by physical causes that lie beyond the limits of our present knowledge, has been rendered exceedingly probable; yet we can observe them for so short a portion of their courses, and these seem so very apt to be altered, that we ought not to speak of them with anything like the certainty with which we speak of the planets. As far as we have been able to examine them, they appear to obey the same laws as the other distinct masses that make up the known part of the system of the universe. Beyond this we know nothing of their nature; and as for their effects, moral or physical, we need give ourselves no trouble about them, for there is not a trace of the existence of such effects upon any authentic record.

University o MICHIGAN

MISCELLANEOUS DIRECTIONS, HINTS, AND REMARKS.

XIV. WASHINGTON'S AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

NOTWITHSTANDING the numerous public avocations and duties, in which Washington was engaged for a large portion of his life, it is known, that to no one object did he give so much of his time and attention as to Agriculture. The frequency and minuteness of his directions to his managers on this head, and the unceasing correspondence, which he kept up during his absence from Mount Vernon, are truly astonishing, when it is considered in what important and absorbing interests his mind was perpetually occupied. We have selected a few particulars from his manuscript papers, which, at the same time they illustrate his agricultural habits, may in part serve as practical hints, or salutary maxims, to farmers in general.

1. DIRECTIONS TO THE MANAGER OF HIS FARMS.

A system closely pursued, although it may not in all its parts be the best that could be devised, is attended with innumerable advantages. The conductor of the business, in this case, can never be under any dilemma in his proceedings. The overseers, and even the laborers, know what is to be done, and what they are capable of doing, in ordinary seasons. The force to be employed may be in due proportion to the work which is to be performed, and a reasonable and tolerably accurate estimate may be made of the product. But when no plan is fixed, when directions flow from day to day, the business becomes a mere chaos, frequently shifting, and sometimes at a stand, for want of knowing what to do, or the manner of doing it. Thus is occasioned a waste of time, which is of more importance, than is generally imagined.

Nothing can so effectually obviate the evil, as an established system, made known to all who are actors in it, that all may be enabled thereby to do their parts to advantage. This gives ease to the principal conductor of the business, and is more satisfactory to the persons who immediately overlook it, less harassing to the laborers, as well as more beneficial to the employer.

Under this view of the subject, the principal service, which you can render me, is to explain to the overseers (who will be furnished with duplicates) the plan, in all its parts, which is hereafter detailed; to hear their ideas with respect to the order in which the different sorts of work therein pointed out shall succeed each other, for the purpose of carrying it on to the best advantage; to correct any erroneous projects they may be disposed to adopt; and then to see that they adhere strictly to whatever may be resolved on, and that they are always (except when otherwise permitted) on their farms, and with their people. The work, under such circumstances, will go on smoothly; and, that the stock may be well fed, littered, and taken care of according to the directions, it will be necessary to inspect the conduct of the overseers in this particular, and those also whose immediate business it is to attend upon them, with a watchful eye; otherwise, and generally in severe weather, when attention and care are most needed, they will be most neglected.

Economy in all things is as commendable in the manager, as it is beneficial and desirable to the employer; and, on a farm, it shows itself in nothing more evidently, or more essentially, than in not suffering the provender to be wasted, but, on the contrary, in taking care, that every atom of it be used to the best advantage; and, likewise, in not permitting the ploughs, harness, and other implements of husbandry, and the gears belonging to them, to be unnecessarily exposed, trodden under foot, run over by carts, and abused in other respects, More good is derived from attending to the minutia of a farm, than strikes people at first view; and examining the farm-yards, fences, and looking into the fields to see that nothing is there but what is allowed to be there, is oftentimes the means of producing more good, or at least of avoiding more evil, than can be accomplished by riding from one working party, or one overseer, to another. I have mentioned these things not only because they have occurred to me, but because, although apparently trifles, they prove far otherwise in the result.

To request that my people may be at their work as soon as it is light, work till it is dark, and be diligent while they are at it, can hardly be necessary, because the propriety of it must strike every manager, who attends to my interest, or regards his own character, and who, on reflecting, must be convinced that lost labor is never to be regained. The presumption is, that every laborer does as much in twenty-four hours as his strength, without endangering his health or constitution, will allow. But there is much more in what is called head work, that is, in the manner of conducting business, than is generally imagined. For take two managers, and give to each the same number of laborers, and let the laborers be equal in all respects. Let both these managers rise equally early, go equally late to rest, be equally active, sober, and industrious, and yet, in the course of the year, one of them, without pushing the hands under him more than the other, shall have performed infinitely more work. To what is this owing? Why, simply to contrivance, resulting from that forethought and arrangement, which will guard against the misapplication of labor, and doing it unseasonably. In ploughing, for instance, though the field first intended for it, or in which the ploughs may actually have been at work, should, from its situation, be rendered unfit (by rain or other cause) to be worked, ond other spots, even though the call for them may not be so urgent, can be ploughed, this business ought to go on, because the general operation is promoted by it. So with respect to other things, and particularly carting, where nothing is more common, than, when loads are to go to a place, and others to be brought from it, though not equally necessary at the same moment, to make two trips, when one would serve. These things are only mentioned to show, that the manager, who takes a comprehensive view of his business, will throw no labor away.

For these reasons it is, that I have endeavoured to give a general view of my plans, as to the business of the year, that the concerns of the several plantations may go on without application daily for orders, unless it be in particular cases, or where these directions are not clearly understood.

2. PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS FOR CULTIVATING A FARM NEAR

MOUNT VERNON.

The directions alluded to in the preceding article, for the management of the farms in the neighbourhood of Mount Vernon, were given in December, 1799, a few days before Washington's death, and intended for the-year 1800. We shall select here the part relating to one farm only (called the River Farm), which may serve as a sample of the whole.

Crops for the River Farm, and Operations thereon, for the Year 1800.

FIELD NO. 1, Is now partly in wheat; part is to be sown with oats; another part may be sown with pease, broad cast; part is in meadow, and will remain so; the most broken, washed, and indifferent part is to remain uncultivated, but to be harrowed and smoothed in the spring, and the worst portions, (if practicable) to be covered with litter, straw, weeds, or any kind of vegetable rubbish, to prevent them from running into gullies.

No. 2. - One fourth is to be in corn, and to be sown with wheat; another fourth in buckwheat and pease, half of it in the one, and half in the other, sown in April, to be ploughed in as a green dressing, and by actual experiment to ascertain which is best. The whole of this fourth is to be sown with wheat also; another fourth part is to be naked fallow for wheat; and the other and last quarter to be appropriated for pumpkins, cymlins, turnips, Yateman pease (in hills), and such other things of this kind as may be required; and to be sown likewise with rye, after they are taken off, for seed.

No. 3,- Is now in wheat, to be harvested in the year 1800; the stubble of which, immediately after harvest, is to be ploughed in and sown thin with rye; and such parts thereof as are low, or produce a luxuriant growth of grain, are to have grassseeds sprinkled over them. The whole for sheep to run on in the day (but housed at night) during the winter and spring months. If it should be found expedient, part thereof in the spring might be reserved for the purpose of seed.

No. 4, Will be in corn, and is to be sown in the autumn of that year with wheat, to be harvested in 1801; and to be treated in all respects as has been directed for No. 3, the preceding year. It is to be manured as much as the means will permit, with such aids as can be procured during the present winter and ensuing spring.

Nos. 5, 6, 7, & 8, Are to remain as they are, but nothing suffered to run upon them; as ground will be allotted for the sole purpose of pasturage, and invariably used as such.