Editing George Washington (section)

===Return to Mount Vernon===
{{Quote box
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|quote="I am not only retired from all public employments but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction&nbsp;... I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my fathers."
|author= — George Washington in a letter to Lafayette.<br> February 1, 1784.{{sfnm|Randall|1997|1p=410|Flexner|1974|2pp=182–183|3a1=Dalzell|3a2= Dalzell|3y=1998|3p=112}}}}

After spending just ten days at Mount Vernon out of {{frac|8|1|2}} years of war, Washington was eager to return home. He arrived on Christmas Eve; Professor [[John E. Ferling]] wrote that he was delighted to be "free of the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life".{{sfn|Ferling|2009|p=246}} He received a constant stream of visitors paying their respects at Mount Vernon.{{sfnm|Chernow|2010|1p=462|Ferling|2009|2pp=255–256}}

Washington reactivated his interests in the [[Great Dismal Swamp]] and [[Potomac Company|Potomac Canal]] projects, begun before the war, though neither paid him any dividends.{{sfn|Ferling|2010|pp=332&ndash;334}} He undertook a 34-day, {{convert|680|mi|km|adj=on}} trip in 1784 to check on his land holdings in the Ohio Country.{{sfn|Ferling|2009|pp=247–255}} He oversaw the completion of remodeling work at Mount Vernon, which transformed his residence into the mansion that survives to this day—although his financial situation was not strong. Creditors paid him in [[depreciation|depreciated]] wartime currency, and he owed significant amounts in taxes and wages. Mount Vernon had made no profit during his absence, and he saw persistently poor crop yields due to pestilence and bad weather. His estate recorded its eleventh year running at a deficit in 1787.{{sfnm|Ferling|2009|1pp=246–247|Chernow|2010|2pp=552–553|Ellis|2004|3p=167}}

To make his estate profitable again, Washington undertook a new landscaping plan and succeeded in cultivating a range of fast-growing trees and native shrubs.{{sfnm|Wulf|2011|1p=52|Subak|2018|2pp=43–44}} He also began breeding [[mule]]s after being gifted a [[Stud (animal)|stud]] by King [[Charles III of Spain]] in 1785;{{sfn|Coe|2020|p=xxii}} he believed that they would revolutionize agriculture.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Coe|first=Alexis |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/george-washington-saw-future-america-mules-180974182/ |title=George Washington Saw a Future for America: Mules |date=February 12, 2020 |magazine=Smithsonian|ref=none}}</ref>