Read these lines: "The colonel had to resort to all kinds of stratagems to keep his slaves out of the garden. The last and most successful one was that of tarring his fence all around; after which, if a slave was caught with any tar upon his person, it was deemed sufficient proof that he had either been into the garden, or had tried to get in." What can be inferred about the tar?

1. The quoted lines call the tarring a stratagem, so its purpose is to catch people rather than to mend anything. 2. Any tar found on a person was deemed sufficient proof of entering the garden, or of trying to. 3. That makes a smear on the skin work as evidence, which is option C. 4. Option B gives the tar a practical building purpose the quoted lines never claim. 5. Options A and D add a spoiled crop and a yearly washing that appear nowhere. _Source: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), public domain_