FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF NEGROES. 



56.5 



least effect, spurred up, and made one of the most 

 industrious fellows on the plantation, by a little 

 praise. One day this lazy fellow was seen to be 

 rather brisker at his work than usual for him, 

 thoufrh by no means very brisk ; however, I 

 thought I would try what etfect praise would have 

 upon him, and in riding by him said, " Well Joe, 

 you are improving; you are getting along quite 

 fast." Joe, with a smile, said, " Do you think so 

 master.'" and moved on a little faster. The next 

 day or two, when I saw him again, I said, " Why, 

 really Joe, you are doing quite well : you are get- 

 ting to be quite smart with your work." " [ am 

 glad of it master," said Joe, with cheerful face, 

 and a much more active step than I ever saw him 

 have before. In five or six days after that, when I 

 went where Joe was, I found him ahead of all the 

 other hands. " Well Joe, you have got ahead of 

 them.'" " Yes master, and I mean to keep there 

 loo;" but it was too hard a tug for Joe to smile 

 this time. However, we have never had cause 

 to find fault with him since about his lazi- 

 ness. A few kind words will often go a great 

 way. I would recommend to my friends, the Vir- 

 ginia overseers, to use a little flattery sometimes 

 instead of stripes. In the management of slaves, 

 the temper and disposition of each negro should be 

 particularly consulted. Some require spurring up, 

 some coaxing, some flattering, and others nothing 

 but good words. When an o\erseer first goes 

 upon a plantation to live, he should study their dis- 

 positions well, before he exerts too much rigor. 

 Many a noble spirit has been broken down by in- 

 judicious management, and many a lazy cunning 

 fellow has escaped, and put his work on the shoul- 

 ders of the industrious. Give mea high spirited and 

 even a high tempered negro, full of pride, for easy 

 and comfortable management. Your slow sulky 

 negro, although he may have an even temper, is 

 the devil to manage. 



The negro women are all harder to manage than 

 the men. The only way to get along with them 

 is by kind words and flattery. If you want to cure 

 a sloven, give her something nice occasionally to 

 wear, and praise her up to the skies whenever she 

 has on any thing tolerably decent. In the man- 

 agement of negroes it is particularly necessary to 

 elevate their notions of honest)^ and character as 

 much as possible, and never to charge them with 

 dishonesty unless you have positive proof of the 

 fact. You should not be foo suspicious of them. 

 A negro girl, who was under my first overseer's 

 wife, could not be trusted at all, and was charged 

 with many thefts. On changing overseers, the 

 wife of the next missed something, and it was sug- 

 gested to her by some of the other negroes that 

 this girl was the thief; but the overseer's wife be- 

 ing more unsuspicious than most persons, said she 

 could not believe that a girl of her good counte- 

 nance could have committed a theft ; and that 

 very speech, I believe, together with her mild and 

 unsuspicious conduct towards her, cured the girl ; 

 for she has borne a good character ever since. 



Never put temptations in their way, by leaving 

 keys or money carelessly about. Many a negro 

 who would never have committed a theft in the 

 course of a long life, with a careful overseer or 

 master, has not been able to resist the temptation, 

 w hen a careless overseer or master has left keys 

 lying about : and when once the ice is broken and 

 they lose character, th^y soon become hardened in 



villainy. It would be better to give up the keys 

 to the negroes and trust to their honesty, (many of 

 them are trust worthy,) than to leave them care- 

 lessly within their power; for they feel a kind of 

 pride when trusted, which might possibly make 

 them them go straight, when this manner of tempt- 

 ing would be sure to make them dishonest. The 

 proper course is to put no temptation whatever in 

 their way. 



Too much familiarity with negroes ought never 

 lo be indulged in by the the master or overseer, as 

 it causes them to lose the proper respect for them. 

 But kind words may be used wlj^never they de- 

 serve them, without being too familiar with them. 

 The master and overseer should always pull at 

 the same end of the rope. Negroes soon discover 

 any little jarring between the master and over- 

 seer, and are sure to take advantage of it. The 

 overseer should always coincide witli his employ- 

 er, and carry all his views fully into effect : and 

 both should go on harmoniously together, and that 

 alone will make the management of the slaves 

 much more easy. No overseer, however high 

 his standing, should hesitate to obey implicitly the 

 orders of his employer; for how can he require 

 those under him to obey him, unless he obeys those 

 over him ? The first duty of those who expect to 

 command, is to learn to obey. 



Harmony among neighbors is very important in 

 the successful management of slaves. If all the 

 farmers in the same neighborhood had the same 

 system of managing their slaves, and would unite 

 in suppressing vice among them, and in keeping 

 up a proper system of discipline, it would render 

 their management much more easy, and render the 

 slaves much more contented and happy. A good 

 disciplinarian in the midst of bad managers of 

 slaves cannot do much, and without discipline, 

 there cannot be profit to the master, or comfort to 

 the slaves. Discipline is just as necessary on a 

 plantation, as in the navy or army. 



It is all important for the morals as well as tiie 

 comfort of the slaves, (to say nothing of the policy 

 and humanity of the thing,) that they should be 

 well clothed and fed; for they will steal if they are 

 not well fed, and the very best remedy for hog 

 stealing is to give the rogues a plenty of pork to 

 eat. Negroes should have some of the luxuries of 

 life too, such as fowls, eggs, &c. with which to 

 buy coffee and sugar, a garden and fruit frees, all 

 of which will save the master's fowls, fruit, &c. 

 and aid in the facility of managing the slaves, and 

 will serve to attach them to their homes. 



The greatest bar to good discipline in Virginia 

 is the number of grog shops in every farmer's 

 neighborhood, and which ought to be put down 

 by our Legislature. 



The melioration of the condition of the slaves 

 in Virginia is very perceptible even within my 

 time, that is, in the last sixteen or seventeen 

 years, and will go on progressively with the 

 improvement in agriculture. They are better 

 fed and clothed, and less severity used towards 

 them. In fact, there is no such thing as severity 

 now towards slaves in any part of the state that I 

 am acquainted w ith, and Ihere never will be any 

 occasion for it again, if the fanatics will only let 

 us alone; and there are fanatics south as well as 

 north. 11. c. 



