the sun."

Three weeks later he inspected the boxes and concluded that Nos. 8 and 9
gave the best results.

The plows of the period were cumbersome and did their work poorly.
Consequently in March, 1760, Washington "Fitted a two Eyed Plow instead
of a Duck Bill Plow", and tried it out, using his carriage horses in the
work. But this new model proved upon the whole a failure and a little
later he "Spent the greater part of the day in making a new plow of my
own Invention." Next day he set the new plow to work "and found She
answerd very well."

A little later he "got a new harrow made of smaller and closer teethings
for harrowing in grain--the other being more proper for preparing the
ground for sowing."

Much of his attention in the next few years was devoted to wheat
growing, for, as already related, he soon decided gradually to
discontinue tobacco and it was imperative for him to discover some
other money crop to take its place. We find him steeping his seed wheat
in brine and alum to prevent smut and he also tried other experiments to
protect his grain from the Hessian fly and rust. Noticing how the
freezing and thawing of the ground in spring often injured the wheat by
lifting it out of the ground, he adopted the practice of running a heavy
roller over the wheat in order to get the roots back into the ground and
he was confident that when the operation was performed at the proper
time, that is when the ground was soft and the roots were still alive,
it was productive of good results.

In June, 1763, he "dug up abt. a load of Marle to spread over Wheat Land
for experiment." In 1768 he came to the conclusion that most farmers
began to cut their wheat too late, for of course cradling was a slow
process--scarcely four acres per day per cradler--and if the acreage was
large several days must elapse before the last of the grain could be
cut, with the result that some of it became so ripe that many of the
kernels were shattered out and lost before the straw could be got to the
threshing floor. By careful experiments he determined that the grain
would not lose perceptibly in size and weight if the wheat were cut
comparatively green. In wheat-growing communities the discussion as to
this question still rages--extremists on one side will not cut their
wheat till it is dead ripe, while those on the other begin to harvest it
when it is almost sea-green.

In 1763 Washington entered into an agreement with John Carlyle and