The reason blacks were used for field work in the South was because English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh indentured servants did not do very well doing long hours of outdoor labor in the heat of a Southern summer. The peoples of the British Isles are on average paler than other whites. Italians and Greeks might have been a better choice, but they were not available. The English had lots of convicted people due to their harsh laws and debt imprisonment and war prisoners from their conflicts with Ireland and Scotland. They were less expensive than African slaves but were indentured for a limited time, usually seven years. The African slaves were a better financial deal for the plantation owners.