Botany. 263 
an axe. An oblique incision three or four inches long, is 
made in such a manner that all the sap will be conducted to ” 
the lower corner, where it passes into a spout inserted 
with a gouge as above. Disadvantages of this method. 
The surface being much exposed to the air and sun, is pres- 
ently dried, so as to diminish very much the quantity of 
sap. ‘Ihe wound in the tree is extensive and a ruinous de- - 
cay is often the consequence, the tree becoming rotten- 
hearted. 2. With anauger. The tree is peforated an inch 
or more with an auger three fourths of an inch diameter, 
and a tube made of elder or sumach is inserted to conduct 
off the sap. The end of the tube is made tapering so as to 
bear only at the outer edge of the tube. bathe 
The tap presses upon the external grains so as to obstruct 
the flow of sap from them; and it is from these external 
grains that most of the sap is obtained. The method of 
tapping with the gouge is undoubtedly superior to either of 
the others, but in a sugar’ maple there might be difficulty 
in inserting the gouge to a sufficient depth on account of its 
superior harduess. ; 
). The river maple grows about an inch in diameter in a 
year. This I ascertained by measuring the thickness of the 
concentric grains. There are several sugar orchards in 
Fryeburg which have grown up within twenty-five years to 
trees about five feet circumference, and from fifty to seven- 
ty feet high. The seeds are so abundantly distributed there 
by means of their peculiar wings that they spring up in the 
ploughed fields, on the sand flats, in the road, and in every 
place where they can take root. 
Tt will be seen that in my account of the quantity of su- 
gar made from a tree, &c. there is a singular coincidence 
with Dr. Rush’s statements. This is altogether accidental 
for the quantity varies greatly in all trees according to their 
Situation, age, the. season and other circumstances. In 
ome seasons only about a pound to a tree is obtained. 
It seems that the superiority of the river over the sugar 
Maple as a sugar tree is not universal; for Micheaux says, 
that on the Ohio only one half the quantity is obtained from 
the river, that is afforded by the sugar maple. 
I have communicated this paper principally for the pur- 
pose of recommending the cultivation of the river maple as 
an ornamental tree, instead of others less beautiful and less 
