APRIL. 69 



C. — How much sap does a maple yield in a day ? 



F. — That varies exceedingly^ according to the size, age, 

 health, and situation of the tree, and to the weather. Some- 

 times a tree will yield in twenty-four hours, a gallon or two ; 

 at other times not a drop can be collected. A young tree, 

 provided it has attained a growth of aBout a foot in diameter, 

 yields better than an old one ; and one growing in a clearing, 

 that is, raised there, better than a forest tree. 



C. — What weather is most favourable ? 



F. — A warm, sunny day, after a frosty night. In frosty, 

 cold weather, or rainy weather, or when the nights are mild, 

 the sap almost ceases to flow ; but let such a night as we 

 have just had, be succeeded by such a warm day as this, 

 and, as you see, the sap drops rapidly, and keeps the men 

 going. Sometimes, it runs all night. 



C — How many trees generally compose a sugary ? 



F. — From two to three hundred are as many as can 

 conveniently be attended to, at one boiling place or camp, 

 but sometimes a thousand are tapped, -with two or three 

 camps. If the trees generally are near together, more can 

 be tended than if they are scattered ; and when little or no 

 snow lies on the ground, more business can be done than in 

 deep snow, owing to the greater facility of carrying the sap 

 to the camp. I have known the snow more than two feet 

 deep at the sugar season, causing it to be very laborious for 

 the men to move about ; and from the shelter of the forest 

 it. continues unmelted there much later than in the fields and 

 roads. 



C — How can the men carry the sap ? the buckets have 

 no handles. 



F. — These are not nearly full either. They carry a 

 couple of pails suspended from each end of a yoke fitted on 

 their shoulders, as you have seen milkmen carry their pails 

 at home. They go a regular round with these, visiting every 



