ond question to trial, as I have before related,
viz. whether he could not obtain the labour of his Negroes by voluntary
means, instead of by the old method by violence. He made, therefore, an
attempt to introduce task-work, or labour with an expected premium for
extraordinary efforts, upon his estates. He gave his Negroes therefore a
small pecuniary reward over and above the usual allowances, and the
consequence was, as he himself says, that "the _poorest, feeblest_, and
by character _the most indolent_ Negroes of the whole gang, cheerfully
performed the holing of his land, generally said to be the most
laborious work, for _less than a fourth part_ of the stated price paid
to the undertakers for holing." This experiment I have detailed in
another place. After this he continued the practice of task-work or
premium. He describes the operation of such a system upon the minds of
his Negroes in the following words: "According to the vulgar mode of
governing Negro-slaves, they feel only the desponding fear of punishment
for doing less than they ought, without being sensible that the settled
allowance of food and clothing is given, and should be accepted, as a
reward for doing well, while in task-work the expectation of winning the
reward, and the fear of losing it, have a double operation to exert
their endeavours." Mr. Steele was also benefited again in another point
of view by the new practice which he had introduced. "He was clearly
convinced, that saving time, by doing in one day as much as would
otherwise require three days, was _worth more than double the premium_,
the _timely effects_ on vegetation _being critical_." He found also to
his satisfaction, that "during all the operations under the premium
there were _no disorders, no crowding to the sick-house_, as before."

I have now to make my remarks upon this account. It shows us clearly how
Mr. Steele made a part of his profits. These profits consisted first of
a _saving of expense_ in his husbandry, which saving _was not made by
others_. He had his land holed _at one-fourth_ of the usual rate. Let us
apply this to all the other operations of husbandry, such as weeding,
deep hoeing, &c. in a large farm of nearly eight hundred acres, like
his, and we shall see how considerable the savings would be in one
year. His Negroes again did not counterfeit sickness as before, in order
to be excused from labour, but rather wished to labour in order to
obtain the reward. There wa