PHASES OF FARM LIFE 243 



cut maple-wood, or taste in the blossom of the tree, 

 is in it. It is then, indeed, the distilled essence of 

 the tree. Made into syrup, it is white and clear 

 as clover- honey ; and crystallized into sugar, it is 

 pure as the wax. The way to attain this result is 

 to evaporate the sap under cover in an enameled 

 kettle; when reduced about twelve times, allow it 

 to settle half a day or more; then clarify with milk 

 or the white of an egg. The product is virgin 

 syrup, or sugar worthy the table of the gods. 



Perhaps the most heavy and laborious work of 

 the farm in the section of the State of which I 

 write is fence-building. But it is not unproductive 

 labor, as in the South or West, for the fence is of 

 stone, and the capacity of the soil for grass or grain 

 is, of course, increased by its construction. It is 

 killing two birds with one stone: a fence is had, 

 the best in the world, while the available area of 

 the field is enlarged. In fact, if there are ever 

 sermons in stones, it is when they are built into a 

 stone wall, turning your hindrances into helps, 

 shielding your crops behind the obstacles to your 

 husbandry, making the enemies of the plow stand 

 guard over its products. This is the kind of farm- 

 ing worth imitating. A stone wall with a good 

 rock bottom will stand as long as a man lasts. Its 

 only enemy is the frost, and it works so gently 

 that it is not till after many years that its effect is 

 perceptible. An old farmer will walk with you 

 through his fields and say, "This wall I built at 

 such and such a time, or the first year I came on 



