"An English agronomist, Arthur Young wrote to George Washington concerning the economics of the American experience. He wanted to know what enticed or motivated the Americans to use so much land so quickly. The letters of George Washington (1801) are a fascinating response to the questions of Mr Young. Not only did Washington respond with accounts of his estate at Mount Vernon but he asked several of his colleagues, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, among others, about the economics of farming... Young was interested to see if slavery, the cost of labor, had a role in the methods used, but Washington was convinced that the abundance of new and very cheap land was at fault."