He realized that man owes a duty to the future just as he owes a debt to the past.

He deplored the already developing policy of robber exploitation by which our soil and forests have been despoiled, for he foresaw the bitter fruits which such a policy must produce, and indeed was already producing on the fields of Virginia.

He was no misanthropic cynic to exclaim, "What has posterity ever done for us that we should concern ourselves for posterity ?" His care for the lands of Mount Vernon was evidence of the God-given trait imbedded in the best of men to transmit unimpaired to future generations what has been handed down to them.
His agricultural career has its lessons for us, even though we should not do well to follow some of his methods.

The lessons lie rather in his conception of farming as an honorable occupation capable of being put on a better and more scientific basis by the application of brains and intelligence; in his open-minded and progressive seeking after better ways.

Many of his experiments failed, it is true, but for his time he was a great Farmer, just as he was a great Patriot, Soldier and Statesman.