416 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



The time has passed when the overseer was 

 valued solelyfor the number of bales of cotton 

 he bad made, without reference to his other 

 qualifications. — Farmer and Planter. 



Report of the Laurens Agricultural Society. 

 Characteristics of Overseers. 



BY DR. J. A. METTS. 



Having been appointed to report to the 

 Society, on the duties of overseers, I pro- 

 ceed to do so. Planting is so much de- 

 pendant on the capacity and action of the 

 overseer or agent of the planter, that the 

 topic would expand over a wide range, to 

 treat it fully. 



The day is past when the overseer should 

 only be regarded for the energy with 

 which he can accomplish manual labor, 

 with a gang of hands. He should be in- 

 telligent and well informed upon all the 

 routine of plantation duties ; in fact, should 

 be fully able to take charge of every de- 

 partment of the business upon the planta- 

 tion to which his services are employed. 

 He should be sober, industrious, and dis- 

 posed to listen fully to the orders and sug- 

 gestions of his employer. Whenever the 

 employer gives an order, he should obey 

 it, even if it did not coincide with his own 

 notions. 



Overseers, very often set up for them- 

 selves on plantations, and it is all " my 

 crop," " my mules'" " my stock," " my 

 hands" with them, when out of sight of 

 their employers. When we hear such ex- 

 pressions fall from the lips of an overseer, 

 we invariably think that it is time such 

 men should become proprietors, and give 

 up the business of overseeing. 



We do not object to a just pride and in- 

 terest being felt by the overseer, in all 

 things, but he should confine himself to 

 the legitimate sphere of his duties. To 

 enumerate them will perhaps best subserve 

 the purposes of this report. 



We will commence b}- remarking that 

 the overseer should have a correct knowl- 

 edge of the character, constitutional ca- 

 pacity, habits, and general disposition of 

 every slave he has under his charge. He 

 should be able to tell how much labor he 

 could perform with his gang, on any given 

 day, or in any given time. He ehould 

 know every animal on the place — the hor- 

 ses and mules in the same manner as the 

 negroes, and the other stock — by sight. 



He should keep a regular inventory of 

 every cow, sheep and hog on the place, 

 and those should be counted every week, 

 by him. Every tool and implement, every 

 trace, pair of names, sets of harness, in 

 like manner should be entered in his list, 

 and he should see, at stated intervals, 

 whether any are missing. Waggons, carts, 

 and plows ; plow moulds, axes, spades, and 

 shovels, all should be put down on the list, 

 and kept in their places, and in good re- 

 pair. This is legitimately the overseers 

 duties, and he is not perfect in his calling, 

 until he does these things properly and 

 correctly. He stoould be able to keep 

 all the accounts, as well as the sales of 

 domestic produce of the plantation, as of 

 the produce of the different fields. He 

 should recollect that his time is not his 

 own, but his employer's, and that it should 

 not be spent in riding about to public gath- 

 erings, when he has no particular business 

 at such places. To the absence of over- 

 seers from their hands, may be attributed 

 a great deal of the failure on plantations. 

 The time which is idled away by the 

 hands, all the bad work which is done in 

 his absence, can never be remedied by 

 pushing them on after he returns; he 

 should remember that every day has its 

 own tasks to perform. It is important that 

 the overseer should be with the hands all 

 the time they are at labor. He is the pro- 

 per person to take in charge the young ne- 

 groes, and teach them the methods of la- 

 bor and the proper performance of their 

 tasks. If they are properly trained, they 

 will always be good hands, and if they are 

 badly trained, they will always be indiffe- 

 rent hands. The overseer should attend 

 also, and with great strictness, to the moral 

 deportment and habits of cleanliness upon 

 the plantation. — Health and cleanliness go 

 hand in hand, and filth and disease in like 

 manner are linked together. 



Whenever the overseers of the land 

 improve and fit themselves by education 

 and information, to properly discharge all 

 these duties, they will not be regarded as * 

 they usually are by their employers, as 

 mere agents to do that work which they 

 do not wish to do themselves. They con- 

 trol the property of so many people under 

 our planting system, that it is highly re- 

 quisite that they should be enlightened 

 and well informed. Whenever they are 

 thus taught, it is right and proper they 



