714 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 12 



land, but leaving it exposed to injury for years. I 

 heard it remarked once, by a farmer, that he con- 

 sidered the difference between selling a barrel o' 

 corn for $5, and purchasing one barrel at that 

 price for the use of the plantation, was equal to 

 $10 in the purse of the farmer. Upon this prin- 

 ciple the difference between good and bad man- 

 agement is much greater than is generally be- 

 lieved. 



If gentlemen had their funds rested in other 

 property than land and negroes, they would be 

 for getting clever and sensible men to manage and 

 superintend them, but as long as their capital is in 

 a farm &c, they seem to imagine that any dolt 

 can see to feeding the cattle, working the ground, 

 and whipping the negroes. And that it would be 

 somewhat indecent for the proprietor to do any 

 thing farther than pay taxes, pocket what little is 

 made, and play the gentleman. This doctrine 

 suits the taste of many individuals, and might be 

 commendable were it not for the impoverishing 

 effect it has on the purse, and the still greater in- 

 jury it indicts on the husbandry of the state. Ag- 

 riculture, like other occupations, requires a willing 

 and energetic hand to execute, and a sound and 

 clear head to direct its various concerns, to render 

 it either agreeable or profitable. The wish, very 

 frequently, of getting overseers at low wages, in- 

 duces many farmers to forego other considerations 

 of vastly greater importance. What would be 

 thought for instance of an undertaker of some 

 public-building, who first having procured atgreat 

 cost the best materials for constructing his work, 

 would then run the risk, by employing an inferior 

 mechanic for some $50 or $100 less than he could 

 have engaged a good one for, of not only having 

 an illy shaped, badly proportioned house put up, 

 but also the hazard of spoiling or destroying all 

 the fine materials that were prepared tor the build- 

 ing'? As injudicious, (to use the mildest term,) 

 as such conduct would be, yet the farmers are fre- 

 quently guilty of the like error. It needs no ar- 

 gument to prove how much injury such conduct 

 has imposed on this stale. If a man goes to the 

 expense of getting a good farm, good slaves, 

 good stock, &c, why surely he ought to be very 

 particular in getting an overseer possessing all the 

 requisites profitably to manage them. An error 

 in that case not only prevents the annual proceeds 

 from being what they should be, but the capital 

 employed deteriorates, and blunders are made, 

 which generally cost much labor and pains to 

 counteract. In the general, we rarely if ever re- 

 pent giving a good price for a good overseer, but 

 frequently in our moments of repentance we 

 would cheerfully have given three times the 

 amount, rather than have had a bad manager. 

 True economy therefore requires in this case, that 

 we should look more to the overseer's ability to 

 manage our matters profitably, than to the few 

 extra dollars he may demand for his services. I 

 hope I shall not be deemed an advocate of high 

 wages, except as a contingent consideration. I 

 have thought that a farmer who had property to 

 the amount of $20,000 or $30,000 had better give 

 a good manager two prices, or nearly that, for his 

 services, than a bad one, half wages. That 

 scientific or judicious agriculturists would in the 

 main be decided gainers by pursuing the pre- 

 ceding suggestions, I see not the least good reason 

 to doubt; and I think there is still lees cause to sup- 



pose that the young or inexperienced farmers 

 would be injured by doing likewise. To question 

 the justness of the above remarks, would be tan- 

 tamount, to maintaining, that a dull razor would 

 shave as well as a sharp one, or that poor land 

 would produce as much as rich. 



But iew subjects are more deserving of the con- 

 sideration of the farmers and planters, than the 

 present method of employing overseers. It is the 

 general custom so far as my observation extends 

 for overseers to be busily engaged in renewing 

 their contracts with their old employers, or in 

 hunting out new situations in the months of May, 

 June, and July — some few only defering it till 

 August. 



The bad effects of this custom ought after a lit- 

 tle reflection to be so apparent to all, as to create 

 a general wish to produce a change. A gentle- 

 man employs a "new overseer," he takes place 

 on the farm in November — makes a great effort 

 to put his business forward — forces his teams and 

 hands improperly — works the ground out of order 

 and in the general does but little work in the way 

 work ought to be done. As the spring approach- 

 es he must try and be the first to finish planting 

 corn, seeding oats, making tobacco hills, planting 

 his tobacco crop, &c, and for what? Why, if he 

 is forward in the spring — has a great deal of work 

 done — and dashes about to this and that place in 

 a great hurry, he soon gets the credit of being a 

 "tip-top" overseer, which is the consummation in 

 his estimation most devoutly to be wished for. 

 Frequently it happens the overseer makes prepar- 

 ation for two large a crop, which of course is in- 

 judicious, as well as is liable to be badly done, or 

 in his great anxiety to be foremost, half prepares 

 the proper quantity. However all this is not to 

 him a matter of much moment. For he has pro- 

 bably a large family dependent upon his exertions, 

 and his employer is independent, therefore he con- 

 cludes it is proper for charity to commence at 

 home, so he looks only to his own interest. Under 

 this conviction he very naturally lakes those steps 

 that will tend the soonest to increase his wages. 

 If the tests of merit rest upon an improper basis, 

 why he says to himself "if the other overseers 

 are weighed by them, and the employers think 

 them sufficient, I too had just as well give into the 

 fashion," therefore he exerts himself to acquire 

 those characteristics deemed important. The 

 time for contracting being at hand, the parties un- 

 fortnnately cannot agree about the terms for the 

 ensuing year. Well! away goes the overseer on 

 horse-back, in the most important part of the year, 

 riding here and yonder in quest of a new home. 

 In the mean time the employer and his business 

 are all very unceremoniously left in the lurch, till 

 the redoubtable character can procure a place. 

 Some days and frequently weeks being passed off 

 in this way, the overseer then returns to his post, 

 and finds everything in confusion. Grass grow- 

 ing — crops suffering for work — and employer vex- 

 ed. As one might expect the overseer finds there 

 is more work to be done, than he can well have 

 done. The crop soon begins to fail — some of the 

 stock are killed up — the negroes badly treated — 

 and at the end of the year, it turns out there has 

 been much ado about nothing. The employer if 

 young, quickly concludes farming a poor business, 

 and if old, is apt to turn his overseer off— undergo 



