1759 he took in L1,839; from
January 1, 1760, to January 10, 1761, about L2,535; in 1772, L3,213;
from August 3, 1775, to August 30, 1776, L2,119; in 1786, L2,025; in
1791, about L2,025. Included in some of these entries, particularly the
earlier ones, are payments of interest and principal on his wife's share
of the Custis estate. Of the later ones, that for 1786--a bad farming
year--includes rentals on more than a score of parcels of land amounting
to L282.15, L25 rental on his fishery, payments for flour, stud
fees, etc.

Upon the average, therefore, I am inclined to believe that his annual
receipts were roughly in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars to
fifteen thousand dollars a year from his estate.

As regards Mount Vernon alone, he sometimes made estimates of what the
crop returns ought to be; in other words, counted his chickens before
they were hatched. Thus in 1789 he drew up alternative plans and
estimated that one of these, if adopted, ought to produce crops worth a
gross of L3,091, another L3,831, and a third L4,449, but that from these
sums L1,357, L1,394 and L1,445 respectively would have to be deducted
for seed, food for man and beasts, and other expenses.

A much better idea of the financial returns from his home estate can be
obtained from his actual balances of gain and loss. One of these, namely
for 1798, which was a poor year, was as follows:

BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798

DR. GAINED CR. LOST

Dogue Run Farm 397.11.2 Mansion House .. 466.18. 2-1/2
Union Farm .... 529.10.11-1/2 Muddy Hole Farm 60. 1. 3-1/2
River Farm .... 234. 4.11 Spinning ....... 51. 2. 0
Smith's Shop .. 34.12.09-1/2 Hire of Head
Distillery .... 83.13. 1 overseer ..... 140. 0. 0
Jacks ......... 56.1
Traveler ...... 9.17
(stud horse)
Shoemaker ..... 28.17. 1
Fishery ....... 165.12. 0-1/4 By clear gain on
Dairy ......... 30.12. 3 the Estate.....L898.16. 4-1/4

Mr. Paul Leicester Ford considered this "a pretty poor showing for an
estate and negroes which had certainly cost him over fifty thousand
dollars, and on which there was live stock which at the lowest
estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more." In some respects it
was a poor showing. Yet the profit Washington sets down is about seven
per cent. upon sixty-five thousand dollars, and seven per cent. is more
than the average farmer makes off his farm to-day except through the