“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. The checks he endeavors to give it, however warrantable by ancient usage, will, more than probably, kindle a flame, which may not be easily extinguished; tho’ for a while it may be smothered by the Armies at his command, and the Nobility in his interest.”
-George Washington Letter to James Madison – March 02, 1788
Washington fox hunt at Mount Vernon by John Ward Dunsmore 1922
The Founding Growers, Part 1
George Washington: The Gentleman Grower
America has just Declared its Independence as General George Washington frantically prepares New York for the impending invasion of British Troops amassing off Staten Island. Sitting by a flickering light of a candle on the eve of the Revolutionary War, Washington’s mind wondered to one thought… His garden!
Mere days before the Battle of New York, Washington sits down to calmly write a letter to his cousin and estate manager Lund Washington with his instructions and plans for a new garden,
“Plant Trees in the room of all dead ones in proper time this Fall. and as I mean to have groves of Trees at each end of the dwelling House… these Trees to be Planted without any order or regularity (but pretty thick, as they can at any time be thin’d) and to consist that at the North end, of locusts altogether. & that at the South, of all the clever kind of Trees (especially flowering ones)”
– letter From George Washington to Lund Washington, August 19, 1776
‘Washington as a Farmer’ engraving from The illustrated life of Washington by Joel Tyler Headley in 1859
Perhaps from laden remorse for the slain cherry tree, Washington’s preoccupation with ‘flowering trees’ just may have come from his early days as the gentleman grower of hemp.
Following his service in the French & Indian War, Washington returned home to his families farm at Mount Vernon to continue life as a gentleman grower. His farms cash crop was primarily tobacco with a large portion exported each year for sale in Europe.
By 1765 Washington was becoming tired of the heavy toll tobacco was taking on his land and resources. Looking for a more sustainable and profitable crop Washington turned to a plant he would continue to grow his entire life, hemp!
On his Muddy Hole Farm, one of 5 farms owned by Washington on Mount Vernon, he decided to sow a experimental field of hemp. By August as the hemp plants were just starting to show sex, Washington made a curious decision for industrial farmers. He pulled the males…
On August 7, 1765 sacrificing yield and profit Washington writes in his diary “began to separate the male from the female”, realizing some pollination had already occurred he adds “rather to late”…
Utilizing a technique typically reserved for a drug type crop, Washington chose to cull his male plants. The decision was clearly against industrial practice leaving few options remaining behind Washington’s intentions with his experimental crop.
The following year, impressed with his experiment, Washington decided to expand his hemp operation and planted hemp on three of his Mount Vernon farms including Muddy Hole, the mill and Dogue Run farms.
In a interesting diary entry marked August 29, 1766, Washington writes he “Began to pull Hemp at the Mill and at Muddy hole”. Supporting claims he was indeed experimenting with a drug type hemp he remarks “too late for the blossom Hemp by three Weeks or a Month”…
– page from George Washington’s diary – day 7 “began to separate the male from the female .. rather to late” (August 7, 1765)
“I use the freedom also to send a very small specimen of a curious artificial preparation of hemp which comes from silesia in Germany—It is at least a matter of curiosity, as it shews how far the ingenuity of man will go when stimulated with the hope of gain”
– Letter from James Anderson to George Washington – August 15, 1793
Following the Revolutionary War while acting first President of the United States, Washington continued to grow hemp at his farms on Mount Vernon. Washington not only grew hemp while he was President but he actively corresponded with growers throughout the world seeking new hemp seed and techniques.
In 1793 a Scottish grower named James Anderson, after initial conversations, sent President Washington a special package from overseas. The package contained both seeds and “a curious artificial preparation of hemp” which came from Silesia in Germany.
Taking the time to personally write James Anderson back after receiving his hempen package, President Washington thanks him for sending the seeds adding “The artificial preparation of Hemp, from Silesia, is really a curiosity”.
Indicating the importance Washington held on the exchange with a fellow grower he is compelled to add, “I shall think myself much favored in the continuance of your correspondence.” hoping for more…
“I thank you as well for the Seeds as for the Pamphlets which you had the goodness to send me. The artificial preparation of Hemp, from Silesia, is really a curiosity; and I shall think myself much favored in the continuance of your correspondence.”
– George Washington letter to James Anderson 1794
-Letter from George Washington to James Anderson – May 26, 1794
“I am very glad to hear that the gardener has saved so much of the st. Foin seed, and that of the india hemp. Make the most you can of both, by sowing them again in drills. The hemp may be sown anywhere.”
— George Washington, in a letter to his farm manager William Pearce, Feb. 24, 1794
As his Presidency continued so did his passions for growing hemp. By 1794 Washington had found a interesting new strain of hemp which he called ‘india hemp’.
Going back into antiquity hemp from India or Indian hemp was associated with drug type genetics used for edible bhang, smokable ganja and hand rubbed hash called charas.
In a letter to his new farm manager William Pearce, Washington is stoked to hear his gardener was able to save this new seed of the ‘India hemp’ from the 1793 season. Telling Pearce to make the most of it he can, he advises his new manager “The hemp may be sown anywhere”.
Just months before his farewell address declining a third term as President, Washington’s mind wondered to his retirement garden and his newly found India hemp genetics.
On the 29th of May 1796 Washington writes his farm manager asking about his India hemp grown in the 1795 season, sharing with Pearce his desire to breed the seed for others to grow “What was done with the Seed saved from the India Hemp last Summer? It ought, all of it, to have been sown again; that not only a stock of seed sufficient for my own purposes might have been raised, but to have dissiminated the seed to others”.
Emphasizing the importance of his Indian hemp genetics he tells Pearce “it is more valuable than the common Hemp.”
“What was done with the Seed saved from the India Hemp last Summer? It ought, all of it, to have been sown again; that not only a stock of seed sufficient for my own purposes might have been raised, but to have dissiminated the seed to others; as it is more valuable than the common Hemp.”
– Letter from George Washington to William Pearce dated May 29, 1796
– Letter from George Washington to William Pearch – FEB 24, 1794
Washington continued growing hemp his entire life eventually planting the crop on all 5 of his Mount Vernon farms: Mansion House, River, Dogue Run, Muddy Hole and Union Farms.
Not only did George Washington grow cannabis, he made it truly American to grow this flowering tree!
George Washington at the battle of princeton by Charles Willson Peale in 1779