168 LITERARY PILGRIMAGES 



faster it flows, the trees resting more or less at 

 night. As the sun declines, so does the flow, even 

 when the temperature remains the same. On 

 warm nights, however, there is likely to be some 

 flow. Daytime sap is sweetest, and the nearer 

 the occurrence of a freeze or a snowstorm the 

 sweeter the sap. Light seems to be a powerful 

 agent in the mystery, but a certain balance of 

 heat and cold is more powerful still. Freezing 

 nights with alternating warm days bring the 

 ideal conditions, frozen roots and warm twigs 

 setting the alchemy at work. 



Yet with all this and much more general knowl- 

 edge to draw from each grove is a study. The 

 maples are strongly individualistic, and every 

 tree is a law unto itself. Some have a much 

 higher percentage of sugar to the same amount 

 of sap than others. Indeed, it is confidently pre- 

 dicted by experts that a race of superior trees 

 could be easily developed by taking seed from 

 those of highest sugar percentage, just as su- 

 perior fruit trees are thus bred. The profit to the 

 sugar-maker from this is obvious. The future 

 may see it done. As conditions exist the average 



