When someone thinks of George Washington, the first thing
that comes to mind is usually the first President of the United States. For someone with military background,
possibly the great General who fought at Valley Forge, Yorktown, and the man
who led his men across the icy Delaware to surprise the British army. Possibly even someone with a political
background would think of George Washington as the Founding Father who presided
over the Constitutional Convention. However,
the last thing he is possibly ever known for is his international reputation as
a farmer. This reputation has been far
overshadowed by his great public feats.
Over one
million people each year visit Mount Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington. They come with the hopes of seeing the great
view of the Potomac, the magnificent house, and the burial sight of George and
Martha Washington. However, most people
quickly walk past the part that George Washington himself loved the most about
the property; the garden.
It may surprise many that while Washington was planning
these great military attacks to defeat the British; he was also designing new
ornamental groves for his gardens at Mount Vernon. For Washington, a garden was
a way to mentally escape from the fighting that was ensuing around him. As Washington traveled around during the war,
he would study soil and agricultural practices, and note different species of
trees that he saw along the way.
Washington
was a hands-on farmer. While he had
slaves that would tend the garden, Washington rode everyday no matter the
weather to oversee the planting, growth, and harvesting of crops. He selected which plants would be planted,
and where they would be placed in the garden.
He took a scientific approach to farming, keeping meticulous notes
everyday about the growth of the plants, even going as far as counting all of
his plants and keeping track of when and how they perished.
Washington
started as many farmers in the Americas did, as a tobacco farmer. This was the leading cash crop, as it was
being sold to the British merchants in great quantities at the time. However, tobacco had devastating effects on
the soil. For Washington, tobacco was a
horrible crop to grow not only due to the fact that it depleted the fertility
of the land, but also because it showed a dependence on British markets. For this reason, in 1766, Washington quit
growing tobacco and began growing wheat, corn, and other grains.
Upon
returning from war, one thing Washington said was that he would work on
replenishing the fertility of his soil that was depleted from the growth of
tobacco. He did this by trying many
different experiments. The first few experiments
involved finding different types of fertilizer, as manure, compost, or dung was
considered necessary to all soils.
In
April 14, 1760, Washington described in his diary an experiment to determine
the best compost for plants. He set up a box with 10 compartments, each
containing plants from the garden. The first box was the control, and in the
others he added equal amounts of compost, dung, or mud from the Potomac River,
which he referred to as "Black Mould." In each compartment, three
grains of wheat, oats and barley were planted at equal distance and depth. The
results from the experiment showed that the best compost was the hardest to
come by, the Black Mould, due to its extreme difficulty in collecting.
Dungs
that Washington used included human dung that was collected from the
necessaries that lined his bowling green, and manure collected from animals
such as cow, oxen, hog, sheep, horse, and chicken. Of all the dungs that were
tested, horse manure was considered the best, but dung from cow, oxen, hog,
and sheep all had their good qualities and were suggested for use.
There was a warning about pigeon and chicken manure because it was very hot and
could burn plants. When it was to be used, Washington suggested using half as
much of that material than the others.
Other
things that Washington was interested in experimenting with were non-native
plant species. Plants that were sent to
him by friends of other countries were used in experiments to see how to get
them to survive in the harsh climate of Virginia. He used a small botanical garden to carry out
these experiments, which he often referred to as “the little garden by the salt
house” He would do all of the planting and cultivating himself for this garden.
One of the more unusual plants was hundreds of Chinese seeds
that were planted in one quarter of the garden. Unfortunately, none of them
sprouted. Washington was quite exact with his personal plantings, as shown in
his diary entries. On the April 7, 1787, he recorded, "In my Botanical
garden in the Section immediately adjoining to, & west of the Salt House I
sowed first 3 rows of the Kentucke clover 15 inches apart and next to these 9
rows of guinea grass in rows the same distance apart."
Washington was
so obsessed with experimenting with exotic plants that he built a greenhouse
that was similar to a structure in Baltimore, Maryland to house his plants that
he knew would not survive the winter. The Greenhouse provided a winter refuge
for tropical and semi-tropical plants such as coffee, orange, lemon, lime, sago
palm, and aloe.
Washington also
did experiments with animals at Mount Vernon, such as using selective breeding
techniques with sheep to produce a better quality of wool and the use of a
Mule.
Washington
experimented with around 60 different types of plants including: Hemp for
making linen, cloth and rope; cotton; silk and flax. Through his work with experiments, Washington
was able to find better and more advanced ways of cultivating these crops. His overall goal was for the United States
become a self-sufficient country leaving all memories of Europe behind.
One of the best
examples of Washington’s pioneering feats in agriculture is the use of the
Mule. Washington found that Mules were more docile than a donkey, less fragile
than horses, and inexpensive to maintain.
Washington cunningly bread mules, which until then hardly existed in the
country. This has led to some calling
Washington the Father of the American Mule.
Washington’s
experiments in agriculture changed the way people farmed their fields. He saw farming as a way to separate the
United States from Great Britain. Washington believed that “ in the present
state of America, our welfare and prosperity depend upon the cultivation of the
lands and turning the produce of them to best advantage.” Through his work in all fields: Military,
Political, and Agriculture; he is truly seen as the father of the United
States.
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