Arthur Young was one of the first experts to publish widely on English farming practices and encourage experimentation in agriculture as a part of the growing new husbandry movement in the late eighteenth century. Young had many correspondents on agricultural topics in England, France, and the United States, including George Washington.
Early Life
Young was born in Suffolk, England in 1741. Young attempted a few other occupations before taking up farming in 1763. He continued to farm until 1794 when he was appointed to the Board of Agriculture in the position of secretary.
Young's writings on agricultural topics included Rural Economy; or, Essays on the Practical Parts of Husbandry, first published in 1770, and the periodical Annals of Agriculture and other Useful Arts, published from 1784-1815. In addition, Young authored several travel related books.
Relationship with George Washington
Young admired Washington’s interests in agriculture. In his first letter to Washington, Young wrote, "the spectacle of a great commander retiring in the manner you have done from the head of a victorious army to the amusements of agriculture, calls all the feelings of my bosom into play & gives me the strongest inclination, I fear an impotent one, to endeavour in the smallest degree to contribute to the success of so laudable a pleasure."1
Young made good on his promise to send Washington copies of Annals of Agriculture. Young wrote many of the articles in the Annals himself. He encouraged readers to submit their experiences, but the circulation of the periodical was never very large. Washington’s library contained thirty-one volumes of the periodical ranging from 1784 to 1798. The first volume contains the inscription from Young: "To General Washington In Testimony of the Veneration I feel for so great & good a character."2 Washington sent a second set of the periodical to the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, an organization that included Washington within its membership.
The correspondence between Young and Washington reflected the topics covered in the Annals of Agriculture. They shared recommendations on types of seeds, plant yields, tools, and livestock. Washington frequently requested items for Young to ship to him.3 Young submitted a questionnaire to Washington to find out about all aspects of agriculture in the early United States, which Washington shared with contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. They provided Young with information about the cost of land, building, and the use of enslaved labor.
Young's influence on Washington is evident in Washington's last message to Congress as President when he argued in favor of the establishment of a national board of agriculture. On January 7, 1786, Young wrote directly to Washington, offering to procure workers, materials, and farm animals as needed to support the endeavor. The correspondence with Young soon expanded to include other prominent figures in English agricultural circles, including Dr. James Anderson and Sir John Sinclair. In 1797, Washington was even made an honorary member of the English Board of Agriculture.
Young made frequent entreaties to Washington to allow him to print all or part of his letters in the Annals of Agriculture. Washington demurred repeatedly and in one instance stated, "I wish most devoutly to glide silently and unnoticed through the remainder of my life."4 Young finally accepted Washington's decision – at least during his lifetime. After Washington's death, Young published Letters from His Excellency General Washington, to Arthur Young, Esq., F.R.S., in 1801.
Gwendolyn K. White, Ph.D. Candidate George Mason University
Notes:
1. “To George Washington from Arthur Young, 7 January 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives.
2. Quoted in Stanley Ellis Cushing, The George Washington Library Collection (Boston: The Boston Athenaeum, 1997), 32.
3. "George Washington to Arthur Young, 6 August 1786” and “George Washington to Arthur Young, 15 November 1786," The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008. Original source: Confederation Series (1 January 1784–23 September 1788), Volume 4 (2 April 1786–31 January 1787)
4. "George Washington to Arthur Young, 4 December 1788,” Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Arthur Young and His Times, ed. G.E. Mingay. London: The Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1975, 17-18.
Brunt, Liam. "Rehabilitating Arthur Young." The Economic History Review 56, no. 2. May 2003, 265-99.
Gazley, John G. The Life of Arthur Young, 1741-1820. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1973.
Loehr, Rodney C. "Arthur Young and American Agriculture," Agricultural History 43, no. 1, 49.
Ragsdale, Bruce A. Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2021.
Young, Arthur. The Autobiography of Arthur Young, ed. M. Betham-Edwards. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1967.
