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_ There are employers in every State in which colored labor is pre- 
dominant who have the wisdom and tact to adapt themselves to the 
changed conditions of labor, who supervise or direct personally the 
operations of the plantation; and they succeed admirably, while the 
majority of their neighbors fail to secure efficient service and its high- 
est profit—in instances like the following : 
Pasquotank, N. C—No cause of complaint exists among our people. On the con- 
trary, our future looks bright. The best understanding exists between land-owners, 
‘laborers, and tenants. The laws are seldom violated. We have but little use 
for jails or poor-houses; and peace, order, and quiet prevail. 
Madison, Ga.—Where farmers are practical men, giving their farms personal’atten- 
tion, no cause exists for complaint. 
Hall, Ga.—There are no causes of discouragement among our farmers. They are 
fast learning to adapt themselves to free labor, and labor in turn has learned its 
place, and both capital and labor are each assuming its proper place. Few south- 
ern men knew how to manage free labor; neither did the slave know what freedom 
was. Many thought that freedom was rest, but they now begin to feel its burdens, 
and to realize the necessities of a family and the requirements of government. The 
country is generally rising. Most of farmers are out of debt, some are laying up 
money, and a general improvement is going on, with a great desire for information in 
agriculture. The negroes are acting tolerably well, though none of them seem in- 
clined to lay up anything for the future. 
Franklin, Ga.—Most of the lands are farmed by freedmen, who do very well if the 
landlord will stay with them to direct the work; where that is not done it is in 
most cases a failure. All that is wanted is to be with the hands, and good crops are 
pretty sure. 
Various remedial suggestions are thrown out by correspondents, and, 
that each class of views may be presented, the following extracts are 
given: 
Lexington, S. C.—The plan of employing good hands on shares of the crop is gain- 
ing favor, and must prove to be advantageous to both employer and employé, 
as the latter is sure ta be more diligent and do better work when he has a direct 
interest in the crop. A want of capital, as well as enlightened self-interest on the 
part of our farmers, to furnish the farms with the most approved implements of cul- 
ture, and especially good, heavy plows, and teams to draw them, by which our soil 
may be turned up ten inches, and security against drought, our greatest and surest de- 
stroyer, is what we most need. With this accomplished, the hiils and plains of Caro- 
lina will teem with stores of her own hidden wealth. 7 
Marengo, Ala.—To prevent the downward course of the planting interest, I wouldsng- 
gest that the planters should make themselves, in a measure, independent of labor by 
adopting a system of farming that would require but few laborers. These lands are 
well adapted to growing clover, Bermuda grass, and various native grasses of value, 
and stock-raising could be profitably carried on. If our planters will live on their 
plantations, vary their products, rely more on their own energy and brains than on the 
reluctant muscle of the freedmen, husband their manurial resources, and make, as far 
as possible, all they need at home, this section will soon become one of the most fruitful 
and desirable in the United States, and the lands will regain their former value. 
York, Va.—A large surplus of negro population, which consumes more than it pro- 
duces. If three-fourths of this population could be got rid of, the York peninsula 
would be a good region for sheep. 
Terre Bonne, La.—I am thoroughly satisfied that the only hope for us is the adoption 
of the tenant system, with white men for tenants. The tenant furnishes his own team, 
or buys it from the planter on time, furnishes his own supplies and implements, and 
gets one half of the crops. The arrangement lasts for a term of five years. He has a 
certain tract of land marked out, which he cultivates as if it were a separate farm, but 
subject to the control of the planter in the methods of culture. During the sugar- 
rolling season, all combine in taking off the crops. This division of the business leaves 
the time and capital of the planter free to be devoted to the improvement of the sugar- 
house, and the processes of manufacture, while it secures a permanent supply of labor, 
and a labor paid in proportion to the crop. 
Clarke, Ky.—To speak plainly, there will be no reliable labor from the colored 
people of Kentucky while the pro-slavery democracy are in the ascendant in the State. 
Now a little on the other side: The number of freedmen is by no means small who 
seem to think that freedom consists in exemption from labor; and the sole delight in 
their newly acquired liberty is to be idle. Not every colored man is lazy, yet it is 
undeniably true that, taken as a class, they are not steady workers. There is a very 
great disposition among them to refuse to enter into contracts to labor for periods of 
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