VoL. 
AUGUSTA, GA.,, NOVEMBER 13, 1844. 
23. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
OVERSEERS. 
Mr. Editor : — There have recently appeared 
several articles in your paper, containing re- 
marks, observations and strictures, with regard 
to the manners, the intelligence, and the capaci- 
tie^s of Overseers, lor the proper management ol 
a Cotton plantation. 
Being but an overseer myself, and having but 
little time and less inclination “ to appear in 
print,” though even under a “ uom d&£^ue/re,” j 
have waited patiently to .see some reply to those 
communications, from a Georgia overseer. — 
Desparingof a proper answer, I take upon 
myself (by your good leave) to tell you “v.?here 
the axe is wanting, at the root of the tree of evil.” 
All men are actuated by interested motives. 
Some are willing to sacrifice something towards 
the public weal — some, nothing at all. 
Admitting the above axiom to be true in gen- 
eral, I shall proceed to show, that the present 
generation of Overseers, do as their employers 
do, (or rather as they think they do,) and there- 
fore that it is unreasonable to expect them to 
turn from “ the errors of their ways,” until it is 
made their interest so to do. 
But, waiving all further reasoning upon the 
subject, I will endeavor to come to the very 
gist of the Subject— or the very sum and sub- 
stance thereof, as we overseers say. 
And first, Mr. Editor, allow me to introduce 
you to Col. Cottonbags— (for, sir, our farmers 
pride themselves upon being Captains, Colo- 
nels, Majors, and Judges, far above the honor 
of being the President of an agricultural socie- 
ty,) and an Overseer. 
Overseer. — Ahem! (After the usual saluta- 
tion about the Colonel’s health, that of his fami- 
ly, &c ;)— Colonel, have you engaged an over- 
seer for next year ? 
Colonel. — No, sir, I believe not, (considerable 
pause.) I don’t believe my overseer and myself 
can agree for next year; he wants too much-, and 
times are so hard, and cotton so low, that I for 
one am determined to give no more such prices 
as I have been giving. 
Overseer. — (Somewhat embarrassed.) What 
did you give him. Colonel 1 
Colonel. — Why S'350, and found his family in 
sugar and coSee, and food for his horse, equal 
to $450. ’Tis too much, sir, too much sir, I 
can’t stand it. 
Overseer. — (Considerable pause.) How ma- 
ny hands do you work, Colonel 7 
Colonel. — Thirty odd. 
Overseer. — How much in cotton 7 
Colonel. — About 550 acres. 
Overseer. — How much in corn. 
Colonel. — One hundred and fifty acres. 
Overseer. — Do you raise your meat! 
Colonel. — W'hy no, and there’s the devil. — 
From bad management, or something else, I shall 
have my meat to buy ; and what with that, 
and bagging, and rope, and negro clothes, and 
slices, and other expenses, I shall hardly make 
more than enough to pay my overseer. 
Overscer.-~-l\avQ you any sheep! 
Colonel. — No, sir; I was once fool enough to 
try thoJ, northern experiment, and 1 found to my 
cost ’twas a foolish one. 
Ou:rseer.—I1o\v so! 
Colonel.— Why , I bought 25 head, some four 
or five years ago, and last year 1 found 1 had no 
more tnan I commenced with; and so I sold the 
things last winter, and am glad /Aaf trouble is 
off of my hands. 
Overseer. — That’s strange ! I was at Dr. Ro- 
bert Williams’s yesterday, and he told me he 
found it very profitable raising sheep. He 
says, besides the mutton which his flock affords 
his fable, the wool he sends to the factory and 
has manufactured into cloth for his negroes. 
The quantity ol wool he has left after supplying 
his own wants, more than pays the expense of 
manufacturing the article. 
Colonel. — Oh yes, I know the Doctor, he’s one 
of your experimenters, full of projects and no- 
tions. But how much cotton does he make! 
Overseer. — He says he tends as much to the 
hand as most of his neighbors ; and was telling 
me that he raised a full supply of meat, and al- 
ways had a plenty of peas and other vegetables lor 
his negroes, lie also informed me yesterday, 
that he was going to make a sugar-mill, and 
would try and make his own sugar, but at any 
rate a plenty of syrup this year. 
Colonel. — Yes, another foolish project of the 
Doctor’s. That, sir, has been sufficiently tried 
here and has proved to be a failure. 
Overseer. — Have you ever tried it. Colonel! 
Colonel. — No, but others have, and they say it 
takes too much time. 
Overseer. — How’s your pea crops. Colonel ! 
Colonel.— I never plant peas, sir; they kill more 
hogs than they raise. 
Overseer. — That is strange ! The Doctor told 
me his peas nearly fattened his hogs before he 
penned them, besides gathering near 150 bush- 
els tor seed, tor sale, and for food for his negroes. 
Colonel. — Well, f don’t knowhow he manages. 
It takes all my time to gather my cotton, and 1 
am till March at that. But, sir, the long and the 
short of it is. Dr. Williams ismo pattern of a far- 
mer for me. I know some things as well as he 
does. 
Overseer. — (Smiling.) That’s just what he 
says of you. 
Colonel.— \1 q does, hey ! Well, we’ll see who 
v/ho mnhes most dear money. 
Oyersecr.— (Alter considerable pause.) Have 
your negroes been healthy! 
Colonel . — Gluite the contrary; we lost consi- 
derable lime by sickness, which caused us to 
“ gel in the grass.” The negroes are so lazy, 
they don’t half cook their victuals; and that’s 
what makes them sick so much. 
Ov^.rseer.— You. don’t have it cooked for them 
yourself, then! 
Colonel . — Not I ! I tried that projectonce, too. 
But they were so difficult to please, that I broke 
it up, and now make them cook of a night. 
Overseer . — The Doctor told me he preferred 
cooking for his hands, for that very reason, for he 
says by cooking vegetables with their meat, it 
goes much farther, is more conducive to health, 
and a great saving in time, to say nothing of the 
comfort of v.^arm food, instead of cold half cook- 
ed .stuff. 
Colonel. — Well, the Doctor may do as he 
pleases. 1 shan’t give myself so much trouble. 
They may cook it or let it alone, and be 
for what I care. You appear to have taken a 
great notion to the Doctor. Why did you not 
get in with him ! 
Overseer . — Why, to tell you the truth, the Doc- 
tor asked me so many strange questions that I 
could not answer to his satisfaction, that he said 
he was afraid I would not suit him. I have gen- 
erally been in the habit of only being asked by 
my employer, “how many bags we made to the 
hand.” And as you say, all that stuff about 
corn, peas, potatoes, vegetables, raising hogs, 
sheep, goats, cattle, mode of farming, different 
qualities of soil, ditching, planting rice, (for he 
makes considerable rice, too,) and about curry- 
ing horses, the time and manner, and the quan- 
tity of salt, ashes and copperas to be given to all 
those animals, that 1 confess 1 was non plussed. 
Colonel . — (Laugh on the Colonel’s side.) — 
Well, I’ll not pester you as the Doctor did about 
all his notions. I know my own interest best. 
As I do not desire to occupy too much space 
in your valuable paper, 1 will here close the 
dialogue, by adding that the overseer, having 
produced to the Colonel satisfactory testimonials 
from his late employer, that he made 8 bags to 
the hand, and would have made 10 had it not been 
for the “ shedding in consequence of the drouth,” 
engages with him for the next year — the overseer 
agreeing to take less wages than the Colonel 
had been giving. Where you find one Dr. 
Williams you will find twenty Col. Cottonbags; 
and I ask you, sir, is the picture exaggerated ! If 
