diminished in consequence of our innovations.
Occasionally it would happen that one who was not really able to work,
would go to the field through a fear of diminished wages.

One Saturday night, a negro whom we had suspected of thievish
propensities, presented eight full-day tickets as the representative
of his week's work.

"Did you earn all these this week?" I asked.

"Yes, sir," was the reply; "Mr. Owen gave them to me. I worked every
day, straight along."

"Can you tell me on which days he gave you each ticket?"

"Oh, yes. I knows every one of them," said the negro, his countenance
expressing full belief in his ability to locate each ticket.

As I held the tickets in my hand, the negro picked them out. "Mr. Owen
gave me this one Monday, this one Tuesday," and so on, toward the end
of the week. As he reached Friday, and saw three tickets remaining,
when there was only another day to be accounted for, his face suddenly
fell. I pretended not to notice his embarrassment.

"Which one did he give you to-day?"

There was a stammer, a hesitation, a slight attempt to explain, and
then the truth came out. He had stolen the extra tickets from two
fellow-laborers only a few minutes before, and had not reflected
upon the difficulties of the situation. I gave him some good advice,
required him to restore the stolen tickets, and promise he would not
steal any more. I think he kept the promise during the remainder of
his stay on the plantation, but am by no means certain.

Every day, when the weather was favorable, our work was pushed. Every
mule that could be found was put at once into service, and by the
15th of April we had upward of five hundred acres plowed and ready for
planting. We had planted about eighty acres of corn during the first
week of April, and arranged to commence planting cotton on Monday,
the 18th of the month. On the Saturday previous, the overseer on each
plantation organized his planting-gangs, and placed every thing in
readiness for active work.

The ground, when plowed for cotton, is thrown into a series of ridges
by a process technically known as "four-furrowing." Two furrows are
turned in one direction and two in another, thus making a ridge
four or five feet wide. Along the top of this ridge a "planter," or
"bull-tongue," is drawn by a single mule, making a channel two or
three inches in depth. A person carrying a bag of cotton seed follows
the planter and scatters the seed into the channe