IMPORTANT AND EXTREMELY RARE LOUDOUN CO., VIRGINIA FARMING TREATISE 1803 FIRST EDITION IMPRINT, John Alexander Binns, of Loudon [sic] County, Virginia, Farmer, A Treatise on Practical Farming; Embracing Particularly the Following Subjects, viz. The Use of Plaister of Paris with Directions for Using it; and General Observations on the Use of Other Manures. On Deep Ploughing; Thick Sowing of Grain; Method of Preventing Fruit Trees from Decaying, and Farming in General. Frederick-Town, Maryland: Printed by John B. Colvin--Editor of the Republican Advocate, 1803. 70 of 72 pages. 7 3/4" x 4 1/2". 
Literature: Shaw & Shoemaker 3834, records examples in the Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson's original personal copy), the American Antiquarian Society, and the New York Public Library. We were able to locate three additional copies in the Library Company of Philadelphia, Monticello, and the National Library of Australia.
Thomas Jefferson acquired a copy of this treatise shortly after its publication and was impressed by its content, although not by its style. On June 19, 1803, Jefferson wrote to John W. Eppes concerning this work: "...I inclose you one of Binns's pamphlets on the use of plaister. it is bunglingly composed, but it is generally said his facts may be relied on. the important one is that from being poor he is become rich by it..." Jefferson sent at least two copies of the pamphlet to England. On June 30 of the same year, in a letter to Sir John Sinclair, after thanking him for various publications sent to him by the latter, Jefferson wrote: "...I send you a small one in return, the work of a very unlettered farmer, yet valuable, as it relates plain facts of importance to farmers. you will discover that Mr. Binns is an enthusiast for the use of gypsum. but there are two facts which prove he has a right to be so. 1. he began poor, & has made himself tolerably rich by his farming alone. 2. the county of Loudon, in which he lives had been so exhausted & wasted by bad husbandry, that it began to depopulate, the inhabitants going Southwesterly in quest of better lands. Binn’s success has stopped that emigration. it is now becoming one of the most productive counties of the state of Virginia, and the price given for the lands is multiplied manifold ..." On the same day he wrote to William Strickland: "...knowing your love of agriculture, and your skill in it, I could not pretermit the occasion of sending you the inclosed pamphlet on the use of Gypsum, by a Mr. Binns, a plain farmer, who understands handling his plough better than his pen. he is certainly somewhat of an enthusiast in the use of this manure: but he has a right to be so. the result of his husbandry proves his confidence in it well founded for from being poor it has made him rich. the county of Loudon, in which he lives, exhausted & wasted by bad husbandry, has, from his example, become the most productive one in Virginia: and it's lands, from being the lowest, sell at the highest prices. these facts speak more strongly for his pamphlet than a better arrangement & more polished phrases would have done..." Thanks to Monticello's Thomas Jefferson's Libraries website for the above quotes.

Fair as-found condition with light stains and normal toning, lacking pp. 71/72, title page with edge tears and folds and a small area of loss at the bottom only minimally affecting the text, pp. 69/70 with small holes and losses to the upper left corner slightly affecting the text.

From a Virginia private collection.