FOREST TREES. 199 



tion given the auger in boring, nearly meet at the outer 

 ends. The tubes are made of elder, sumac or other 

 shrub with a large pith, and conduct the sap into small 

 troughs or buckets, from which it is conveyed to the 

 camp, or the place where temporary preparations are 

 made for boiling, &c. These preparations are little more 

 than a boiler, containing from rifteen to fifty gallons, sus- 

 pended upon a bar supported by crotches, at a convenient 

 distance from the ground for building the fire ; moulds to 

 receive the syrup when of sufficient consistence to form 

 into cakes ; and an axe for preparing the fuel. 



The evaporation is carried on by a constant and brisk 

 boiling of the sap, which is frequently replenished as the 

 bulk is diminished, until a syrup is formed of sufficient 

 strength to become solid as it cools. A scum which is 

 constantly rising to the surface during the first part of 

 the process is frequently removed, and before the syrup is 

 left to cool and harden, it is strained through woollen cloth 

 to separate the remaining impurities. The time for stop- 

 ping the evaporation is, determined by rubbing a drop of 

 the syrup between the fingers, which will granulate if the 

 process has been carried to a sufficient length. When 

 the ebullition is so violent as to give signs of rising over 

 the sides of the boiler, it is quelled by a piece of lard, 

 butter, or rind of pork. 



Maple molasses is made by discontinuing the evapora- 

 tion before the liquid is of sufficient consistence to con- 

 solidate by cooling, and by the drainings from the syrup 

 as it forms into sugar. Sugar of the finest character and 

 grain may be formed from the sap of the maple, and 

 though the more common kind is neither very white, nor 

 very delicate, it has a peculiar flavor, much admired by 

 those not accustomed to its use. 



The time for collecting the sap is about the last of 

 February, and continues from four to six weeks ; after 

 which the liquid is less abundant and less rich in the 

 saccharine principle, and is finally so weak, that it can no 

 longer be reduced to sugar. The tree gives the most 

 abundant discharge of its sap, early in the season, and in 

 clear pleasant days, preceded by cold frosty nights. 



The quantity of sap discharged from a tree of an ave- 

 rage size, varies in different years and different days. 



