SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
173 
during summer, be shelled at noon, that as the nights are 
short the hands may be ready for bed at an early hour. 
If water be not convenient in the field where the hSnds 
are at work, instead of having it brought from a distance 
in buckets it will be found more convenient to have a bar- 
rel fixed on wheels and carried full ot water to some con- 
venient place, and let a small boy or girl, with a bucket, 
supply the hands from the barrel. Some persons make 
each negro carry a jug or large gourd full of water to the 
field every morning and this has to serve for the day. 
During fall and winter, hands may be made to pack at 
night what cotton has been ginned in the day. ' The 
women may be required to spin what little roping will 
be necessary for plow lines, and to make some heavy bed 
quilts for themselves. Besides this there is very little that 
can properly be done of nights. 
One of the most important regulations on a farm is to 
see that the hands get plenty of sleep. They are thought- 
less, and, if allowed to do so, will sit up late of nights. 
Some of them will be up at all hours and others instead 
of going to bed will sit on a stool or chair and nod or 
sleep till morning. By half-past nine or ten o’clock, all 
hands should be in bed, and unless in case of sickness or 
where a woman has been up with her child, if any one is 
caught out of bed after that hour, they should be punish- 
ed. 
A large-sized cow-bell that could be heard two miles, 
and would not cost more than three or four dollars, would 
serve not only as a signal for bed-time, but also for getting 
up of a morning, for ceasing work at noon and resuming 
it after dinner. Where the distance to be heard is not 
great, a common bar of cast steel hung up by passing a 
wire through one end, may be struck with a hammer, and 
will answer in place of a bell. 
Most persons allow their negroes to cultivate a small 
crop of their own. For a number of reasons the plan is a 
bad one. It is next to impossible to keep them from 
working their crops on Sabbaths. They labor of nights 
when they should be at rest. There is no saving more 
than to give them the same amount, for like all other ani- 
mals he is only capable of doing a certain amount of 
labor without injury. To this point he may be worked at 
his regular task, and ’any labor beyond this is an injury to 
both master and slave. They will pilfer to add to what 
corn or cotton they may have made. If they sell their 
crop and trade for themselves they are apt to be cheated 
•out of a good portion of their labor. They will have 
many things in their possession under color of purchase 
which we know not whether they obtained honestly. As 
far as possible it is best to place temptation out of their 
reach. We have all their time and service, and can surely 
afford to furnish them with such things as they ought to 
have. Let us spend on them in extra presents as much as 
their crop (if they had one) would yield. By this means 
we may keep them from whiskey and supply them with 
articles of service to a much greater extent than they 
would get if allowed to trade for themselves, while we 
avoid the objections above stated. 
Believing that the strolling about of negroes for a week 
at a time during what arc called Christmas Hollidays, is 
productive of much evil, the writer has set his face against 
the custom. Christmas is observed as a Sacred Festival. 
On that day as good a dinner as the plantation will afford 
is served for the negroes, and they all sit down to a com- 
mon table, but the next day we go to work. From con- 
siderations both ot morality and needful rest and recre- 
ation to the negro, I much prefer giving a week in July, 
when the crop is laid by, to giving three days at Christ- 
mass. 
On small farms where there are very few negroes, it 
may be proper to allow them to visit to a limited extent, 
but on large plantations there can be no want of society, 
and consequently no excuse for visiting except among 
themselves. If allowed to run about, they will rarely ever 
take wives at home. The men wish an excuse for ab- 
sence, that undef pretext of being at their wife’s house, 
they may run about all over the neighborhood. Let it be 
a settled principle that men and their wives must live to- 
gether. That if they cannot be suited at home they must 
live single, and there will be no further difficulty. If a 
master has a servant and no suitable one ofthe other sex 
for a companion, he had better give an extra price for 
such an one as his would be willing to marry, than to 
have one man owning the husband and another the wife, 
ft frequently happens where husband and wife belong to 
different persons that one owner sells out and wishes to 
move. Neither is willing to part with his servant, or if 
one will consent, -the other is not able to buy; consequent- 
ly, the husband and wife must part. This is a sore evil, 
surely much greater than restricting to the plantation in 
making a selection. 
In the infliction of punishment, it should ever be borne 
in mind that the object is correction. It the negro is hum- 
ble and appears duly sensible of the impropriety of his 
conduct, a very moderate chastisement will answer better 
than a severe one. If, however, he is stubborn or imper- 
tinent or perseveres in what you knov) to be a falsehood, a 
slight punishment will only make bad worse. The negro 
should, however, see from your cool, yet determined man- 
mer, that it is not in consequence of your excited temper, 
but of his fault, and for his correction that he is punished. 
As a general principle the legal maxim that “it is better 
ninety and nine guilty persons should escape than one 
innocent should suffer,” is correct. It, however, has its 
exceptions. If, for instance, the negroes take to killing 
your pigs or stealing your chickens and eggs, and you 
cannot ascertain who are guilty, it is only necessary to 
put the whole “crowd” on half allowance of meat for a few 
days and the evil will end. This remedy is better than a 
perpetual fuss and suspicion of all. 
In the intercourse of negroes among themselves, no 
quarreling nor opprobious epithets, no swearing nor ob- 
scene language, should ever be allowed. Children should 
be required to be respectful to those who are grown, more 
especially to the old, and the strong should never be al- 
lowed to impose on the weak. Men should be taught 
that it is disgraceful to abuse or impose on the weaker 
sex, and if a man should so far forget and disgrace him- 
self as to strike a woman, the women should be made to 
give him the hickory and ride him on a rail. The wife, how- 
ever should never be required to strike her husband, for 
fear of its unhappy influences over their future respect for 
and kindness to each other. 
The negroes should not be allowed to run about over 
the neighborhood ; they should be encouraged to attend 
church, when it is -within convenient distance. Where 
there are pious negroes on a plantation who are so dis- 
posed, they should be allowed and encouraged to hold 
prayer-meetings among themselves ; and where the num- 
ber is too great to be accommodated in one of the negro 
houses, they should have a separate building for the pur- 
poses of woi'ship. Where it can be done, the services of 
a Minister should be procured for their special benefit. By 
having the appointments for preaching at noon, during 
summer, and at night during winter, the preacher could 
consult his own convenience as to the day of the week, 
without, in the least, interfering with the duties of the 
farm. 
A word to those who think and care but little about 
their own soul or the soul of the negro, and yet desire a 
good reputation for their children. Children are fond of 
the company of negroes, not only because the deference 
shown them makes them feel perfectly at ease, but the 
subjects of conversation are on a level with their capacity. 
