This the planters have been compelled to do from the denseness of their population, the smallness of their territory, the fact that the land was all occupied, and still more, because the island, from long continued cultivation, was partly worn out.

A prominent feature in their system was, theoretically at least, good bodily treatment of the slaves, good feeding, attention to mothers, to pregnant women, and to children, in order that the estates might always be kept _well stocked with good-conditioned negroes_.

They were considered the best managers, who increased the population of the estates most rapidly, and often premiums were given by the attorneys to such managers.

Another feature in the Barbadoes system was to raise sufficient provisions in the island to maintain the slaves, or, in planter's phrase, to _feed the stock_, without being dependent upon foreign countries.

This made the supplies of the slaves more certain and more abundant.