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Garden
products
,
such
as
cabbages
,
turnips
and
the
like
,
are
cultivated
for
the
use
of
the
master
and
his
family
.
They
have
greens
and
vegetables
at
all
times
and
seasons
of
the
year
.
"
The
grass
withereth
and
the
flower
fadeth
"
before
the
desolating
winds
of
autumn
in
the
chill
northern
latitudes
,
but
perpetual
verdure
overspreads
the
hot
lowlands
,
and
flowers
bloom
in
the
heart
of
winter
,
in
the
region
of
Bayou
Bœuf
.
There
are
no
meadows
appropriated
to
the
cultivation
of
the
grasses
.
The
leaves
of
the
corn
supply
a
sufficiency
of
food
for
the
laboring
cattle
,
while
the
rest
provide
for
themselves
all
the
year
in
the
ever-growing
pasture
.
There
are
many
other
peculiarities
of
climate
,
habit
,
custom
,
and
of
the
manner
of
living
and
laboring
at
the
South
,
but
the
foregoing
,
it
is
supposed
,
will
give
the
reader
an
insight
and
general
idea
of
life
on
a
cotton
plantation
in
Louisiana
.
The
mode
of
cultivating
cane
,
and
the
process
of
sugar
manufacturing
,
will
be
mentioned
in
another
place
.
On
my
arrival
at
Master
Epps
'
,
in
obedience
to
his
order
,
the
first
business
upon
which
I
entered
was
the
making
of
an
axe-helve
.
The
handles
in
use
there
are
simply
a
round
,
straight
stick
.
I
made
a
crooked
one
,
shaped
like
those
to
which
I
had
been
accustomed
at
the
North
.
When
finished
,
and
presented
to
Epps
,
he
looked
at
it
with
astonishment
,
unable
to
determine
exactly
what
it
was
.
He
had
never
before
seen
such
a
handle
,
and
when
I
explained
its
conveniences
,
he
was
forcibly
struck
with
the
novelty
of
the
idea
.
He
kept
it
in
the
house
a
long
time
,
and
when
his
friends
called
,
was
wont
to
exhibit
it
as
a
curiosity
.
It
was
now
the
season
of
hoeing
.
I
was
first
sent
into
the
corn-field
,
and
afterwards
set
to
scraping
cotton
.
In
this
employment
I
remained
until
hoeing
time
was
nearly
passed
,
when
I
began
to
experience
the
symptoms
of
approaching
illness
.
I
was
attacked
with
chills
,
which
were
succeeded
by
a
burning
fever
.
I
became
weak
and
emaciated
,
and
frequently
so
dizzy
that
it
caused
me
to
reel
and
stagger
like
a
drunken
man
.
Nevertheless
,
I
was
compelled
to
keep
up
my
row
.
When
in
health
I
found
little
difficulty
in
keeping
pace
with
my
fellow-laborers
,
but
now
it
seemed
to
be
an
utter
impossibility
.
Often
I
fell
behind
,
when
the
driver
's
lash
was
sure
to
greet
my
back
,
infusing
into
my
sick
and
drooping
body
a
little
temporary
energy
.
I
continued
to
decline
until
at
length
the
whip
became
entirely
ineffectual
.
The
sharpest
sting
of
the
rawhide
could
not
arouse
me
.
Finally
,
in
September
,
when
the
busy
season
of
cotton
picking
was
at
hand
,
I
was
unable
to
leave
my
cabin
.
Up
to
this
time
I
had
received
no
medicine
,
nor
any
attention
from
my
master
or
mistress
.
The
old
cook
visited
me
occasionally
,
preparing
me
corn-coffee
,
and
sometimes
boiling
a
bit
of
bacon
,
when
I
had
grown
too
feeble
to
accomplish
it
myself
.
When
it
was
said
that
I
would
die
,
Master
Epps
,
unwilling
to
bear
the
loss
,
which
the
death
of
an
animal
worth
a
thousand
dollars
would
bring
upon
him
,
concluded
to
incur
the
expense
of
sending
to
Holmesville
for
Dr.
Wines
.
He
announced
to
Epps
that
it
was
the
effect
of
the
climate
,
and
there
was
a
probability
of
his
losing
me
.
He
directed
me
to
eat
no
meat
,
and
to
partake
of
no
more
food
than
was
absolutely
necessary
to
sustain
life
.
Several
weeks
elapsed
,
during
which
time
,
under
the
scanty
diet
to
which
I
was
subjected
,
I
had
partially
recovered
.
One
morning
,
long
before
I
was
in
a
proper
condition
to
labor
,
Epps
appeared
at
the
cabin
door
,
and
,
presenting
me
a
sack
,
ordered
me
to
the
cotton
field
.
At
this
time
I
had
had
no
experience
whatever
in
cotton
picking
.
It
was
an
awkward
business
indeed
.
While
others
used
both
hands
,
snatching
the
cotton
and
depositing
it
in
the
mouth
of
the
sack
,
with
a
precision
and
dexterity
that
was
incomprehensible
to
me
,
I
had
to
seize
the
boll
with
one
hand
,
and
deliberately
draw
out
the
white
,
gushing
blossom
with
the
other
.
Depositing
the
cotton
in
the
sack
,
moreover
,
was
a
difficulty
that
demanded
the
exercise
of
both
hands
and
eyes
.
I
was
compelled
to
pick
it
from
the
ground
where
it
would
fall
,
nearly
as
often
as
from
the
stalk
where
it
had
grown
.
I
made
havoc
also
with
the
branches
,
loaded
with
the
yet
unbroken
bolls
,
the
long
,
cumbersome
sack
swinging
from
side
to
side
in
a
manner
not
allowable
in
the
cotton
field
.
After
a
most
laborious
day
I
arrived
at
the
gin-house
with
my
load
.
When
the
scale
determined
its
weight
to
be
only
ninety-five
pounds
,
not
half
the
quantity
required
of
the
poorest
picker
,
Epps
threatened
the
severest
flogging
,
but
in
consideration
of
my
being
a
"
raw
hand
,
"
concluded
to
pardon
me
on
that
occasion
.
The
following
day
,
and
many
days
succeeding
,
I
returned
at
night
with
no
better
success
--
I
was
evidently
not
designed
for
that
kind
of
labor
.
I
had
not
the
gift
--
the
dexterous
fingers
and
quick
motion
of
Patsey
,
who
could
fly
along
one
side
of
a
row
of
cotton
,
stripping
it
of
its
undefiled
and
fleecy
whiteness
miraculously
fast
.
Practice
and
whipping
were
alike
unavailing
,
and
Epps
,
satisfied
of
it
at
last
,
swore
I
was
a
disgrace
--
that
I
was
not
fit
to
associate
with
a
cotton-picking
"
nigger
"
--
that
I
could
not
pick
enough
in
a
day
to
pay
the
trouble
of
weighing
it
,
and
that
I
should
go
into
the
cotton
field
no
more
.
I
was
now
employed
in
cutting
and
hauling
wood
,
drawing
cotton
from
the
field
to
the
gin-house
,
and
performed
whatever
other
service
was
required
.
Suffice
to
say
,
I
was
never
permitted
to
be
idle
.
