368 
OVERSEERS A ND THEIR EMPLOYERS.-BUCK WHEAT. 
OVERSEERS AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 
I think that the remarks of “S.,”from South 
Carolina, page 319* of the October number, area just 
and xrue statement of what we have to contend with, 
in relation to overseers, so far as eight tenths are con¬ 
cerned : their wish is in most cases to make crops and 
manage a plantation with little or no trouble to them¬ 
selves : the result is, at last the employer bears the 
burden on his own shoulders. We need a different 
kind of men from what we now have; that is, a 
class who would enter into it as a business for life, 
or a profession ; not as places for temporal employ¬ 
ment or a home, but as an honorable profession, with 
a desire to learn both the theoretical and practical 
part of the duties. Such a class of men would add 
more to the agricultural interest of the South than all 
the new modes and theory now in operation. Im¬ 
provements made elsewhere can never be introduced 
successfully among us, so long as our managers are 
prepared and determined to resist. Let them under¬ 
take it unwillingly, and nine in ten cases a failure is 
inevitable, the result, a condemnation, and prejudices 
against the w T hole course. A war in opinions exists 
between the employer and his overseer, which can 
never be settled until this change is wrought; it now 
is as a house divided against itself. 
All overseers, or I may say, by far the largest 
number of them, look upon instructions as lessening 
their own knowledge, or underrating their judgments. 
From this cause, prejudice is a strong trait in their 
characters, and keeps us so far behind the improve¬ 
ments of the day. It is seldom or never that we can 
procure a man that will keep an eye to the whole 
interest of the plantation. He may make a heavy 
crop of cotton, an economical crop of corn, and stocks 
of hogs and cattle costing him no thought, they being 
valued in his judgment of little or no consequence. 
Impress upon him their value and importance, their 
reply is apt to be, “ poor range—had no corn to 
spare—they all died last summer.” Cotton they con¬ 
sider is the elevator of their reputations; for it is 
generally asked and known the quantity each man 
makes. His provisions and stocks are generally 
taken for granted that all is well. A large amount 
of bales sounds well, all for money ; but it is never 
known how or where that money is to be applied by 
the owners. So much for overseers; now for their 
employers. 
The first thing considered by one hearing this 
story, would naturally be, how do they hire over¬ 
seers? Do they make no contracts? have no under¬ 
standing as regards duty ? hold no authority over 
their own ? or do they merely hire a man, never 
watch his course or daily duties, and let him act as 
he may think proper from beginning to end ? These 
questions will at once cause an employer to examine 
into contracts as well as his own interest, both as 
regards lost time, waste, and destruction ; and if pro¬ 
per value is set upon all these things by the owner, 
his duty should be, first, by a strict understanding 
with his overseer, to have them properly attended to; 
if not, discontinue his services at once. Resolution 
Ln necessary with all men engaged in business, par- 
t.wiiarly the farmer; if he does not possess it, he 
i...ay be considered but a man of accident, and with 
s i many different duties to attend to, he must be 
resolute in giving to them their necessary attention. 
Te can scarcely look for those requisite qualifications 
in overseers, until the planters first set tne example 
of being acquainted with their own duties in all their 
bearings; and then we can instruct young men enter¬ 
ing on such duties with confidence and assurance of 
success. When it arrives to this state, a new era 
will have been established, which will enlighten all 
concerned to their true interest and policy to be pur¬ 
sued ; until then, the difficulties now complained of 
will generally exist. Jno. H. Dent, 
Cowikee Creek, Ala., Oct. 20, 1845. 
BUCKWHEAT. 
Culture , Uses, and Manufacture .—Buckwheat is 
a native of JNorthern Asia, and seems to have been 
introduced into our country at its first settlement. It 
stands lowest among the grain crops of the farmer, 
and is seldom included in any regular rotation, but is 
cultivated on some piece of new land, or some field 
out of its regular order. Though this crop is very 
uncertain, and its cultivation by no means general, 
yet it is on the increase, as may be seen by Mr. Ells¬ 
worth’s tables. The Report of 1844 puts the whole 
crop at 9,000,000 bushels, or about 15 per cent, over 
that of 1841- More than two-thirds of this is grown 
in the States of New York and Pennsylvania. 
Among the New England States, Connecticut takes 
the lead, while Ohio is most engaged in its cultivation 
in the valley of the West. 
Among the poorer classes of farmers its cultivation 
is induced by the little comparative outlay of seed 
and labor, and the quickness of the returns; only 
about 65 or 70 days being required from seedtime to 
harvest. It also suits those who never seem to 
shake off their winter habits and get fairly agoing 
till the seed time for the earlier crops is past. By 
some it has been considered a very exhausting crop; 
but this is by no means the generally received opi¬ 
nion. It is more easily affected by the weather than 
any other grain, and a dry season, a hot sun upon 
the blossoms, or an early frost, is sufficient to seal its 
ruin. Good crops of it are sometimes grown on very 
poor land, if the season is propitious. 
It is generally sown about the first of July, and 
about a half bushel of seed to the acre is required. 
The better the ground, the less seed is wanted; the 
most successful cultivators considering it an object to 
have a rather thin stand, large straw, and well 
branched out, in order to have a good yield. Rye is 
sometimes sown with it, and a tolerable yield ob*ain- 
ed when the season favors. Thus two crops are 
obtained with the same plowing. The ground for 
buckwheat is generally broken up just after corn¬ 
planting, and again crossed just before sowing. 
Upon a sod, one plowing is considered sufficient. 
The harvesting commences in September, and usu¬ 
ally takes two weeks from the time of cutting with * 
cradles or scythes, till taken in and threshed out. 
When the day promises to be fine, while it is yet 
damp with the dew, it is rolled up in bunches on the 
swarth, and drawn in and threshed out in the after¬ 
noon. It needs careful handling, or much will be 
lost by shelling out. It is often threshed upon the 
ground in the field where it grew, by which much 
dirt and gravel is collected with it, and the quality of 
the flour depreciated thereby. Our good friend, Solon 
Robinson, of Indiana, assured us, some years ago, 
that there was no necessity for threshing it right 
out, but that it might be kept in stacks or mows like 
