more tender plant, is more certain in its produce,
because a mound of earth of the size of a cucumber hill, thrown over
the plant in the fall, protects it effectually against the cold of
winter. When the danger of frost is over in the spring, they uncover
it, and begin its culture. There is a great deal of this in the
neighborhood of Toulon. The plants are set about eight feet apart, and
yield, one year with another, about two pounds of caper each, worth on
the spot sixpence sterling per pound. They require little culture, and
this may be performed either with the plough or hoe. The principal work
is the gathering of the fruit as it forms. Every plant must be picked
every other day, from the last of June till the middle of October. But
this is the work of women and children. This plant does well in any
kind of soil which is dry, or even in walls where there is no soil, and
it lasts the life of a man. Toulon would be the proper port to apply
for them. I must observe, that the preceding details cannot be relied
on with the fullest certainty, because, in the canton where this plant
is cultivated, the inhabitants speak no written language, but a medley,
which I could understand but very imperfectly.

The fig and mulberry are so well known in America, that nothing need be
said of them. Their culture, too, is by women and children, and,
therefore, earnestly to be desired in countries where there are slaves.
In these, the women and children are often employed in labors
disproportioned to their sex and age. By presenting to the master
objects of culture, easier and equally beneficial, all temptation to
misemploy them would be removed, and the lot of this tender part of our
species be much softened. By varying, too, the articles of culture, we
multiply the chances for making something, and disarm the seasons in a
proportionable degree, of their calamitous effects.

The olive is a tree the least known in America, and yet the most worthy
of being known. Of all the gifts of heaven to man, it is next to the
most precious, if it be not the most precious. Perhaps it may claim a
preference even to bread, because there is such an infinitude of
vegetables, which it renders a proper and comfortable nourishment. In
passing the Alps at the Col de Tende, where they are mere masses of
rock, wherever there happens to be a little soil, there are a number of
olive trees, and a village supported by them. Take away these trees,
and the same groun