58 



and kept constantly skimmed ; it is now requisite to keep a regular fire 

 and watch the sugar attentively, to stop the boiling at the right instant, 

 as a minutes' delay may greatly injure it in colour and flavor. When 

 about half done it is called maple honey, from its resemblance to honey 

 in taste, appearance, and consistence. The time to remove it from the 

 fire is known by a very simple and infallible test. A twig is taken, and 

 the ends of it bent into a hoop or circle about an inch wide ; this is dip- 

 ped into the kettle and on taking it out, a film of sugar is stretched across 

 the bow, which must be gently blown on with the breath; if it break 

 through it is not done, but if the film be sufficiently glutinous to be blown 

 into a bubble, it is ready to granulate, and the fire is instantly put out. 

 It is then baled out, and if soft sugar is to be made, it is poured, when 

 somewhat cooled, into wooden vessels, the bottoms of which are bored 

 with small holes; the surface and sides soon become hard, having crys- 

 tallized first; this crust is repeatedly broken and the whole stirred 

 together: the molasses gradually drains through the bottom, and the 

 sugar is left exactly resembling cane sugar. But it is more usual to let 

 the sugar cool in vessels without either disturbing it or draining off the 

 molasses, so that it becomes a mass nearly as hard as a rock and very 

 dark in color. The average yield of each tree is from two to three pounds 

 in a favorable season ; 2,000 Ibs. weight will sometimes be made by one 

 farmer in a spring, worth from 10 to 12 cents per Ib. 



The sugar-making labours are usually wound up with a sugar bee or 

 party, to which every one in the neighbourhood is invited ; a sumptuous 

 and miscellaneous feast is spread, and dancing is carried on to the music 

 of a fiddle. 



The principal places for sugar-making are the province of Quebec, 

 especially that part of it called the Eastern Townships Nova Scotia, and 

 some parts of New Brunswick, bordering on Maine ; not so much is made 

 in Ontario, except in that part lying north of Lakes Simcoe and Couchi- 

 ching, where it is largely manufactured by the Indians, and brought into 

 the markets of Toronto, Hamilton, and other western towns, in very neat 

 birchen packages called by them mowicks. The Indians gladly barter 

 their sugar for flour, pork, ammunition, blankets, or trinkets, and it thus 

 forms about the only lucrative branch of the products of the forests which 

 the native owners of the soil gain from communication with civilization. 



The quantity of maple sugar manufactured in the respective Provinces 

 according to the last census as far as was ascertained, was : 



Lbs. 



Prince Edward Island 25,098 



Nova Scotia 217,481 



New Brunswick 453,124 



Quebec 15,687,835 



Ontario 4,169,706 



Manitoba 2,796 



( British Columbia 9 



Total.... 20,556,049 



