SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
339^ 
society you try to starve out,, as the layman said of the 
preacher — “if God will keep ’em httmble, we will keep 
them poor.” I allude to the preacher and the overseer. 
These classes — the one to point out the way and assist us 
to glory, and the other to watch our wordly interests and 
he a protector of our fire sides when we are absent. Pay 
a doctor, lawyer or merchant so as they can live like the 
“princes of the land,” and the preacher and overseer not 
able to live as decent people. 
I would have an overjeer paid more than a mere hireling. 
I would have him paid according to his talent, education, 
education, responsibility and fitness. Thus you will ele- 
vate the calling, and thus will our land and nation be bene- 
fitted. 
I was told by a planter: “Philips, you and are 
doing a great evil, in holding up for overseers to be able 
to keep records and make a showing of their doings, read- 
ing men, intelligent men. Vfhy, you will soon compel 
us to pay 500 to 1 ,000 and 1,500 for overseers ; why if a 
fellow can keep that Affleck Book he thinks he ought to 
have STOO or §‘500 now ; we used to get overseers at S‘200 
and 8300,” 
“Just so, sir,” I replied, “you used to get drivers, ne- 
gro and mule and land slayers, and I hope the day is not | 
distant when you will find none such.” 
Why, sir, I would like to know, should Robert Jones, 
behind a counter, get 3000 or 8800 per year, when D.ivm, 
his brother, his class-mate and his equal at least, can only 
get 8300 or 8400 as an overseer. David cannot be con- 
fined to selling tapes and pins, ribbons and needles, he 
loves the fields and the woods, the clear sky and open air. 
3Ir. JoBsoN, the merchant, has about 837,000, invested in 
a store, and 3Ir. Holden has over 860,000 in land and 
negroes, I am no advocate for extravagant prices, but I 
do claim for the over=eer living prices, and then require 
him to do his whole duty. 
It is true that the man with 820,000 or 830,000 capital 
is unable to pay the price that one can who owns 840,000 
or 860,000, but no man should expect the service of an 
overseer when he only gives the mere wages of a negro 
field hand Employ men who feel they are above negroes, 
such as will not permit negroes to deport themselves as if 
equals, then you find order and subordination on a farm 
and the overseer with character enough to improve. 
Again, I think it a bad policy'^ to employ an overseer, 
that has all ready learned all of the art and science of 
planting ; he should be sublimated, etherialized, evapor- 
ated and sent to the land of spirits. I will in my next pro- 
ceed to pointing out something else. 
Yours truly, M. W. Philips. 
Log Hcdl, nca,r Edirards. Miss. July, 1856. 
HORIZONTAL ROWS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Col. Cannon’s re- 
marks on leveling hilly lands have excited a good deal of 
attention ; and if one may judge from the comments of his 
brother planters, his doctrines are not deemed altogether 
canon-icul. The senior Editor of the Cultivator, who 
seems to be a “strict constructionist,” understands him to 
mean that the hills are to be cut dowm and carted into the 
valleys— no light undertaking that, in good old Clark — 
and makes rough estimates of the expense. Why those 
of us w’ho cultivate the “sterile lands” of Florida, (w'hich 
by the way, have rarely been known to yield more than 
a bag of Sea Island cotton per acre.) might well open our 
eyes in astonishment at such a proposition; though the 
geographies do insist that our country is level as well as 
sandy ! Even here it would be subsoiling with a venge- 
ance. 
A less literal correspondent, who evidently thinks it 
would be a famous thing to have all the rows on a dead 
level, and do away with ditches, but who appears to be 
a little timid, asks if very high beds will not be requisite 3 
Another writer, agreeing, in toto, with Col. Cannon, 
recommends the adoption ofhis plan, remarking that there 
may be an occasional break, but that this will be evidence 
only of imperfection in the w'ork, which must be re-touch- 
ed till there is no break ! As Dr. Lee has already been 
at the trouble of some calculation with this subject, he is 
requested to estimate how often a re-touching would be 
necessary in his section ! 
The idea of running the rows, on a hill si<le, perfectly 
horizontal, is not a novel one, nor does Col. C. claim for it 
originality. It was probably the plan first adopted. I 
laid oft a hill side in Leon County, Fla., after this fashion 
in 1841. 
Perhaps it was generally abandoned where it had been 
tried, because from the steepness of the hill side, the stiff- 
ness of the land, or the inaccuracy of the work, it was 
found to be ineffectual in pi’eventing washes. The rows 
were next run with a little fall to carry off the surplus 
water. Guard drains are now usually cut ; but planters 
have not yet settled among themselves whether the rows 
should be run on a dead level or parallel with the ditches, 
I or with such inclination as will empty their water into 
the ditches. In short, the whole question is still an open 
one, and is likely to remain so, till correspondents in giv- 
ing their experience, shall take the trouble to enlighten 
their readers in relation to the soil cultivated — whether 
light or stiff, porous or compact — and the length and in- 
clination of the hill side, on which the experiment is made. 
It is evident that a long, steep hill side, stiff clay, or 
stony land, will require different management from a 
short, gentle slope, having a light porous soil. 
A little experience is worth a great deal of theory on 
this subject; and I will give you mine for the past five 
year. After due reflection, I laid off my rows level, or as 
nearly so as I could make them, intending to cut ditches 
when ascertained to be necessary. For two seasons all 
was well. During the heavy rains of the third summer, 
the water broke over the rows on hill side No. 1, without 
carrying off much soil, and I had ditches cut. This was 
a hard, stony piece of land, (a very unusual thing here,) 
into which it was almost impossible to force any sort of 
plow. Hill side about two hundred yards long, making 
with the horizon a mean angle cf about ten degrees. 
1 Hill side No. 2 was laid off in the same way — soil light, 
I clay not generally nearer than two to four feet to the sur- 
face. Length of slope, about three hundred yards, and in- 
clination about the same as No. 1. No ditches yet cut. 
Hill side No. 3, similar in every respect to No. 2, being 
in fact a continualion of the same, in a different field. No 
ditches yet made, or needed, at the end (nearly) of the fifth 
year since the rows were laid off. 
On hill side No 2 the water ran across the rows during 
a very heavy rain last spring, just after the cotton had 
been sided and hoed, when the beds were pretty well cut 
down. But there was no tendency to accumulation at any 
point, and no soil was carried away, so far as I could as- 
certain. After the next sweeping, the keenest eye would 
have failed to detect any evidence that water had flowed 
over the beds. Had the heavy rain continued a few hours 
longer, perhaps much damage might have been done. 
iMy guide rows were laid off with a good level in my own 
’ hands; and as my nrofession has given me habits of ex- 
actness, I think I am justified in saying they were as 
nearly on a dead level as they could well be made. 
My experience, then, amounts to this : On light lands 
having no greater inclination than mine, the rows may be 
run on a perfect level, and ditches be dispensed with — 
provided a good bed be kept up and proper care observed 
