456 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



When the hands go to their work in the morning, all 

 the children are taken to the nursery, where they are 

 taken care of and fed by a woman who does nothing else. 

 Women never go to the field until the child is a month 

 old, and from then till weaning time, return to nurse 

 them at stated times. Hands either take their breakfast 

 and dinner to the field with them, or have it sent out in 

 little tin buckets, kept for the purpose. 



Mr. Leigh has 640 acres of land in cultivation, includ- 

 ing about 80 acres taken up in yards, gardens, orchard, 

 &c. Of the balance, he puts 200 acres in corn, 60 or 70 

 acres in oats, and the remainder in cotton, upon which 

 he made for the last three years, from 125 to 135 bales 

 a year. [A bale of cotton is always 400 lbs.] He put up 

 last year, 16,000 lbs. of bacon, for the use of the planta- 

 tion, and intends in future, to keep up a supply. This 

 being the first year of the ten since the commencement of 

 the plantation that it has provided its own meat. 



He still continues to clear some land every year, and 

 particularly to clear up all the "hard spots" that were 

 left at the first clearing ; straightening the crooked chan- 

 nels of branches, and filling up and cultivating the old 

 channels ; draining little ponds, &c. But what is of vast 

 importance and necessity for every Mississippi farmer 

 to learn and practice, he has the whole plantation under 

 a complete system of hill-side ditches, by which he wholly 

 prevents the light soil from washing away, and adds 

 greatly to the value of the land, and the annual amount 

 of the crops. 



Now if any body should ask "what are hill-side 

 ditches?" I have to say, that the whole of all the numer- 

 ous hill-sides are ditched with one or more ditches, as 

 may be necessary to take up and carry off all the falling 

 water, almost on a level, and winding round till an out- 

 let can be found to discharge it without injury to the 

 land. These ditches are laid off by a level, and are in- 

 tended to remain permanent fixtures; and all the plow- 

 ing has to conform to their shape, and as a matter of 



