I am sorry it is not in my power to send you as many of the large hickory nuts of this country as you wished to plant, very few of the best trees are now left & they produced less than usual the last year & were soon consumed five only were left by accident which I now forward

I have not been althogether inattentive to those nuts since apart of the lands producing them have been in my possestion—

I have planted some of the largest & best which are growing vigorously & I have little doubt but the tree raised properly from that nut will be more productive than those which grow in the woods, for on clearing the lands & exposing them sudenly after the tree has matured they become sickly & unproductive—

Having succeeded in geting mold boards cast in Pensylvania & a greeable to apattern which I shewed Mr. Thomas M. Randolph at Richmond sometime since (& whose the manager of the fur[nace] failed in the attempt) I do myself the pleasure to present one of them to you, & have requested one of my sons who resides in Norfolk to forward it to Washington, they operate hansomly in our lands, much superior to any thing I have seen, after the board gets smooth but it requires some attention to get of the rough scale in the operating part of the board—

Accept Sir my best wishes for your health & hapiness