114 



FARMERS^ REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



But the best method of preventing the miachief 

 occasioned by it, is to sow so late, that the wheat 

 ■will not be above <t!oiuk1, until the autumn fly has 

 perished. As the fly is in the state of greatest 

 activity early in September, the wheat which is 

 up at that season, will be most liable to be destroy- 

 ed; on the contrary, if the sowmg is dfilerred till 

 a month later, it will in a great measure escape. 

 It is supposed that a single li'ost will destroy all the 

 insects while in the state of the fly, and if the 

 wheat is not up before such an occurrence, no dan- 

 ger whatever is- to be apprehended. 



In endeavoring however, to escape one calami- 

 ty it is necessary to avoid the opposite evil. If 

 the grain is sown too late, there will be danger, as 

 is obvious, of its sufiering from the ettects of the 

 Irost o( winter, or in other words, of being winter 

 killed. Hence a middle course must be adopted. 

 It may also be observed, that as there is a decided 

 advantage in early sowing, where wheat is not at- 

 tacked by the fly," it would not be advisable where 

 no danger of such attack is to be apprehended, as 

 is the case in some places, to sow late in order to 

 avoid its ravages. 



The best evidence in favor of late sowing, as a 

 means of preventing injury from the fly, is expe- 

 rience. Among other instances, two are related 

 by a correspondent of this paper in Pennsylvania, 

 (vol. 3, p,32I,) who waited till tlie first autumnal 

 frost, when his grain was sowed and covered as 

 speedily as possible. The result was, that next 

 harvest he had a good crop of excellent wheat, 

 while the neighbors on each side of him, who 

 sowed earlier, did not reap more than one fifth of 

 the quantity, and that injured by the fly. The other 

 instance was this: — One halt" of the wheat crop 

 was first sown, when a heavy fall of rain took 

 place, which retarded the sowing of the rest until 

 dry weather with frost; when it was harvested, 

 the first sown was scarcely worth taking into the 

 barn, while the latter proved an average crop of 

 merchantable wheat. In these instances, the ef- 

 fect of frost in destroying the parent insect^ is ab- 

 tIous. 



Although the autumn fly is considered as- the 

 cause of the far greater part of the mischiefj much 

 injury is often committed by the spring fly. This 

 is more especially the case where the wheat is 

 Bown too late in the fall, and is not of suflicient 

 vigor the next season to out-grow the effects of 

 the injury. This is an additional reason for select- 

 ing a medium period for sowing. 



In conclusion, therelbre, we would recommend, 

 as the best general rule for escaping the ravages of 

 the Hessian fly, to sow, if the season and circum- 

 Btances will admit, immediately afler the first irost, 

 on ground which has since harvest been kept clear 

 from all vegetable growth* which might serve as 

 a refuge for it, and never in any case to sow be- 

 fore the early part of October. But as additional 

 facts brought to light by further experiments, can- 

 not fail to be useful, we shall close this article by 

 repeating the suggestion of Judge Havens: — "Let 

 these who may have leisure and curiosity on this 



subject, and who reside in diflTerent parts of the 

 country where the insect may prevail, sow small 

 patches of different kinds of wheat, as oflen as 

 once or twice in a nwnth, during the whole sea- 

 son, adjoining to some field of wheat or stubble, 

 where the insect may be found in greatest number; 

 and let its progress be observed on those different 

 patches of wheat, and the result of the observa- 

 tions be coIle«texl and compared with each other." 



From the Southeni Agriculturist. 



ON THE CONDUCT AND MANAGEMKNT OF 

 OVERSEERS, DRIVERS, AKD SLAVES. 



Saniec, jfpril 3, 1836. 



Mr. Editor, — r received your letter a month 

 since, requesting me to give you "my system in 



the management of Mr. plantation." Your 



letter I would have answered before this; but be- 

 ing now somewhat advanced in age, and not ex- 

 acdy in writing order, I deferred doing so until the 

 present time. However, since you think an ac- 

 count o( my system of management might ben- 

 efit overseers generally, I shall comply, even at 

 this late hour; ibr I do assure you, that nothing 

 gives me greater pleasure, than to have it in my 

 power to say or do any thing, however little,, that 

 will improve overseers in their regulation and 

 management. Having been an overseer mj'self 

 (or twenty years, I think, 1 ought to know how 

 important it is to them to be well informed as to 

 their duties. But, Mr. Kditor, this is not acting 

 like a good overseer; I am not writing to the point 

 in question; so without any more pretiice, I shall 

 give you as the best outline of my system, an ac- 

 count of what you desire. 



It was fifteen years ago, that I was first employ- 

 ed to overlook and superintend the plantation of 



Mr. ^. As a wise and conscientious man, 



Mr required of me testimonials as to hon- 

 esty and activity of character. When I satisfied 

 him as to these, he then, in a very explicit manner, 

 told ine, what would be required of me. Among 

 an hundred other things, he impressed upon my 

 mind, that I was to be his representative; to regu- 

 late fiis slaves in their moral and general conduct; 

 to sustain my employer's reputation among mer- 

 chants for the quality of his productions; and to 

 make his plantation a pattern of regularity and 

 order to the neighborhood around. When Mr. 

 began to talk in this way, I at first thought 



* It is not probable that this insect attacks any other 

 than culmiferous plants; it is known to attack rye and 

 barley, and possibly it may feed upon other plants of 

 this natural order; if so, these would furnish a habi- 

 tation for it through winter, unless they were destroy- 

 ed. 



he ivas quizzing me. I had before been an over- 

 seer, but had never been spoken to in this solemn 

 sort of manner. With other planters, when I 

 showed that I was honest and active, that was 

 enough — I was directed where I was to live, and 

 my authority as overseer commenced, for evil or 

 for good, for one year from that date. I say that 



when Mr. first began to lecture me as to 



what he would expect of me. I thought him quiz- 

 zing; but I soon changed my mind. I soon dis- 

 covered that he meant every word he said; and 

 moreover meant, that it should be attentively lis- 

 tened to, and executed. He told me that there 

 was no duty more dilficult than the one I was 

 about to assume; accordingly, said he, we had 

 better understand one another explicitly. He 

 then recounted every thing he would expect of 

 me; how I should demean myself; how I should 



