234 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



housewives somewhat implicated in the charges 

 made against the quality of the article with 

 which we are supplied. We do not hesitate to 

 say, that if any lady in the world makes bad 

 butter, it is, we doubt not, in some way or other, 

 the fault of her husband. 



We should have been quite overwhelmed with 

 the idea that any thing we had said should have 

 given offence to the ladies, if we had not been in a 

 measure, consoled by learning at the same time, 

 that, with the generosity characteristic of the 

 sex, they had deiermined to give us an opportu- 

 nity of reforming our opinions, and that several 

 "pats," were in preparation for the especial pur- 

 pose of demonstrating to us the grossness of the 

 libel we have uttered. We are always open to 

 conviction, and we know no arguments more po. 

 tent than those which appeal so powerfully to 

 the feelings of an individual. Within the next 

 twelve months we shall express our opinion on 

 the subject again : in the meantime, we are pre- 

 pared fairly to consider, and fully to discuss, any 

 of these arguments, and upon conviction of our 

 error, to make the most full and satisfactory re- 

 paration to any lady who may consider herself 

 aggrieved by any thing we have heretofore 

 written or spoken upon the subject. 



HENS — EGGS. 



If you wish for hens to hatch female chicks, 

 select those eggs to set them which are distin- 

 guished for having smooth ends. Those which 

 have their small ends roughened by concentric 

 circles, and which are the most oval in form, 

 produce cocks. It is a matter of importance, 

 sometimes, to the grower to understand this 

 fact. At least so thought Collumella. 



JSlaine Cultivator. 



OVERSEER'S WAGES. 

 To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 



A communication over the signature of T. J. 

 P., endorsed by you, on the subject of "Over- 

 seers' Wages," appeared in the first volume of 

 the Southern Planter, with a suggestion that 

 the subject would be again resumed ; as it has 

 not been, I presume he has recanted the views 

 maintained in the communication. The propo- 

 sition advanced in the communication alluded to 

 was, that the giving of overseers an interest in 

 the crops, instead of stipulated waiies, had ope- 

 rated greatly to the injury of the farming inte- 

 rest in Virginia, and aided, in no small degree, 

 to exhaust our lands ; that the circumstances 



under which this practice originated had long 

 since ceased to exist, to wit, the felling of lofty 

 forests, when it was the interest of the owner to 

 get as much land cleared as practicable, and to 

 make as much as possible from his land and la- 

 borers ; then an interest in the crop was a great 

 stimulus to the overseer, a strong inducement to 

 increase the proceeds of the farm. 



Now I agree with you, that the necessity for 

 felling lofty forests in Virginia, in a great degree, 

 has ceased to exist, but that the desire to make as 

 much as possible from land and laborers remains in 

 full force and virtue, I certainly affirm, and to 

 do which most successfully, I contend that the 

 overseer should be interested in the crops ; by 

 this interest he is induced to apply the labor be- 

 stowed in by gone days, in felling trees, to the 

 improvement of the fields ; that whilst his em- 

 ployer's interest is advanced, that his will also 

 be. He cannot say now, as when he received 

 stipulated wages, " Soul, take thy rest," but 

 eternal vigilance is his interest, the effects of 

 which will be good enclosures, enriched lands, 

 good teams, and increased crops. Try my plan, 

 Mr. Editor, and if it fails, I will cease to pro- 

 phesy. R. R. 



P. S. Can you inform me, through the Plan- 

 ter, whether the question is settled by agricultu- 

 rists, which exhausts land most, wheat or oats? 



It is no doubt very desirable that the interest 

 of the employed should be, if possible, identical 

 with that of the employer. But when the over- 

 seer receives a share of the crop it is his interest, 

 the crontract running, as is usual, only from year 

 to year, to draw from the land as much as possible 

 during the year for which he is engaged, with- 

 out any regard to future profits. On the con- 

 trary, the very best use that the proprietor can 

 make of his force, sometimes, is, in the prepara- 

 tion for future increase : then, as far as improve- 

 ment is concerned, the interest of the owner and 

 the overseer are diametrically opposed. This sys- 

 tem, we doubt not, has, in this way, proved in- 

 jurious to the cause of improvement. Moreover, 

 there is another objection to this mode of pay- 

 ing overseers' wages. To give a share in the 

 crop, necessarily implies some authority in the 

 management by which it is to be made. Two 

 masters are alwaj^s objectionable ; they are ge- 

 nerally destructive to that unity of purpose, by 

 which alone any system can be sustained. A 

 proprietor is generally a man of superior educa- 

 tion, and should too highly appreciate the ad- 

 vantages of knowledge to permit his authority 

 to be shared by an inferior. We may be told 

 that it frequently happens that the overseer is a 



