s. The description of
Washington's experience at Mount Vernon, only a few miles distant
from Green Spring Farm, may be taken as typical of that of his
neighbors:

On the thin topsoil that overlay the clay slopes at Mount Vernon,
George Washington grew wheat that sold in Alexandria, made ship's
biscuit that was famous the world over--and rye that supplied his
less celebrated distillery. The increasing number of cattle
accounted for the introduction of mangel-wurzels, turnips, and
other root crops in the rotation. The soil-building virtues of
peas were discovered. Beef cattle grew in increasing numbers, and
began to appear prominently in inventories and wills. Orchards and
vineyards were planted more widely. With these developments,
simultaneously with the decline of the tobacco trade, a lively
business sprang up in shipping corn, wheat, and livestock to the
West Indies....[25]

In his efforts to develop methods of husbandry which would restore the
fertility of the land, Washington reflected a concern which was
widespread among Virginians of his time and the first half of the
nineteenth century. Organized efforts to promote better husbandry
through exchange of practical experience and dissemination of the
results of experimentation and invention began in the 1770's.[26]
Between 1790 and 1830, hundreds of publications on agriculture were
produced[27] and more than 100 inventions of agricultural devices were
patented to Virginians, among them Cyrus McCormick's reaper, the most
influential mechanical factor in the development of American
agriculture in the nineteenth century.[28] National leaders such as
Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Marshall actively worked in
societies which encouraged experimentation and study for improvement
of agriculture through what was called "scientific farming."

With the effort to establish scientific farming came experiments in
crop rotation, with use of clovers and grasses interspersed between
other crops, increased use of manure and artificial fertilizers,
better plows and methods of soil preparation, and more attention to
control of erosion. Interest in improving farm animals during this
period led to introduction of merino sheep and new breeds of mules.

Despite this active element in Virginia's agricultural system, and
notwithstanding the substantial amount of intelligent and successful
experimentation and publicity of results which this element inspir