MAPLE SUGAR. 219 



of the field now taken up by them and their banks, will be 

 avoided ; there will be no damage to the crop from exces- 

 sive rains ; no baking on the surface, or washing of the finer 

 particles of the earth into the ditches. The land saved by 

 this system would pay for carrying it out ; and 'sometimes, 

 even a single crop would fully repay it, which might other- 

 wise be lost by long continued rains. The cane would 

 always be better, and could by no possibility be worse than 

 it now is. Where there are stiff lands, and the object could 

 be achieved by no other means than by the disposal of one 

 half the plantation, it is probable the annual net profit de- 

 rivable from the remainder, when thus improved, would be 

 greater than the whole without it. A system of under- 

 drainage, would of course, necessarily imply the use of lead- 

 ing ditches and draining wheels, wherever adopted through- 

 out the low-lands of the Mississippi Valley. Until this great 

 desideratum can be accomplished, the most complete arrange- 

 ment of surface drains should be fully carried out. 



MAPLE SUGAR. 



THE SUGAR, ROCK, OR HARD MAPLE TREE (Acer sacchari- 

 num, Fig. 46), is among our most beautiful 

 shade, and most valuable forest trees ; and it 

 stands next to the sugar cane in the readi- 

 ness and abundance with which it yields 

 the materials for cane sugar. When refined, 

 there is no difference either in appearance 

 or quality, between the sugar from the cane, 

 the maple or the beet. In the brown state, 



FIG. 46. tne condition in which it is sent to market, 

 when made with care and formed into solid cakes, it retains 

 its peculiar moisture and rich aromatic flavor, which makes 

 it more acceptable to the nibblers of sweets, than the most 

 refined and highly scented bon-bons of the confectioner. The 

 quantity made in this country is very large ; though from the 

 fact of its domestic consumption, and its seldom reaching 

 the principal markets, there is no estimate of the aggregate 

 production which will come very near the truth. The 

 product for Vermont alone, for 1845, was estimated* at over 

 10,000,000 Ibs. The quantity supposed to be annually sold 

 in the city of New York exceeds 10,000 hhds. Both the 

 sugar and syrup are used for every purpose for which the 

 sugar from the cane is employed. 



The sugar maple extends from the most northerly limits 



