\ MAPLE SUGAR MAKING. 169 



made and enforced that these beautiful creatures might 

 be better protected and become more numerous. Their 

 presence is as necessary to give a charm to the woods 

 as are the plants and flowers. If the sugar bush is 

 next to the clearing, the fauna and early flora will both 

 be more abundant and interesting, and you will have 

 the daily companionship of blue birds, robins, jays, nut- 

 hatches, woodpeckers and song-sparrows, and before 

 the season closes, some of the most beautiful and inter- 

 esting early flowers will show themselves above the 

 decaying leaves. The woods are not only filled with 

 pleasant sights and sounds, but the sweetest odors fill 

 the air ; the limpid sap is fragrant with the essence of 

 maple ; the bark of trees, the chips and newly cut 

 wood, all send out their subtle tribute of incense to 

 mingle with that of the plants and flowers which are 

 just starting into life ; the dead leaves that have lain 

 all winter beneath the snows have a pleasant, earthy 

 smell, and even the old crumbling logs reddening in 

 decay, have about them the very essence of the aroma 

 of the woods. When several sugar bushes are contig- 

 uous, it is a pleasant sight to see the blue and gray 

 smoke curling above the tree-tops during the day, 

 and the gleaming fires marking the whereabouts of a 

 dozen camps at night. The provisions are sent from 

 the farm house, and they are such provisions as can be 

 prepared only by loving hands at home, and are eaten 

 with a relish known only to those who labor and eat in 

 the woods : everything tastes well, as at a^ picnic — even 

 the salt pork has a most appetizing flavor — especially if 



