Farmers in the United States 美國的農民

The famer peered through his square，eyeglasses and patiently counted the seeds. There are 8925 seeds to a pound of barley， he concluded. Counting red clover seeds， he figured 71，000 to the pound. Then， carefully， he counted the small seeds of to timothy. He figured 298，000 of the pound!
No one else had bothered to make these counts. Why did George Whashington make them? He needed to know how many pounds to sow to get each crop as thick as he wanted it.
Washington's neighbors did everything by custom or by "rule of thumb." But his neibors weren't making their farms pay. Farmer Washington wanted to know the best time to plant， hoe deep to plow， how to raise better cows and pigs. There was no Department of Agricuture to write. So he had to find out for himself. He went about it as a scientist does： observing， measuring， comparing， tesing new ideas.
Two hundred years ago， many American farmers were always moving on， farther and farther west. They found it cheaper to buy a new acre than to fertilise an old one. But Georage Washington loved the land he had， poor as much of it was. He was dermined to improve his large farm of 8000 acres in Virginia.
Pioneer in Planting
Mount Vernon was then five farms. One was is "homehouse farm"， with a beautiful mansion， lawns and shade trees.
On the four neighboring farms he bought， much of the good soil had been washed away into the river. Only tobacco had been grown on these farms. The soil had become poor from having the same crop grown on it year after year.
Washington had a plan to save his soil. Every year he would change the crops grown in each field. With this system of crop rotation， he hoped to keep the soil good for farming.
Washington sat down with paper and pencil， compass and ruler. Before him was his own fine map of his fams. He divided up his fields and planned his rotations for each plot of land.
The first year he planted wheat. But wheat exhausts the soil. So the next year he planted buckwheat， and plowed it under. Then he followed with another wheat crop.
After that， for three years he sowed the land to grass and clover. He used the grass and clover as food for his cows and sheep. And he got his money back in beef and mutton， milk and butter.
Washington planned to rotate his crops for seven years. The last crop he plant was corn and potatoes. Then he began all over again， with wheat.
The farmer of today might find things wrong in Washington's plan. But the important thing is that Washington did rotate his crops. He was a pioneer at a time when his neighbors were ruining their fields.
Inventive Farmer
Washington expermented with planting wheat in rows instead of just throwing it here and there. And he invented a combined plow and seeder. The seed went into a barrel with holes in it. As it moved along behind the plow， the barrel revolved and shok out the seeds through the holes.
At first，lots of things were wrong with this invention， but Washington patiently ironed them out. You mustn't fill the barrel too full， he found， or the seeds would choke the holes. He decided to make the holes funnel-shaped， like a cone. So， by having the larger opening of the hole on the outside of the barrel， the seeds wrer less likely to jam.
Raiser of Animals
Farm animals interested Washington， too. Open he heard that mules from Spain were excellent for pulling heavy loads. He asked the American ambassador in Madrid to send him some mules. At that time it was against Spanish law to send mules to another country. But the King of Spain made an exception in the case of so famous a foreigner as Geoge Washington. Thus， our first President became the first man to introduce mules into our agriculture.
Master of "Muddy Hole"
One of Washington's favorite farms was called "Muddy Hole". Heavy rains had washed the rich soil into the farm's lowlands. Washington knew that this soft， stickly earth could once again produce good crops. Year after year， he dragged up the mud and poured it back on the land from which the rains had stolen it. Many a time， according to a visitor， Washington would raise his glass and say， "Success to the mud."
Planter of Trees
Fruits of the American wilderness fascinated Washington. A botanist brought him pecans from southern illionis， and Washington became the first farmer to cultivate this popular American nut. Three of the trees set out by his hand are still standing.
Today much is gone from Mount Vernon's five farms. All the barns are gone， and there is almost nothing of the mill where "G.Washington" ground fine flour. But sth will never be gone. It is the memory of G.Washington， himself. He was a man with a long list of titles. We may think of him as Surveyor， General or President. But he counted no title so high as this one： "G.Washington， Farmer."