Rules in the Management of a Southern Estate (Concluded) [pp. 376-381]

380 RILES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF A SOUTIERN ESTATE.
men for the care of the horses and gear, the teams will be
divided, and certain specified horses and gear given. in charge
to each plowman, who will be held accountable for the same.
A curry-comb will be provided for each pair of horses.
The plowmen must not be allowed to gall their horses, or to
split their mouths with the bits, as is so generally done, to the
lasting injury and disfigurement of the horses; and severe punishment must be used if necessary, to prevent such gross
abuse. The teams should never be actually at work over ten
hours a day; the balance of the time should be given to rest,
feeding, and careful attendance at the stable. As much work
can be done in ten hours, if the horses are in order, as in
twelve or fourteen, worked in the ordinary slow and out-ofheart style.
The horses must be fed, and are growing older every day;
keep them at work, also, every day, (Sundays and rainy days
excepted,) when the land is too wet to plow, hauling may be
done, so as to keep the teams always at work. By observing
this rule, the plowing and hauling will always be well ahead;
less team will cultivate a given amount of crop, and with more
ease, than a larger team,half-kept and half-worked, after the
ordinary manner.
IMPLEMENTS.-The rule of having a place for every thin
and keeping every thing in its place, must be strictly enforced
in regard to wagons, carts, plows, hoes, gear, and all other
plantation implements.
Besides keeping all implements in their proper places and
to their proper uses, they must at all times be kept in order for
use. And to effect this, as soon as any thing is broken or
otherwise out of order, let it be carried forthwith to the carpenter's or smith's shop and put in order, and thence returned
to its proper place in the tool-room or shed; and let it not be
left, as is often done, out of place and out of order until the
very moment it is wanted for use; and these things, when not
in use, must be kept under the shelter.
In order to establish some accountability amongst the negroes
for the care and preservation of the implements, there must
be a special assignment of certain implements to each negro;
from the wagon and gear, carts, yokes, etc., down to the
smaller tools, such as hoes, axes, etc., and such smaller tools
as cannot readily be distinguished the one from the other of
the same sort, will be marked (either upon the iron or the
wood) with the first letter of the name of the negro to whom
they have been assigned, and a written list of the assignment
will be kept, and the hands will be required to use each his
own tools, and no others, and be held responsible for their
preservation, and for returning them to their proper places.