriculture, including Hints on Vegetation … (London, 1796) and Thomas Robertson’s Outline of the General Report Upon the Size of Farms … (Edinburgh, 1796), were in GW’s library at the time of his death (see , 91).
3. It was not until July 1797 that Sinclair reported an improvement to his health (see Sinclair to GW, 19 July 1797, in 1:262–63).
4. For the experiments on the effect of various manures on vegetation, conducted under the supervision of physician George Fordyce, see Sinclair to GW, 30 May, and n.4.
5. The inauguration of John Adams on 4 March 1797 marked the beginning of GW’s retirement from the presidency.
6. For GW’s statements about agriculture and agricultural boards in his recent annual message, and for Congress’s inaction on the matter, see GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 Dec., and n.21; see also Sinclair to GW, 15 June 1793 and 10 Sept. 1796.
7. For the items that Sinclair sent GW through Enoch Edwards, which included “a Sandwich Box” with Egyptian wheat, see Sinclair to GW, 10 September. GW transmitted “three heads” of the Egyptian wheat to Mount Vernon farm manager William Pearce and gave directives for its planting (Pearce to GW, 13 Nov.; see also GW to Pearce, 20 Nov.).
8. The northern and southern boundaries of New Zealand lie at about 30 and 46 degrees south latitude, respectively, and the middle states of the United States lie from about 36 to 40 degrees north latitude.
9. For GW’s cultivation of East Indian hemp at Mount Vernon, see GW to Howell Lewis or William Pearce, 6 Jan. 1794; and GW to Pearce, 24 Feb. 1794 and 15 March 1795.
New York Quaker Charles Collins likewise speculated that the tea plant might be “cultivated to advantage in the Southern or Western States,” and reported that it grew “wild in the fields of Savanna [Georgia]” (Collins to Thomas Jefferson, 25 March 1818, in , 12:553–55).
10. GW refers to Sinclair’s offer to be of assistance to Rufus King, U.S. minister to Great Britain, and to Christopher Gore and William Pinkney, the commissioners appointed to adjust claims of American merchants against Great Britain (see Sinclair to GW, 10 Sept., and n.4 to that document).
11. Sinclair had expressed a desire to see GW in England in his letter of 10 September.
12. GW refers to his lands in Berkeley County, Va. (now Jefferson County, W.Va.), where several lots were under lease (see GW to Arthur Young, 12 Dec. 1793, and n.7 to that document).