writing

DECEMBER, 1828

PART I

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

ART. I -- On the Management of the BUTLER Estate, and the Cultivation of the Sugar Cane; by R. King, jr. addresed to William Washington, Esq.

[COMMUNICATED FOR THE SOUTHERN AGRICULTURALIST.]

         Hampton, (near Darien,) 13th Sept. 1828.

Dear Sir. -- Your letter of the 29th August came to hand on the 8th inst. Nothing would afford me more satisfaction than to impart the little knowledge I possess of Southern Agriculture and plantation economy, if such would benefit others.

We are dependent on each other, and each should contribute his mite. Therefore, I shall comply with your request as minutely as possible.

The reputed good condition of the Butler Estate, has been the work of time, and a diligent attention to the interest of said estate, and the comfort and happiness of the slaves on it.

To Mr. R. King, sen'r. more is due than to myself. In 1802, he assumed the management. The gang was a fine one, but was very disorderly, which invariably is the case when there is a frequent change of managers. Rules and regulations were established, (I may say laws,) a few forcible examples made, after a regular trial, in which every degree of justice was exhibited, was the first step. But the grand point was to supress the brutality and licentiousness practiced by the principal men on it; (say the drivers and tradesmen.) More punishment is inflicted on every plantation by the men in power, from private pique, than from a neglect of duty. This I assert as a fact; I have detected it often. No person of my age, knows more the nature of these persons than myself; since childhood I have been on this place, and from the age of eighteen to this time, have had the active management; therefore I speak with confidence. They have a perfect knowledge of right and wrong. When an equitable distribution of rewards and punishments is observed, in a short time they will conform to almost every rule that is laid down.

The owner or overseer knows, that with a given number of hands, such a portion of work is to be done. The driver, to screen favorites, or apply their time to his own purposes, imposes a heavy task on some. Should they murmur, and opportunity is taken,, months after, to punish those unfortunate fellows for not doing their own and others tasks. Should they not come at the immediate offenders, it will descend on the nearest kindred. As an evidence of the various opportunities that a burial driver has to gratify his revenge, (the predominant principle of the human race,) let any planter go into his field, and in any Negro's task, he can find apparently just grounds for punishment. To prevent this abuse, no driver in the field is allowed to inflict punishment, until after a regular trial. When I pass sentence myself, various modes of punishment are adopted; the lash, least of all -- Digging stumps, or clearing away trash about the settlements, in their own time; but the most severe is, confinement at home six months to twelve months, or longer. No intercourse is allowed with other plantations. A certain number are allowed to go to town on Sundays, to dispose of eggs, poultry, coopers' ware, canoes, &c. but must be home by 12 o'clock, unless by special permit. Any one returning intoxicated, (a rare instance) goes into stocks, and not allowed to leave home for twelve months.

An order from a driver is to be as implicitly obeyed as if it came from myself, nor do I counteract the execution, (unless directly injurious,) but direct his immediate attention to it. It would be endless for me to superintend the drivers and field hands too, and would of course make them useless. The lash is, unfortunately, too much used; every mode of punishment should be divised in preference to that, and when used, never to lacerate -- all young persons will offend. A Negro at twenty-five years old, who finds he has the marks of a rogue inflicted when a boy, (even if disposed to be orderly) has very little or no inducement to be otherwise. Every means are used to encourage them, and impress on their minds the advantage of holding property, and the disgrace attached to idleness. Surely, if industrious for themselves, they will be so for their masters, and no Negro, with a well stocked poultry house, a small crop advancing, a canoe partly finished, or a few tubs unsold, all of which he calculates soon to enjoy, will ever run away. In ten years I have lost, by absconding, forty-seven days, out of nearly six hundred Negroes. Any Negro leaving the plantation, field, to complain to me, is registered and treated as such. Many may think that they lose time, when Negroes can work for themselves; it is the reverse on all plantations under good regulations -- time is absolutely gained to the master. An indolent Negro is most always sick, and unless he is well enough to work for his master, he cannot work for himself, and when the master's task is done, he is in mischief, unless occupied for himself. And another evidence arising from the encouragement of industry, I make on this estate as good crops as most of my neighbors; plant as much to the hand, do as much plantation work, and very often get clear of a crop earlier than many where these encouragements are not held out. I have no before-day work, only as punishments; every hand must be at work by daylight. The tasks given are calculated to require so much labour. It is as easy to cut three tasks of Rice, as it is to bind two, or to bring two home. It is easier to ditch eight hundred cubic feet of marsh, than four hundred feet of rooty river swamp. There are many regulations on a plantation that must be left discretionary with the manager. In harvesting a crop of Rice, some acres are heavier, or further off than others, some hands quicker, or more able than others all these, considered, make a wide difference -- by giving a far and a near task to bring in, or putting them in gangs, the burthen is borne equally, and all come home at once. Frequently (always I can say) by Friday night, I have nearly as much Rice in, as if the regular task during the week, had been given....

By this mode I not only gain time, but afford them some also. A man, white or black, that knows such will be the result, will seldom deviate from the right course. All these things are not to be slipped into at once; it has been the work of nearly twenty-seven years, and I find many things yet to correct. With regard to feeding, they have plenty of the best Corn, well ground, by water and animal power, with a portion of Fish, (No. 3, Mackerel,) Beef, Pork, and Molasses, and when much exposed, a little Rum. To each gang there is a cook, who carefully prepares two meals per day. The very grinding and cooking for them affords the time that they apply to their own purposes; if their provisions was given underground, many would trade it off, or be too lazy to cook it. Any one that has spent a night on a plantation where the Negroes grind their own Corn, must recollect the horrible sound of a hand mill, all night. It is this that wears them down. He goes to the mill -- it is occupied -- he must wait until the first has done, and so on; some are at it all night -- their natural rest is destroyed. Many masters think they give provision and clothing in abundance, but unless they use means to have these properly prepared, half the benefit is lost. Another great advantage in grinding and cooking for them is, that the little Negroes are sure to get enough to eat. On this estate, there are two hundred and thrity-eight Negroes from fifteen years down, and every one knows that they do not increase in proportion in a large gang, as in a small one, with the same attention. I cannot exemplify in too strong terms, the great advantage resulting from properly preparing the food for Negroes.-- They will object to it at first, but no people are more easily convinced of any thing tending to their comfort, than they are. In fact, a master does not discharge his duty to himself, unless he will adopt every means to promote his interest and their welfare. Again, many will say it takes too many to wait on the others. An old woman for a cook, who will raise one little Negro extra, which will certainly pay her wages, besides the very great comfort it will afford the others; a machine that will not cost in twenty years, more than $15 per annum; a little boy to drive an old horse two days in the week, and an old man, (or even the overseer on a place of thirty hands,) to act as a commissary in issuing the provisions, I am sure, well regulated, will add 25 per cent. to the owner, including gain in Negroes, comfort to them, and to their master's feelings. During the summer, little Negroes should have an extra mess. I find at Butler's Island, where there are about one hundred and fourteen little Negroes, that it costs less than two cents each per week, in giving them a feed of Ocra soup, with Pork, or a little Molasses or Hommony, or Small Rice. The great advantage is, that there is not a dirt-eater among them -- an incurable propensity produced from a morbid state of the stomach, arising from the want of a proper quantity of wholesome food, and at a proper time.

I have invariably found that women, that had been accustomed to waiting in the houses of white persons, have the largest and finest families of children, even after going into the field. I believe it arises from this circumstance, that they had contracted a habit of cleanliness, and of preparing their food properly. You, on looking round, will find this the case. An hospital should be on each plantation, with proper nurses and apartments for lying-in women, for the men, and for a nursery; when any enter, not to leave the house until discharged. I have found physicians of little service, except in surgical cases. An intelligent woman will in a short time learn the use of medicine. The labour of pregnant women is reduced one half, and they are put to work in dry situations.

It is a great point in having the principal drivers men that can support their dignity; a condescention to familiarity should be prohibited. Young Negroes are put to work early, twelve to fourteen years old; four, five, or six, rated a hand. It keeps them out of mischief, and by giving light tasks, thrity to forty rows, they acquire habits of perseverance and industry....

      I am, dear Sir, your most obed't.

          R. KING, Jr.

Southern Agriculturalist

December, 1828

South Carolina Historical Society

Excerpts from the 1863 publication by Mortimer Thomson, What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation. . .

The largest sale of human chattels that has been made in Star-Spangled America for several years, took place on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, at the Race-course near the City of Savannah, Georgia. The lot consisted of four hundred and thirty-six men, women, children and infants, being that half of the negro stock remaining on the old Major Butler plantations which fell to one of the two heirs to that estate.

...

The sale had been advertised largely for many weeks, though the name of Mr. Butler was not mentioned; and as the negroes were known to be a choice lot and very desirable property, the attendance of buyers was large. The breaking up of an old family estate is so uncommon an occurrence that the affair was regarded with unusual interest throughout the South. For several days before the sale every hotel in Savannah was crowded with negro speculators from North and South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, who had been attracted hither by the prospects of making good bargains.

...

...

The buyers were generally of a rough breed, slangy, profane and bearish, being for the most part from the back river and swamp plantations, where the elegancies of polite life are not, perhaps, developed to their fullest extent. In fact, the humanities are sadly neglected by the petty tyrants of the rice-fields that border the great Dismal Swamp, their knowledge of the luxuries of our best society comprehending only revolvers and kindred delicacies.

Your correspondent was present at an early date.... Although he kept his business in the back-ground, he made himself a prominent figure in the picture, and, wherever there was anything going on, there was he in the midst. At the sale might have been seen a busy individual, armed with pencil and catalogue, doing his little utmost to keep up all the appearance of a knowing buyer... and otherwise conducting himself like a rich planter, with forty thousand dollars where he could put his finger on it.

...

None of the Butler slaves have ever been sold before, but have been on these two plantations since they were born. Here have they lived their humble lives, and loved their simple loves; here were they born, and here have many of them had children born unto them; here had their parents lived before them, and are now resting in quiet graves on the old plantations that these unhappy ones are to see no more forever; here they left not only the well-known scenes dear to them from very baby-hood by a thousand fond memories, and homes as much loved by them, perhaps, as brighter homes by men of brighter faces; but all the clinging ties that bound them to living hearts were torn asunder, for but one-half of each of these two happy little communities was sent to the shambles, to be scattered to the four winds, and the other half was left behind. And who can tell how closely intertwined are a band of four hundred persons, living isolated from all the world beside, from birth to middle age? Do they not naturally become one great family, each man a brother unto each?

It is true they were sold "in families"; but let us see: a man and his wife were called a "family," their parents and kindred were not taken into account; the man and wife might be sold to the pine woods of North Carolina, their brothers and sisters be scattered through the cotton fields of Alabama and the rice swamps of Louisiana, while the parents might be left on the old plantation to wear out their weary lives in heavy grief, and lay their heads in far-off graves, over which their children might never weep.

...

...

The Negroes were examined with as little consideration as if they had been brutes indeed; the buyers pulling their mouths open to see their teeth, pinching their limbs to find how muscular they were, walking them up and down to detect any signs of lameness, making them stoop and bend in differect ways that they might be certain there was no concealed rupture of wound; and in addition to all this treatment, asking them scores of questions relative to their qualifications and accomplishments. All these humiliations were submitted to without a murmur, and in some instatces with good-natured cheerfulness -- where the slave liked the appearance of the proposed buyer, and fancied that he might prove a kind "Mas'r."

...

...

The women never spoke to the white men unless spoken to, and then made the conferece as short as possible. And not one of them all, during the whole time they were thus exposed to the rude questions of vulgar men, spoke the first unwomanly or indelicate word, or cunducted herself in any regard otherwise than as a modest woman should do; their conversation and demeanor were quite as unexceptionable as they would have been had they been the highest ladies in the land, and through all the insults to which they were subjected they conducted themselves with the most perfect decorum nad self-respect.

...

...

The expression on the faces of all who stepped on the block was always the same, and told of more anguish than it is in the power of words to express. Blighted homes, curshed hopes and broken hearts, was the sad story to be read in all the anxious faces. Some of them regarded the sale with perfect indifference, never making a motion, save to turn from one side to the other at the word of the dapper Mr. Byran, that all the crowd might have a fair view of their proportions, and then, when the sale was accomplished, stepped down from the block without caring to cast even a look at the buyer, who now held all their happiness in his hands.

...

As the last family stepped down from the block, the rain ceased, for the first time in four days the clouds broke away, and the soft sunlight fell on the scene. The unhappy slaves had many of them been already removed, and others were now departing with their new masters.

That night, not a steamer left that Southern port, not a train of cars sped away from that cruel city, that did not bear each its own sad burden of those unhappy ones, whose only crime is that they are not strong and wise. Some of them maimed and wounded, some scarred and gashed, by accident, or by the hand of ruthless drivers -- all sad and sorrowful as human hearts can be.

But the stars shone out as brightly as if such things had never been, the blushing fruit-trees poured their fragrance on the evening air, and the scene was as calmly sweet and quiet as if Man had never marred the glorious beauties of Earth by deeds of cruelty and wrong.

What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation?

Great Auction Sale of Slaves at Savannah, Georgia, March 2d & 3d, 1859

A sequel to Mrs. Kemble's Journal, 1863

Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation

From: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839
by Frances Anne Kemble
Copyright 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf Inc., reprinted by permission of the publisher

We now approached the low, reedy banks of Butler Island, and passed the rice miff and buildings surrounding it, all of which, it being Sunday, were closed. As we neared the bank, the steersman took up a huge conch, and in the barbaric fashion of early times in the Highlands, sounded out our approach. A pretty schooner, which carries the produce of the estate to Charleston and Savannah, lay alongside the wharf, which began to be crowded with Negroes, jumping, dancing, shouting, laughing, and clapping their hands (a usual expression of delight with savages and children), and using the most extravagant and ludicrous gesticulations to express their ecstasy at our arrival.

On our landing from the boat, the crowd thronged about us like a swarm of bees; we were seized, pulled, pushed, carried, dragged, and all but lifted in the air by the clamorous multitude. I was afraid my children would be smothered. Fortunately Mr. O--, the overseer, and the captain of the little craft above-mentioned, came to our assistance, and by their good offices the babies and nurse were protected through the crowd. They seized our clothes, kissed them -- then our hands, and almost wrung them off. One tall, gaunt Negress flew to us, parting the throng on either side, and embraced us in her arms. I believe I was almost frightened; and it was not until we were safely housed, and the door shut upon our riotous escort, that we indulged in a fit of laughing, quite as full, on my part, of nervousness as of amusement.

...

Before closing this letter, I have a mind to transcribe to you the entries for today recorded in a sort of daybook, where I put down very succinctly the number of people who visit me, their petitions and ailments, and also such special particulars concerning them as seem to me worth recording. You will see how miserable the physical condition of many of these poor creatures is; and their physical condition, it is insisted by those who uphold this evil system, is the only part of it which is prosperous, happy, and compares well with that of Northern laborers. Judge from the details I now send you; and never forget, while reading them, that the people on this plantation are well off, and consider themselves well off, in comparison with the slaves on some of the neighboring [communities].

Fanny has had six children; all dead but one. She came to beg to have her work in the field lightened.

Nanny has had three children; two of them are dead. She came to implore that the rule of sending them into the field three weeks after their confinement might be altered.

Leah, Caesar's wife, has had six children; three are dead.

Sophy, Lewis's wife, came to beg for some old linen. She is suffering fearfully; has had ten children; five of them are dead. The principal favor she asked was a piece of meat, which I gave her.

Sally, Scipio's wife, has had two miscarriages and three children born, one of whom is dead. She came complaining of incessant pain and weakness in her back. This woman was a mulatto daughter of a slave called Sophy, by a white man of the name of Walker, who visited the plantation.

Charlotte, Renty's wife, had had two miscarriages, and was with child again. She was almost crippled with rheumatism, and showed me a pair of poor swollen knees that made my heart ache. I have promised her a pair of flannel trousers, which I must forthwith set about making.

Sarah, Stephen's wife: this woman's case and history were alike deplorable. She had had four miscarriages, had brought seven children into the world, five of whom were dead, and was again with child. She complained of dreadful pains in the back, and an internal tumor which swells with the exertion of working in the fields; probably, I think, she is ruptured. She told me she had once been mad and had run into the woods, where she contrived to elude discovery for some time, but was at last tracked and brought back, when she was tied up by the arms, and heavy logs fastened to her feet, and was severely flogged. After this she contrived to escape again, and lived for some time skulking in the woods, and she supposes mad, for when she was taken again she was entirely naked. She subsequently recovered from this derangement, and seems now just like all the other poor creatures who come to me for help and pity. I suppose her constant childbearing and hard labor in the fields at the same time have produced the temporary insanity.

...

I have had a most painful conversation with Mr. [Butler], who has declined receiving any of the people's petitions through me.

Perhaps, after all, what he says is true: when I am gone they will fall back into the desperate uncomplaining habit of suffering, from which my coming among them, willing to hear and ready to help, has tempted them. He says that bringing their complaints to me, and the sight of my credulous commiseration, only tend to make them discontented and idle, and brings renewed chastisement upon them; and that so, instead of really befriending them, I am only preparing more suffering for them whenever I leave the Place, and they can no more cry to me for help. And so I see nothing for it but to go and leave them to their fate; perhaps, too, he is afraid of the mere contagion of freedom which breathes from the very existence of those who are free; my way of speaking to the people, of treating them, or living with them, the appeals I make to their sense of truth, of duty, of self-respect, the infinite compassion and the human consideration I feel for them -- and this, of course, makes my intercourse with them dangerously suggestive of relations far different from anything they have ever known; and, a Mr. 0-- once almost hinted to me, my existence was an element of danger to the "institution." If I should go away the human sympathy that I have felt for them will certainly never come near them again.

...

I had a long talk with that interesting and excellent man, cooper London, who made an earnest petition that I would send him from the North a lot of Bibles and Prayer Books; certainly the science of reading must be much more common among the Negroes than I supposed, or London must look to a marvelously increased spread of the same hereafter. There is, however, considerable reticence upon this point, or else the poor slaves must consider the mere possession of the holy books as good for salvation and as effectual for spiritual assistance to those who cannot as to those who can comprehend them. Since the news of our departure has spread, I have had repeated eager entreaties for presents of Bibles and Prayer Books, and to my demurrer of "But you can't read, can you?" have generally received for answer a reluctant acknowledgment of ignorance, which, however, did not always convince me of the fact. In my farewell conversation with London I found it impossible to get him to tell me how he had learned to read: the penalties for teaching them are very severe -- heavy fines, increasing in amount for the first and second offense, and imprisonment for the third. Such a man as London is certainly aware that to teach the slaves to read is an illegal act, and he may have been unwilling to betray whoever had been his preceptor even to my knowledge; at any rate, I got no answers from him but: "Wen, missis, me learn; well, missis, me try"; and finally: "Well, missis, me 'spose Heaven help me"; to which I could only reply that I knew Heaven was helpful, but very hardly to the tune of teaching folks their letters. I got no satisfaction.

DECEMBER, 1828

PART I

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

ART. I -- On the Management of the BUTLER Estate, and the Cultivation of the Sugar Cane; by R. King, jr. addresed to William Washington, Esq.

[COMMUNICATED FOR THE SOUTHERN AGRICULTURALIST.]

         Hampton, (near Darien,) 13th Sept. 1828.

Dear Sir. -- Your letter of the 29th August came to hand on the 8th inst. Nothing would afford me more satisfaction than to impart the little knowledge I possess of Southern Agriculture and plantation economy, if such would benefit others.

We are dependent on each other, and each should contribute his mite. Therefore, I shall comply with your request as minutely as possible.

The reputed good condition of the Butler Estate, has been the work of time, and a diligent attention to the interest of said estate, and the comfort and happiness of the slaves on it.

To Mr. R. King, sen'r. more is due than to myself. In 1802, he assumed the management. The gang was a fine one, but was very disorderly, which invariably is the case when there is a frequent change of managers. Rules and regulations were established, (I may say laws,) a few forcible examples made, after a regular trial, in which every degree of justice was exhibited, was the first step. But the grand point was to supress the brutality and licentiousness practiced by the principal men on it; (say the drivers and tradesmen.) More punishment is inflicted on every plantation by the men in power, from private pique, than from a neglect of duty. This I assert as a fact; I have detected it often. No person of my age, knows more the nature of these persons than myself; since childhood I have been on this place, and from the age of eighteen to this time, have had the active management; therefore I speak with confidence. They have a perfect knowledge of right and wrong. When an equitable distribution of rewards and punishments is observed, in a short time they will conform to almost every rule that is laid down.

The owner or overseer knows, that with a given number of hands, such a portion of work is to be done. The driver, to screen favorites, or apply their time to his own purposes, imposes a heavy task on some. Should they murmur, and opportunity is taken,, months after, to punish those unfortunate fellows for not doing their own and others tasks. Should they not come at the immediate offenders, it will descend on the nearest kindred. As an evidence of the various opportunities that a burial driver has to gratify his revenge, (the predominant principle of the human race,) let any planter go into his field, and in any Negro's task, he can find apparently just grounds for punishment. To prevent this abuse, no driver in the field is allowed to inflict punishment, until after a regular trial. When I pass sentence myself, various modes of punishment are adopted; the lash, least of all -- Digging stumps, or clearing away trash about the settlements, in their own time; but the most severe is, confinement at home six months to twelve months, or longer. No intercourse is allowed with other plantations. A certain number are allowed to go to town on Sundays, to dispose of eggs, poultry, coopers' ware, canoes, &c. but must be home by 12 o'clock, unless by special permit. Any one returning intoxicated, (a rare instance) goes into stocks, and not allowed to leave home for twelve months.

An order from a driver is to be as implicitly obeyed as if it came from myself, nor do I counteract the execution, (unless directly injurious,) but direct his immediate attention to it. It would be endless for me to superintend the drivers and field hands too, and would of course make them useless. The lash is, unfortunately, too much used; every mode of punishment should be divised in preference to that, and when used, never to lacerate -- all young persons will offend. A Negro at twenty-five years old, who finds he has the marks of a rogue inflicted when a boy, (even if disposed to be orderly) has very little or no inducement to be otherwise. Every means are used to encourage them, and impress on their minds the advantage of holding property, and the disgrace attached to idleness. Surely, if industrious for themselves, they will be so for their masters, and no Negro, with a well stocked poultry house, a small crop advancing, a canoe partly finished, or a few tubs unsold, all of which he calculates soon to enjoy, will ever run away. In ten years I have lost, by absconding, forty-seven days, out of nearly six hundred Negroes. Any Negro leaving the plantation, field, to complain to me, is registered and treated as such. Many may think that they lose time, when Negroes can work for themselves; it is the reverse on all plantations under good regulations -- time is absolutely gained to the master. An indolent Negro is most always sick, and unless he is well enough to work for his master, he cannot work for himself, and when the master's task is done, he is in mischief, unless occupied for himself. And another evidence arising from the encouragement of industry, I make on this estate as good crops as most of my neighbors; plant as much to the hand, do as much plantation work, and very often get clear of a crop earlier than many where these encouragements are not held out. I have no before-day work, only as punishments; every hand must be at work by daylight. The tasks given are calculated to require so much labour. It is as easy to cut three tasks of Rice, as it is to bind two, or to bring two home. It is easier to ditch eight hundred cubic feet of marsh, than four hundred feet of rooty river swamp. There are many regulations on a plantation that must be left discretionary with the manager. In harvesting a crop of Rice, some acres are heavier, or further off than others, some hands quicker, or more able than others all these, considered, make a wide difference -- by giving a far and a near task to bring in, or putting them in gangs, the burthen is borne equally, and all come home at once. Frequently (always I can say) by Friday night, I have nearly as much Rice in, as if the regular task during the week, had been given....

By this mode I not only gain time, but afford them some also. A man, white or black, that knows such will be the result, will seldom deviate from the right course. All these things are not to be slipped into at once; it has been the work of nearly twenty-seven years, and I find many things yet to correct. With regard to feeding, they have plenty of the best Corn, well ground, by water and animal power, with a portion of Fish, (No. 3, Mackerel,) Beef, Pork, and Molasses, and when much exposed, a little Rum. To each gang there is a cook, who carefully prepares two meals per day. The very grinding and cooking for them affords the time that they apply to their own purposes; if their provisions was given underground, many would trade it off, or be too lazy to cook it. Any one that has spent a night on a plantation where the Negroes grind their own Corn, must recollect the horrible sound of a hand mill, all night. It is this that wears them down. He goes to the mill -- it is occupied -- he must wait until the first has done, and so on; some are at it all night -- their natural rest is destroyed. Many masters think they give provision and clothing in abundance, but unless they use means to have these properly prepared, half the benefit is lost. Another great advantage in grinding and cooking for them is, that the little Negroes are sure to get enough to eat. On this estate, there are two hundred and thrity-eight Negroes from fifteen years down, and every one knows that they do not increase in proportion in a large gang, as in a small one, with the same attention. I cannot exemplify in too strong terms, the great advantage resulting from properly preparing the food for Negroes.-- They will object to it at first, but no people are more easily convinced of any thing tending to their comfort, than they are. In fact, a master does not discharge his duty to himself, unless he will adopt every means to promote his interest and their welfare. Again, many will say it takes too many to wait on the others. An old woman for a cook, who will raise one little Negro extra, which will certainly pay her wages, besides the very great comfort it will afford the others; a machine that will not cost in twenty years, more than $15 per annum; a little boy to drive an old horse two days in the week, and an old man, (or even the overseer on a place of thirty hands,) to act as a commissary in issuing the provisions, I am sure, well regulated, will add 25 per cent. to the owner, including gain in Negroes, comfort to them, and to their master's feelings. During the summer, little Negroes should have an extra mess. I find at Butler's Island, where there are about one hundred and fourteen little Negroes, that it costs less than two cents each per week, in giving them a feed of Ocra soup, with Pork, or a little Molasses or Hommony, or Small Rice. The great advantage is, that there is not a dirt-eater among them -- an incurable propensity produced from a morbid state of the stomach, arising from the want of a proper quantity of wholesome food, and at a proper time.

I have invariably found that women, that had been accustomed to waiting in the houses of white persons, have the largest and finest families of children, even after going into the field. I believe it arises from this circumstance, that they had contracted a habit of cleanliness, and of preparing their food properly. You, on looking round, will find this the case. An hospital should be on each plantation, with proper nurses and apartments for lying-in women, for the men, and for a nursery; when any enter, not to leave the house until discharged. I have found physicians of little service, except in surgical cases. An intelligent woman will in a short time learn the use of medicine. The labour of pregnant women is reduced one half, and they are put to work in dry situations.

It is a great point in having the principal drivers men that can support their dignity; a condescention to familiarity should be prohibited. Young Negroes are put to work early, twelve to fourteen years old; four, five, or six, rated a hand. It keeps them out of mischief, and by giving light tasks, thrity to forty rows, they acquire habits of perseverance and industry....

      I am, dear Sir, your most obed't.

          R. KING, Jr.

Southern Agriculturalist

December, 1828

South Carolina Historical Society