4-1/4 Mr.Paul Leicester Ford considered this "a pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly cost him over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was live stock which at the lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more." In some respects it was a poor showing.

Yet the profit Washington sets down is about seven per cent.

upon sixty-five thousand dollars, and seven per cent.

is more than the average farmer makes off his farm to-day except through the appreciation in the value of the land.

The truth is, however, that Mount Vernon, including the live stock and slaves, was really worth in 1798 nearer two hundred thousand dollars than sixty-five thousand, so that the actual return would only be about two and a fourth per cent.
But Washington failed to include in his receipts many items, such as the use of a fine mansion for himself and family, the use of horses and vehicles, and the added value of slaves and live stock by natural increase.
Besides in some other years the profits were much larger.
And lastly, in judging a man's success or failure as a farmer, allowance must be made for the kind of land that he has to farm.