166 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



We have had many inquiries propounded to 

 us upon the subject, which we were unable to 

 answer; but we shall be very happy if the 

 handsome cut at the head of this article should 

 have the effect of calling out some of our cor- 

 respondents. Let us hear something of the his- 

 tory of the wind mill; its advantages and dis- 

 advantages, the best principle of construction, 

 &c. &c. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 OVERSEERS. 



Mr. Editor, — In perusing the May number of 

 the Planter I noticed a piece headed "Virginia 

 Overseers," and signed by "A Farmer." As 

 the author of that piece remarked, the planters 

 of Virginia cannot well dispense with overseers 

 now, and as he seems to think it best for em- 

 ployers to engage their overseers in September 

 or October, instead of June or July, I will give 

 my advice upon the subject. If a man has had 

 an overseer more than one year he is capable of j 

 judging whether he is qualified to attend to his I 

 business, and it would be to the advantage of, 

 both to know whether they would agree for the! 

 next year by the 15th of June ; for the overseer' 

 then knows what to do, for if they agree to live 

 together, the overseer would be a fool to neglect j 

 his business, knowing that his employer has the i 

 power to turn him off at any time he thinks' 

 proper. If he is such a man as an employer 

 should have, instead of neglecting his wheat, 

 oat crop, &c, as our friend says, he will watch 1 

 every opportunity to advance the next crop. If 

 they do not agree to live together, the overseer 1 

 has time to look about and get business or make 

 some other arrangements and settle up his busi- 

 ness, (for he might get business out of the 

 neighborhood,) while on the other hand he would 

 only have about one month to settle up in, which 

 perhaps would not be time enough to settle 

 more than half his business. If he takes a part 

 of the crop, he then has his part to sell, and 

 perhaps will meet with difficulty in selling and 

 settling for it, and will have to ride to court very 

 often, and be at expense and trouble. Our 

 friend wants the overseer to recollect that he 

 gets more than his wages, for, in addition, he 

 gets his finding. Sometimes that is the case, 

 but whenever it is so the wages are dimin- 

 ished in proportion as he is found. I would like 

 for our friend to remember that an overseer not 

 only sacrifices one year, but sometimes many 

 years; for they are exposed to snow, rain, and 

 all kinds of bad weather, while the employer is 

 sitting in the house by the fire. In May and 

 June he has to be planting tobacco when the 

 ground is wet, with wet feet, and by the time 

 he is thirty-five, he seems to be about fifty or 

 sixty years old. He has to lie down late and 



rise early, and yet you seem to be unwilling to 

 give him a fair chance. I cannot see what Mr. 

 Farmer wants, unless it is to put the overseer 

 off until the last hour of the day, and then he 

 will have him in his power, and say you may 

 take this, or that, or let it alone. Quite inde- 

 pendent then. 



Now, Mr. Editor, this is a pretty time of the 

 day for a man with a wife and five or six chil- 

 dren to have only one month to look out a home 

 and settle up his business in, which is entirely 

 too short a time in which to do it effectually. 



I am an overseer and if you want my name 

 you can get it. D. D. 



Appomattox County, Va., June, 1845. 



D. D. will perceive that we have taken the 

 liberty of striking from his communication some 

 expressions that seemed to us to have been en- 

 gendered in a heat that the article of "A Far- 

 mer," was neither designed nor calculated to ex- 

 cite ; they added nothing either to the beauty of 

 the composition, or the soundness of the argu- 

 ment. There is no class of men whose interest 

 is assailed in our columns, that shall not be 

 heard in their own behalf ; all we ask, is that 

 degree of moderation and courtesy that is owing 

 from one gentleman to another, as well as the 

 respect that is due to the dignity of our paper. 



The time of overseers engagements is a sub- 

 ject much canvassed in the country, and we 

 have heard a great deal about it. In our com- 

 ments upon the article of "A Farmer," we ex- 

 pressed no opinion upon that point, and surely 

 we are the last to advocate a system which 

 might, as D. D. seems to think, lead to so much 

 injustice and oppression. 



Overseers are like all other classes ; indivi- 

 dually there are good and bad men amongst 

 them, and we do not believe they are better or 

 w 7 orse than the rest of mankind. Many of them 

 are faithful, honest, laborious men, who perhaps 

 are poorly paid for their services, but as a class 

 we think they are much too ignorant and super- 

 stitious to have entrusted to their charge the re- 

 sponsibility that frequently devolves upon them. 

 To discharge their functions in the management 

 of a large estate, requires a degree of intelli- 

 gence and information that cannot be purchased 

 for a common overseer's wages, and what we 

 would urge upon our farmers, is, that if they 

 will not discharge these functions themselves, 

 (which is much the best plan,) to offer such a 

 salary as the qualities they require in a super- 

 intendent, will command in any other kind of 

 business. 



