1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



53 



time were masters of every new tool placed in 

 tlieir hands. 



Again the black man as a slave has been ac- 

 customed to tend ten acres of cotton or tobac- 

 co. This is no fancy sketch, but the truth — 

 ten acres. He does not require, as with us, a 

 boy or a man to drive while he holds the 

 plough, but laughs at the idea that one man 

 cannot hold and drive. I will grant that the 

 negro is apt to be lazy, but not so 

 much so as some white laborers it 

 has been my fortune to fall in with. 

 Owing to the condition of servi- 

 tude in which during all their lives 

 ihcy have been kept, they know 

 their place. 



As to education, give the negro 

 a book and directions how to go 

 on, and he is very apt at learning. 

 These remarks apply to l>oth males 

 and females. No sensible farmer 

 leaves his hands by tiiemselvos to do the work 

 on a (arm, but looks after and superintends it 

 himself, so that any shirking or laziness on the 

 laborer's part is very readily seen, and by be- 

 ing more or less of the time about, help will 

 not be to npt to laze. The negro Is very sus- 

 ceptible to kindness and jjraise. 



My remarks are not guess work, but gath- 

 ered from actual erperiment and observation. 

 Why, then, may not the farmers in certain 

 localities rid themselves of their prejudice as 

 to race and color, and join in getting negroes, 

 both male and female to do their work, 

 much better, and at less cost, than in hiring 

 Tom and Dick as they come along. 



It has been for some time my conviction that 

 black help can be encployed usefully, economi- 

 cally and satisfactorily on our farms. 



F. COPELAND. 



West Dedham, Mass., Nov. 27, 1867. 



IiIVERMORE'S SAP SPOUT. 



The annexed cut represents a recent inge- 

 nious and very cheap invention of R. F. Liver- 

 more, of Starksboro', Vermont, which it is 

 believed supplies a want long felt by maple 

 sugar makers, as it is less injurious to the tree 

 and more economical of sap than any spout 



Assorting Fruit. — We have often urged 

 the importance of selecting the best specimens 

 for market — especially so with the larger fruits 

 which may be easily picked over. As addi- 

 tional corroboration of our views we give the 

 following brief quotation from the published 

 proceedings of the American Fomological So- 

 ciety at St. Louis : — 



Dr. Claggelt dwelt upon the importance of 

 proper transportation, and said that of the 

 fruit brought to market two-thirds would 

 bring more money than the whole, if one-third 

 were at home. A shipper would make money 

 by gaining a reputation for putting up only 

 peri'ect fruit, and giving all the imperfect fruit 

 to the pigs. 



— The Rural New Yorker says that a gentleman 

 of Rochester has succeeded in checking the blight 

 on his quince trees by removing the surface soil 

 about the roots and applying a liberal supply of 

 salt. It also added greatly to the productiveness 

 of the trees. 



heretofore in use. It is very simple and is 

 entirely of metal. A is the spout; D the 

 head, in which is a hole, H, for the passage of 

 the sap. The head is concave, C, forming, 

 with the exterior bevel, D, a sharp edge, a, 

 which surrounds the chamber or tap in the 

 tree. From the central part of the concavity 

 projects a screw, S, holding the spout firmly 

 to the tree, and pressing the sharp edge, a, 

 against the bark, thus preventing leakage. 

 The chamber in the tree is made by the or- 

 dinary tapping bit, which should be guaged so 

 as to allow the screw to take firm hold of the i 

 wood. The screw is placed in the centre of 

 the hole or chamber and turned until the edge, 

 a, presses firmly against the bark around the 

 chamber. A projection, E, is added, on which 

 the sap tub is hung and kept in its place. 



Though possessing so many valuable quali- 

 ties, these spouts are exceedingly simple in 

 construction and use, and we understand are 

 offered at a price which can be remunerative 

 to the manufacturer only by the large sales 

 which will result from its general introduction. 



FARM LABORERS OP PRUSSIA. 

 M. Emile de Laveleye has just contributed 

 an articla to the Revue des Devx Mondes, in 

 which an interesting account is given of the 

 progress made by Prussia during 60 years of 

 peace. Writing on agriculture, he points out 

 that nearly all the land-owners cultivate their 

 own estates ; except for detached portions, 

 renting is the exception. They are, therefore, 

 retained in the country by the care of their 

 own interests, for nothing more imperiously 

 requires the eye of a master than rural indus- 

 try. It is true they are aided by a class of 



