Evening star., 1915-02-21
WASHINGTON, THE PLANTER

I the hiring of overseers for his several
farms:
Il have one place certain, perhaps
two, requiring overseers. but not al
the advanced wages your overseer asks
viz, SO pounds, etc. These are my home
| house, which requires an active, stir
| ring and spirited man, but not an ill
| tempered or severe one. The other is
| what I call Doguerun farm twhere the
octagon barn and treading floor is).
| could not well afford more than Al
pounds, and the usual allowance of pro
visions for the latter: & 35 pounds
| is the most 1 ever gave for the former
and seldom more than thirty pounds
A single man wd. suit the home house
, best, would be cheaper to me. and he
himself would live much better mas
much as he would eat of the provisions
that went from table, with the house
keeper and other hired people. about
it,-on the other hand a married man
would be preferred for Doguerun
I had some thoughts of entrust-
but when 1 perceive that the negroes
are growing more and more insolen,
and difficult to govern. I am more in
| clined to incur the expense of an over
seer, than to hazard the management
and peace of the place to negro"
After asking Mr.. Spotswood to en-
gage a carpenter. and discussing other
matters of the same nature. he closes
the business part of his letter in this
way: You will oblige me very much
by having all these matters adjusted
as soon as possible & by informing me
of the result, that 1 may be placed
upon a certainty, & conduct myself ac-
cordingly."
Discussing the employment of ne
groes on his farm, he wrote in a let
ter, August II, 1899: "It is demonstra-
lively clear, that on this estate, l have
more working negroes by a full moiety
than can be employed to my advantage
in the farming system, and l shall
never turn planter thereon.
ITO sell the overplus I cannot, be-
cause I am principled against this kind
them out is almost as bad because they
could not be disposed of in families to
any advantage and to disperse the fam
lilies l have an aversion. What then is
to be done? Something must or / shall
be ruined, for all the money Gin addi-
tion to what I raise by crops and rents)
that have been received from lands
sold within the last four years, to the
amount of S50.000. has scarcely been
able to keep me af1oat.
"A thorough conviction that half the
workers on this estate would render
me greater net profit than 1 now de-
rive from the whole has made me re-
solve to settle plantations on some of
any other lands"
He continues such inquiries from
Mr.. Lewis of the best possible lands
and suggests that he should "go west
of the Alleghenies. He adds that the
drought has been SO extensive that he
would make no oats, and if it should
continue longer he would have no corn
These things will compel me, l eX-
|pect, to reduce the mouths that feed
on the hay. I have two or three young
jacks and several she asses that
would dispose of. Would Fauquier, or
where else. be a good place to dispose
of Them" he wrote
Washington planned an elaborate
system for introducing rotation of
crops on his whole estate, carrying his
schedule as far ahead as 1903 and so
on but it was never put into opera
tion, for within few months after it
was finished death removed him from
his loved Mount Vernon.