HIRING, FEEDING AND CLOTHING NEGRO LABOR. 107 



merely from he'w^ put in print,) yet you must allow me, as I go along, to make 

 <' practical application " oC what I see — as in this case, it seemed not out ol' place, 

 iu speaking of the sources of supply of stock-cattle, to turn aside for a moment to 

 inquire of the landholders of the tide-water and marshy river-shore districts of 

 Maryland and Virginia, whether they too might not profitably supply thousands 

 for the grazing districts of their States, and Pennsylvania ? And now a word as 

 to the 



Si'STKM OF HIRING, FEEDING AND CLOTHING NEGRO LABOR. 



The system of hiring, feeding and clothing colored people, as I was informed 

 by the very respectable and intelligent landlord at Newmarket, is to collect at 

 that place — for that County — on the first of January, those to be hired, and to put 

 them up to the highest bidder, for the ensuing year, or to bargaiii more gener- 

 ally by individual arrangement. The person hiring gives his bond with good secu- 

 rity to pay the hire at the end of the year, and the universal custom is to give two 

 good summer suits, and one winter suit of clothing and to pay the tax-bill, which 

 is assessed by the Court, so much tor each slave of both sexes over sixteen years 

 — also a tax called the " head tax," on all white men. The tax on white 

 men, levied for county purposes, is from 75 cents to $1 25. In this portion of 

 Virginia and all west of the Blue Ridge, the system of a//oM^c/;ce of meat to 

 blacks is not generally practiced. Their labor and diet may be essentially iden- 

 tical with that of white laborers. On the eastern side of the Blue Ridge, the 

 system of allowancing is more generally kept up, and there the measure of 

 meat is from 2 to 3| pounds, with as much corn-meal or bread as they can eat, 

 and in many cases a small allowance of salt-fish — herrings — of which they are 

 fond, as the next most acceptable thing after /oi middling, esteemed not much, 

 the worse for being a little rusty : reminding one in this respect of an estimable 

 friend of ours, now dead — H. M. M. of Baltimore — Avho, constitutionallv" amiable 

 and polite as he was gallant and accomplished, on paying a morning Visit, the 

 lady of the house evincing much distress at the bad behavior of a smoky chimney, 

 observed, " I pray you, madam, don't be annoyed on my account. I rather like 

 a little smoke ! " I feel perfectly satisfied, after particular inquiry, founded, as 

 may be truly added, in an habitual and unaiTected solicitude on this point, that 

 on the score of diet and labor, and substantial clothing and kind treatment, of the 

 colored people in Maryland and Virginia, humanity has nothing to allege against 

 their owners, with doubtless a few most reprehensible exceptions, as there are 

 black sheep to be found in the best flocks. At Montpelier they all have v/ell and 

 richly cooked meals of corn-bread and meat, with vegetables and skimmed 

 milk every day ; each young negro child getting its regular allowance of a pint 

 of fresh milk, that would make a full quart if it were to undergo the process of 

 augmentation to which the fresh milk is generally subjected that is sold as such 

 in all our large towns. It would be a hard matter to find, in all the Southern 

 States, a single negro man — even a free negro — of whom it could be v/ritten as 

 by the very intelligent London correspondent of that ablest and best paper in the 

 Union, the National Intelligencer, as I read in the one of the 21st inst. The 

 writer, himself, it would seem, a loyal but candid Englishman, says : 



" The poor iii England have suffered miicli^rom the faiJure of the potatoes, hut the moro 

 intense sutfermg of the IriAi has directed the mass of puMlc attention and syninathy in that 

 direction. I lately asked a working nv.in (who had then constant employment) what diticr- 

 eace the high price of potatoes made to him. He replied t ' lirfore, whon I was in work, 

 I almost a.\\vny» contrived to have a piece of meat on a Sunday for dinner, but L could not 

 manage it the last Sunday, nor can I the next. We uswl to buy potatoes at 5(1. or (Id. (10 or 

 12 cents) the peck ; now they cost me Is. 3d. (30 cents) the peck. / do think it hard that 

 we cannot have a morsel of meat on a Sunday.' " 



As now I have scribbled as much as you would like to make room for in one 

 number, I will have to reserve some account of the several Mineral Springs, with 

 some notice of the grasses and the game of this portion of the State ; and will 

 therefore conclude this protracted letter with the general remark that it seems to 

 me the good people have not sufficiently attended to changes of Husbandry sug- 

 gested by the change in the commercial circumstances which sica/n has wrought 

 in their position and pursuit as agriculturists. 



There is, moreover, an almost universal neglect of barn-yard and stable ma- 



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