7§8 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



wage^ which many of them will offer to take, af- 

 ford generally a very good measure, of their anti- 

 pathy to it. The untUirness ot undertaking a bu- 

 siness of which they have no experience, and for 

 which they posses.s scarcely a single qyalifii^ation, 

 seems to form no part of their calculation, but to 

 be deemed a matter solely tor the consideration of 

 the person to whom the tender of service is made. 

 II' he is fool enouijh to be tempted by "the very, 

 very cheap terms'" pnjfiered lor his acceptance, 

 all is well — and the installation into office soon fol- 

 lows. Now admit, as every body will, that a large 

 portion of them are honest, and suppose one of 

 them to have charge of 20 to 30 laborers, — what 

 can he. what will he do? Having no experience 

 whatever, in directing the labor of others — not the 

 smallest knowledge, even, of the first principles of 

 agriculture — equally ignorant of the great art and 

 immense advantages of dividing and applying 

 most beneficially, the labor put under his control 

 he is utterly at a loss, although choke full, per- 

 haps, of good intentions, how to act, and conse- 

 quently can do little else than give his bodily pre- 

 sence — that, probably, being the sum and sub- 

 stance of his oiiicial duty, according to his notion 

 of it. Insteiid, therefore, of being actively and 

 continually engaged, during the day, in planning — - 

 assigning to each negro the work he is best htted 

 to perform, and seeing that it is executed with dex- 

 terity and ihspatch, his occupation is of quite a dif- 

 ferent character. Do you seek to know what it is? 

 Look out for some log or stump most suitable for 

 a seat, and should you not behold him squatted 

 there, you will certainly find him not fitr off, 

 perched ver}^ comfortably upon the fence, looking 

 on in profiMuid silence, and with fixed attention to 

 ascertain that the negroes are all "stirrinif about," 

 their mere loco-motion being the chief proof he 

 wants, or can understand, of their being useflilly 

 engaged m the work before them. What must 

 Virginia agriculture be — to what point of depres- 

 sion — must it not inevitably sink when such is the 

 im exaggerated character of very many of its su- 

 pervisors and directors? Let others give the an- 

 swer and govern themselves thereby. I will only 

 add, that if those who employ overseers wish to 

 derive the greatest advantage of which the prac- 

 tice is susceptible, they must unanimously resolve 

 to elevate the standard of qualifications. They 

 must require much higher moral endowments — 

 more agricultural experience — more agricultural 

 science — more tact in the management of slaves 

 and slave labor; but above all, they must fall up- 

 on some plan — for they have none at present — to 

 interest these overseers in the permanent improve- 

 ment of the farms which they superintend. This 

 is so fiir fr-om being the case under the present sys- 

 tem, that they are made to have an interest direct- 

 ly the reverse, by engaging them for a year at far- 

 thest, or as mere occupants at will, and allowing 

 them either a part of the crop, ora fixed sum, often 

 unconditionally. Had the first been a scheme 

 contrived for the special purpose of tempting — nay, 

 bribing men to exhaust the fiirms put under their 

 care, it could not well have been more ingeniously 

 devised. J>ut the second is not nmch better; for it 

 is totally deficient in holding out any inducement 

 to fertilize and otherwi.-e improve, although it is 

 divested of the direct temptation to exhaust your 

 lands. Where standing wages arc given, why 

 not offer something additional — not only for every 



bushel of grain which may be made, over a speci' 

 fled quantity — but lor every acre of land manured 

 it! a stipulated manner, and for the increase of each 

 kind of farming stock. If there are any objec- 

 tions to this suirge^tion, except a little increased 

 trouble to lazy fiirmers and planters, I cannot per- 

 ceive them; and will here close my long and dis- 

 heartening enumeration of the various causes of 

 our agricultural depression in Virginia. In regard 

 to some of them, there will probably be a differ- 

 ence of opinion among my agricultural brethren; 

 but I must believe, until proof is offered to the con- 

 trary, that the difference, if any, will be chiefly, as 

 to their comparative power and efficiency in pro- 

 ducing the evil. That all have their share, I 

 think, will be universally admitted, and therefore I 

 will leave it to others to decide which is the most 

 destructive. 



I would here take my leave, without attempting 

 to offer any remedies ttir the crying evils which I 

 have labored to expose; but I fear a similar re- 

 proach for the omission, to the one received by the 

 valorous knight, Don Quixote, from his fiiithful 

 Sancho Panca, who, having Hed to his master for 

 comfort, after a very severe beating with slicks and 

 poles, obtained no other consolation than a learned 

 expose of the true cause of his great bodily pain. 

 Suffer me, therefore, to trespass on your patience a 

 little longer, while [ venture to prescribe some 

 method of cure for the nearly fatal diseases whose 

 origin I have taken so much pains to investigate. 

 As no political party-influence, (thank God,) can 

 compel any body to swallow my nostrums, I can 

 make bold to offer them, fi-ee of cost, to all who 

 may be disposed to try them. Those of a politi- 

 cal character have already been suggested, and 

 may all be comprised in this single sentence. Let 

 us vole for no man, hereafter, but open, avowed, 

 intelligent ti'iends to agriculture — men whose in- 

 terests are similarto our own — men who will prove 

 their liiith by their works. Do this, and we should 

 very soon receive all the legislative aid that we 

 should ask, or ought to be granted.- The reme- 

 dies which 1 would propose for our other evils, may 

 peihaps, appear to others of more doubtful effica- 

 cy. Still I will state them, in the hope, that 

 should they be deemed inadequate, my effort may 

 induce some more competent advisers to recom- 

 mend others, which may be more generally ap- 

 proved and adopted. The first is one which, I feel 

 peifectly assured, would secure the application of 

 all the rest; but to prepare it, must be a work of 

 time. It is, to give to all our sons, without excep- 

 tion, the very best education we possibly can, and 

 to make sound moral instruction the basis, the cor- 

 ner stone, the central arch, of the whole structure. 

 To those, especially, who are desioned to follow 

 our own profession, we should give a fiimiliar 

 knowledge of agriculture, both as a science and 

 an art; and should make them well acquainted, 

 particularly, with all those branches of learning 

 that are intimately connected with their occupa- 

 tion. They would thus acquire a taste for it, 

 while such a course of education would elevate 

 their profession, not only in their own estimation, 

 but in that of tlie public, who, instead of suffering 

 their legislatures to neglect agriculture as they 

 heretofore have done, would soon teach them to 

 treat her as the nursing mother of every other 

 class, the chiefj the primary source of all national 

 prosperity. This general education, too, would 



