20, THE WOODS OF NEW BRUNSWICK, 
is much used in the manufacture of buckets and tubs, and is 
preferable to every other wood for the making of lasts. In naval 
architecture the rock maple furnishes the best material, next to 
white oak, for the keel.” 
Rock maple grows in abundance on the St John river and its 
tributaries ; it is found in greatest quantities from between 
Fredericton and Woodstock to the northern boundary-line of the 
Province. In the district north of the Tobique, for more than 
forty miles in a straight line, the explorer can travel through 
extremely fertile lands, the growth on which is largely composed 
of this tree, without meeting the habitation of man. A large 
quantity of sugar and some molasses or treacle are yearly made in 
the months of March and April, from the maple sap, which is 
received in troughs, holes having been bored or cut in the trunks of 
the trees to which a small spout is attached. The liquid is boiled 
down in large iron pots to the required thickness, and then 
sugared off. An agreeable candy is made by suddenly pouring 
the sap, when boiled to the proper consistency, on snow. This 
candy can be made in summer from the sugar by boiling it down 
with a little water, and using ice instead of snow as a means of 
sudden cooling. 
The French of the county of Madawaska are the largest manu- 
facturers of this sugar, and there is little other used in that 
county. In the bright warm April days the careful observer may 
frequently notice the common squirrel hanging tenaciously to 
some maple twig, occasionally lifting his head to bark angrily at 
the intruder. Closer observation will reveal the fact that the 
noisy climber is regaling himself on the delicious sap which the 
approach of spring is sending from the root to the branches of the 
tree. Many of the Provincial railroads pass through or near 
extensive forests of this wood, but although small water-powers 
abound, no manufacturing establishments for the various purposes 
of commerce have as yet been erected. 
An important application of maple wood, especially of Bird's-eye 
maple, in veneers, has recently been made in the internal decora- 
tion of railway carriages, for which it is admirably adapted. 
Although, like other maples, it is deficient in durability under 
exposure, it is very strong and remarkably cohesive. As fuel its 
value is unequalled by any other tree in New Brunswick, and 
very large quantities are annually consumed for this purpose. 
