Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature, Washington removed his family to Mount Vernon, to devote himself to agricultural pursuits. For fifteen years he continued to abide there in domestic enjoyment. Every year of this fifteen he was elected to the House of Burgesses, where his counsels and great influence became indispensable. Still he was a farmer on a large scale, and devoted himself to the improvement of his estates, and the raising of wheat, corn, and tobacco. The landed estates of both himself and wife must have numbered more than twenty thousand acres, for his Mount Vernon estate alone amounted to over nine thousand acres. Then he owned large tracts of land outside, containing thousands of acres. Add to these extensive tracts the Custis estates, and we find him one of the largest landholders of North America. A thousand persons were required to perform the labors of his domestic and agricultural establishments, including his negroes. The products of his plantations were shipped to his agent in England; and he came to enjoy such a reputation there as a successful and upright planter, that the usual custom-house inspection of all packages and goods marked "George Washington" was omitted. A record of his products before us for a single year shows that he raised ten thousand bushels of corn and seven thousand bushels of wheat. One hundred cows, with oxen, horses, and mules in that proportion, stocked his immense estate. His farming implements, carriages, and the nicer materials for clothing himself and family, were imported from England. With this exception, the linen and woollen cloths used were made by hand on his own plantation. Sixteen spinning-wheels were kept in operation. Mrs. Washington took her position in this immense establishment as mistress, proving that her accomplishments and education under the influence of wealth did not make her vain and aristocratic. Unlike many planters' wives of that day, she did not consider that labor was degrading. She was provided with all the servants necessary, but she relinquished to no one, however competent, the oversight of her household affairs. "Carrying her keys at her side, and making frequent visits to the various apartments connected with the elaborate arrangements of the table and its 'aids and appliances,' the spotless purity of her attire always remained unsullied by her active participation in the mysteries of each and all." Neatness, order, and industry characterized her in the house, as they did her husband on the farm. That great care and responsibility must have devolved upon Mrs. Washington, appears from Irving's description of a Virginia estate.