第45章

problematicalevent，isnownear，&certain，&determinedinthemindofeveryman。Iexpectedtohaveseensomejustificationofarmingonepartofthesocietyagainstanother；ofdeclaringacivilwarthemomentbeforethemeetingofthatbodywhichhasthesolerightofdeclaringwar；ofbeingsopatientofthekicks&scoffsofourenemies，&risingatafeatheragainstourfriends；ofaddingamilliontothepublicdebt&deridinguswithrecommendationstopayitifwecan&c。，&c。Butthepartofthespeechwhichwastobetakenasajustificationofthearmament，remindedmeofparsonSaunders’demonstrationwhyminusintominusmakeplus。AfteraparcelofshredsofstufffromAesop’sfables，andTomThumb，hejumpsallatonceintohisErgo，minusmultipliedintominusmakeplus。Justsothe15，000menenterafterthefables，inthespeech——

However，thetimeiscomingwhenweshallfetchuptheleewayofourvessel。Thechangesinyourhouse，Isee，aregoingonforthebetter，andeventheAugeanherdoveryourheadsareslowlypurgingofftheirimpurities。Holdonthen，mydearfriend，thatwemaynotshipwreckinthemeanwhile。Idonotsee，inthemindsofthosewithwhomIconverse，agreaterafflictionthanthefearofyourretirement；butthismustnotbe，unlesstoamoresplendid&amoreefficaciouspost。ThereIshouldrejoicetoseeyou；IhopeImaysay，Ishallrejoicetoseeyou。Ihavelonghadmuchinmymindtosaytoyouonthatsubject。Butdoubledelicacieshavekeptmesilent。Ioughtperhapstosay，whileIwouldnotgiveupmyownretirementfortheempireoftheuniverse，howIcanjustifywishingonewhosehappinesssIhavesomuchatheartasyours，totakethefrontofthebattlewhichisfightingformysecurity。Thiswouldbeeasyenoughtobedone，butnotattheheelofalengthyepistle。

Letusquitthis，andturntothefineweatherwearebaskingin。Wehavehadoneofourtropicalwinters。Onceonlyasnowof3。

inchesdeep，whichwentoffthenextday，andneverasmuchiceaswouldhavecooledabottleofwine。Andwehavenowbutamonthtogothroughofwinterweather。ForFebruaryalwaysgivesusagoodsampleofthespringofwhichitistheharbinger。Irecollectnosmallnewsinterestingtoyou。Youwillhaveheard，Isuppose，thatWilsonNicholashasboughtCarr’sCarrsgroveandHarvey’sbarracks。

Irejoiceintheprosperityofavirtuousman，andhopehisprosperitywillnottainthisvirtue。PresentmerespectfullytoMrs。Madison，andprayhertokeepyouwhereyouareforherownsatisfactionandthepublicgood；andacceptthecordialaffectionsofall。Adieu。

FARMING

_ToJohnTaylor_

_Monticello，Dec。29，1794_

DEARSIR，——Ihavelongowedyoualetter，forwhichmyconsciencewouldnothaveletmerestinquietbutontheconsiderationthatthepaimentwouldnotbeworthyouracceptance。

Thedebtisnotmerelyforaletterthecommontrafficofeveryday，butforvaluableideas，whichinstructedme，whichIhaveadopted，&

amactingonthem。Iamsensibleofthetruthofyourobservationsthattheatmosphereisthegreatstorehouseofmatterforrecruitingourlands，thattho’efficacious，itisslowinit’soperation，andwemustthereforegivethemtimeinsteadoftheloadsofquickermanuregiveninothercountries，thatforthispurposewemustavailourselvesofthegreatquantitiesoflandwepossessinproportiontoourlabour，andthatwhileputtingthemtonursewiththeatmosphere，wemustprotectthemfromthebite&treadofanimals，whicharenearlyacounterpoiseforthebenefitsoftheatmosphere。Asgoodthings，aswellasevil，goinatrain，thisrelievesusfromthelabor&expenceofcrossfences，nowverysensiblyfeltonaccountofthescarcity&distanceoftimber。Iamaccordinglynowengagedinapplyingmycrossfencestotherepairoftheouteronesandsubstitutingrowsofpeachtreestopreservetheboundariesofthefields。AndthoughIobserveyourstricturesonrotationsofcrops，yetitappearsthatinthisIdifferfromyouonlyinwords。Youkeephalfyourlandsinculture，theotherhalfatnurse；soI

proposetodo。Yourschemeindeedrequiresonlyfouryears&minesix；buttheproportionoflabour&restisthesame。Myyearsofrest，however，areemployed，twooftheminproducingclover，yoursinvolunteerherbage。ButIstillunderstandittobeyouropinionthatcloverisbestwherelandswillproducethem。IndeedIthinkthattheimportantimprovementforwhichtheworldisindebtedtoYoungisthesubstitutionofclovercropsinsteadofunproductivefallows；&thedemonstrationthatlandsaremoreenrichedbycloverthanbyvolunteerherbageorfallows；andtheclovercropsarehighlyvaluable。ThatourredlandswhicharestillintolerableheartwillproducefinecloverIknowfromtheexperienceofthelastyear；andindeedthatofmyneighborshadestablishedthefact。Andfromobservationsonaccidentalplantsinthefeildswhichhavebeenconsiderablyharrassedwithcorn，Ibelievethateventhesewil