26 FOREST LIFE AND 



hints to some. " The Acer Saccharinum, or Sugar Maple, is one 

 of the most luxuriant and beautiful native forest trees in Maine, 

 and abounds wherever the soil is of good quality. Its ascend- 

 ing sap is very rich in sugar, which is very readily obtained by 

 means of a tap, bored with an augur half an inch in diameter, 

 into the sap-wood of the tree, the sap being collected in the 

 spring of the year, when it first begins to ascend, and before the 

 foliage puts forth. It is customary to heap snow around the 

 roots or stumps of the trees, to prevent their putting forth their 

 leaves so soon as they otherwise would, for the juices of the tree 

 begin to be elaborated as soon as the foliage is developed, and 

 will not run. 



" After obtaining a quantity of Maple sap, it is poured into 

 large iron or tinned copper kettles, and boiled down to a thick 

 sirup ; and after ascertaining that it is sufficiently concentrated 

 to crystallize or grain, it is thrown into casks or vats, and when 

 the sugar has formed, the molasses is drained off through a plug- 

 hole slightly obstructed by tow. But little art is used in clarify- 

 ing the sirup, and the chemist would regard the operations as 

 very rude and clumsy ; yet a very pleasant sugar, with a slightly 

 acid taste, is made, and the molasses is of excellent flavor, and 

 is largely used during the summer for making sweetened water, 

 which is a wholesome and delicious beverage. 



" The sugar frequently contains oxide of iron, which it dissolves 

 from the rusty potash kettles in which it is commonly boiled down, 

 and hence it turns tea black. A neat manufacturer will always 

 take care to scour out his kettles with vinegar and sand, so that 

 the sugar may be white. He will also take care not to burn the 

 sirup by urging the fire toward the end of the operation. If his 

 sirup is acid, a little clear lime-water will saturate it, and the 

 lime will principally separate with the molasses or with the 

 scum. The sirup should be skimmed carefully during the oper- 

 ation. It is not worth while, perhaps, to describe the process 



