116 



FARRIERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



found they had done so, as if they had omitted to do 

 their day's work. This plan (?t' supervising your 

 negro houses, \vor!<s wonderl'ul etiecls upon your 

 plantation. It keeps your negroes cleanly and 

 healthy; and prevents the concealment ot all kind 

 of roguery. If every overseer would follow this 

 plan, I am convinced thai there would be little use 

 for patrol laws. 



I not only attended to the negroes in the clean- 

 Uness of their houses, but I also, enjoined the 

 strictest observance as to the cleanliness of their 

 dress. If negroes are left ta themselves, they will, 

 orenerallyspeaking.pay little attention to their dress. 

 I have seen them on some plantations almost na- 

 ked from suifering their clothes to remain un- 

 mended. This can easily be remedied. Make it 

 a rule to oblige every negro, to have his clothes 

 mended as soon as yoi; discover them broken; and 

 if your iorce be large, have some old person to 

 serve as "general mender" to the plantation, and 

 you will never have to insult the eye with a set of 

 raijiied negroes. 



Next, to making your negroes attend to the or- 

 derly arrangement of their houses, and dress, you 

 should oblige them to attend also to that of every 

 thing about the plantation. I obliged every ne- 

 gro on the plantation to superintend every thing 

 in its place that he finds displaced. If, for in- 

 stance, a negro passes a fence that lias been put 

 down; if a rail has been thrown from its place, it 

 is his business to replace it, or to inlbrm the pro- 

 per person whose business it is to do so. This 

 rule I followed when I was a poor man, working 

 at a salary o! five hundred dollars a year; now 

 that I can drive my chair, I stick to tlie rule still. 

 I believe that a great portion of my success in life 

 depended upon this simple rule, which was first 

 taught me by my employer. I was riding out 

 Avith him, a short time after coming to oversee lor 

 him; he happened to pass by a fence where'one of 

 the bars had been left down, by which means the 

 cattle had got into the oats patch. His coach- 

 man had passed by the fence in that condition 



once before that morning. Mr. =-, upon his 



return home had his coachman punished. It was 

 in vain that he said in extenuation of his conduct, 

 that he had not observed the bar; it should have 

 been observed by him, as well as by his master; 

 so he was punished. Though I lived fifteen years 



for Mr. , I never knew his coachman to be 



punished for the same thing a second time. Some 



persons might have thought Mr. severe 



lor punishing a fault so apparently trifling; but as 

 I have befere observed, it is by the punishment of 

 Bmall faults that large ones are prevented. 



Negroes should in no instance be permitted to 

 trade, except with their masters. By permitting 

 them to leave the plantation with the view of selU 

 ing and buying, more is lost by the owner than he 

 is generally aware of of! Let each planter have 

 upon his place, a store of such articles as his 

 slaves usually purchase elsewhere. These can 

 be dealt out to them for their corn and such things 

 as they have to sell. By so doing, your negroes 

 will be better and more cheaply provided; and be 

 put out of the way of the temptation to rofuc- 

 ry.« 



* Upon the plantation of Winbon Lawton, Esq. of 

 James-Island, tfiis plan lias been adopted. The con- 

 sequence is, Mr. Lawton's neg;rops are considered as 

 among- tfie most orderly and best disciplined on the 

 Island. — Editor. 



1 hold out every inducement to the negroes to 

 marry among themselves on the plantation; thus 

 giving them no cause for leaving their homes. 

 Whenever my employer could do so, he always 

 purchased the families of any negro he might 

 own, a.ssi<i;ning the reason I have already given. 



But, Mr. Editor, I must conclude: I have alrea- 

 dy trespassed upon your patience too long. You 

 will accept my crude reflections, as they are in- 

 tended, tor the benefit of overseers, who have, as 

 I have had once, to commence. Should yo.i de- 

 sire to have fi'om me, more particularity, be pleased 

 to interrogate me, as to the points upon which you 

 desire inlbrmation; and 1 shall endeavor to answer 

 your queries. 



Not wishing to intrude my humble name upon 

 the puilic, I subscribe myself with great respect, 



AN OVERSEER. 



From the Fanner and Gardener. 

 AMERICAIV OIL WELL. 



About ten years since, whilst boringfor salt wa- 

 ter near Burkesville, Ky, after penetrating through 

 solid rock upwards of 200 fijet, a fountam of pure 

 oil was struck, which was thrown up in a contin- 

 ued stream more than 12 feet above the surflice of 

 the earth. Although in quantity somewhat aba- 

 ted, after the discharge of the first few minutes, du- 

 ring which it was supposed to emit 75 gallons in 

 less than a minute, it still continued to flow for sev- 

 eral days successively. The well beiiiij on the 

 margin, and nearthe mouth of a small creek.emp- 

 tying into (Cumberland river, the oil soon found its 

 waj' thither, and for along time covered its sur- 

 face. Some gentlemen below, curious to ascertain 

 whether the oil would fake fire, applied a torch: 

 quick as a flash, was exhibited the astonishing 

 spectacle of the surface of the river in a blaze, 

 which soon climbed the most elevated cliffs, and 

 scorched the summit of the loftiest trees, to the no 

 small discomfiture of some of the neighbours. It ig- 

 nites freely, and produces aflame as brilliant as gas. 

 Its qualities were unknown, but a quantity was 

 barrelled, most of which soon leaked out. It is 

 so penetrating as to be difficult to confine in a wood- 

 en vessel, and has so nmch gas as frequently to 

 burst bottles when filled and tightly corked. The 

 color is green, but upon exposure to the air assumes 

 a greenish hue. It is extremely volatile, has a 

 strong pungent, and indescribable smell, and tastes 

 much like the heart of pitch pine. For a short 

 time after the discovery, a small quantity of the 

 oil would flow whilst pumping the salt water, 

 which led to the impression that it could alwa3's 

 be drawn by pumping. But all subsequent at- 

 teinps to obtain it, except by a spontaneous flow, 

 have entirely failed. There have been two spon- 

 taneous flows within the last six years. The last 

 conuTienced on the 4th day of July 1835, and con- 

 tinued about six weeks, during which time ^0 bbls. 

 of oil were obtained. The oil and the salt water 

 with which it is invariably combined durin<; these 

 flows, are forced up into the pump, supposed by the 

 gas, above 200 feet, and thence through the spout 

 into a covered trough, where the water soon be- 

 comes disenaraged and settles at the bottom, whilst 

 the oil is readily skimmed from the surliice. A 

 rumbling noise resembling distant thuntler, uni- 

 formly attends the flowing of the oil, whilst the gag 



