George Washington Autograph Diary Leaf.

WASHINGTON, George.

$250,000.00

Item Number: 142654

[Mount Vernon]:, March 1762.

Autograph manuscript, being George Washington’s diary entries for a portion of March 1762, detailing the fruit grafts that he has accomplished. 2 pages (5 14/16 x 3 10/16 inches, irregular) on a leaf of laid paper, [Mount Vernon], March 1762; browned, left margin of recto waterstained and abraded causing a loss of text in most lines, small abrasion at center of recto obscuring three words. Accompanied by an autograph note signed by James Kirke Paulding: “Memorandum in the hand of Washington taken from an old almanac for 1762, in the possession of JK Paulding.” A rare Washington relic: perhaps the only leaf from Washington’s diary in private hands. According to the Washington Papers, these two pages were initially a blank leaf interleaved in a printed almanac that a Mrs. J. Washington gave to novelist and Secretary of the Navy James Kirke Paulding. The balance of the diary, thirteen pages written on interleaved blanks in the Virginia Almanack for the Year of our Lord God 1762, was sold at Sotheby’s Parke Bernet, 6 December 1977, lot 35. The identifying note by Paulding accompanying the present leaf indicates that it was him who separated this leaf from the diary. Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, editors of The Diaries of George Washington, state that the entry for 24 March 1762 was transferred from a dated memorandum on the back cover of the diary—the present leaf provides the actual entry for that day. Paulding served in the Van Buren administration as Secretary of the Navy between 1838 and 1841; it is most likely that is when the diary passed into his hands. Mrs. J. Washington is most likely Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington (1786–1855), wife of John Augustine Washington (1789–1832). John Augustine, a nephew of Bushrod Washington, inherited Mount Vernon from Bushrod Washington, who died without issue. Jackson and Twohig tabulate the location of all known diaries and diary fragments of George Washington. The great majority of these are in the Library of Congress, with other examples in the Public Records Office (London), the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Detroit Public Library, the Virginia Historical Society, Columbia University, and Mount Vernon. Writing to a commission of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association in 1924, John C. Fitzpatrick exclaimed: “Now that I have read every word of these Diaries, from the earliest to the last one, it is impossible to consider them in any light than that of a marvelous record. It is impossible for anyone to arrive at a true understanding or comprehension of George Washington without reading his diary record” (Diaries of George Washington, 1:xix). Washington kept no daily records until 1760; even then his keeping of diaries was erratic until 1768. His preference was to record his entries on blank pages interleaved in the Virginia Almanack; after the war he adopted blank memorandum books. But by 1795 he returned to the Almanack. Washington’s biographer, John Marshall, and editor Jared Sparks, together with Washington’s nephew Bushrod, carelessly dispensed his papers as souvenirs. The 1797 diary was given to Christopher Hughes, who broke it up and dispersed it among friends in America and Europe. Margaret and Robert Adams of Philadelphia were the recipients of the diaries of 1795 and 1798. The whereabouts of these diaries is presently unknown, as is the remainder of the Paulding diary of 1762. The entry for March 1762 is the first spring in which Washington was full owner of Mount Vernon. Since 1754 Washington had been leasing the life rights to the estate from the widow of his half brother Lawrence. The plantation became his by right of inheritance when Anne Fairfax Washington died 14 March 1761 with no surviving heirs. By March of 1762 Washington was busy grafting trees in his fruit garden: “18th. Transplanted 5 Cata[?] … ye Birch by Quarter. Several Damson trees to the Peach Orchard. And a Bullock Heart Cherry tree (from Colo. Mason’s) in the corner of the garden near the Spanish Chestnut.” Washington has also grafted “four Apricots on Peach. Six taken just from the Nursery & transplanted into the corners adjoining the lower walk of the garden. Note the [?scions] were cut a fortnight or three weeks ago and burried but the Bud … very much.” Scion wood is vigorous growth trimmed from desirable trees in late winter for early spring grafting. Washington apparently cut the scions in February and then stored them carefully until he was ready to begin grafting in March. Typically grafting commences in April but as Virginia enjoys a relatively mild climate, it could begin in March. In another entry Washington has “grafted two very early May Cherrys (from Colo. Masons) remarkably large and fine upon wild cherry stock standing in the middle of these Bordr.” Washington also planted and grafted a number of varieties of pears, plums, and apples. “in the third row black Pear of [—]cester. Very good for baking. In the fourth row 5 Spanish pears wch are very fine. They hang till November and keep thro the winter as well as apples. Note. All these grafts from Colo. Masons.” Varieties of cherries mentioned in the diary originated from England. Washington grafts the Bullock cherry, or Ox Heart, a dark red cherry with large, heart-shaped fruit which ripens in July (although Washington states May). The Carnation cherry, also mentioned in a graft, is a large light red cherry used for making brandy and preserves. The magnum bonum plum, also known as the egg plum, bears fruit that is white and yellow. The generous Colonel Mason is his neighbor George Mason, whose plantation Gunston Hall was located sixteen miles south of Alexandria. Washington and Mason were both enthusiastic farmers and the two frequently exchanged thoughts on agriculture as well as on politics. Washington’s diary indicates that his fruit trees were organized in four quadrants: north east, north west, south west, and south east. There were up to nine rows of trees in the quadrants with numerous cross walks. The Diaries of George Washington, 1:316, provides an illustration of a contemporary quadrant-style arrangement of an orchard from Batty Langley’s New Principles of Gardening (London, 1728), which would have been familiar to Washington.

 

Prior to his presidency, Washington was, by occupation, a planter and he imported luxuries and other goods from England, paying for them by exporting tobacco. In 1765, because of erosion and other soil problems, he changed Mount Vernon’s primary cash crop from tobacco to wheat and expanded operations to include corn flour milling and fishing. His success in these new endeavors led him to soon be counted among the political and social elite in Virginia. From 1768 to 1775, he invited some 2,000 guests to his Mount Vernon estate, mostly those whom he considered people of rank. Following the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Washington returned to Mount Vernon where he oversaw the completion of the remodeling work at Mount Vernon, which transformed his residence into the mansion that survives to this day, although his financial situation was not strong. Creditors paid him in depreciated wartime currency, and he owed significant amounts in taxes and wages. Mount Vernon had made no profit during his absence, and he saw persistently poor crop yields due to pestilence and poor weather. Again, Washington diversified by undertaking a new landscaping plan and succeeded in cultivating a range of fast-growing trees and shrubs that were native to North America.