A MARCH CHRONICLE. Ill 



the sap in rude troughs, and boiled it down in ket- 

 tles slung to a pole by a chain, the fire being built 

 around them. The first step in the way of improve- 

 ment was to use tin pans instead of troughs, and a 

 large stone arch in which the kettles or caldrons were 

 set with the fire beneath them. But of late years, as 

 the question of fuel has become a more important 

 one, greater improvements have been made. The 

 arch has given place to an immense stove designed 

 for that special purpose; and the kettles to broad, 

 shallow, sheet-iron pans, the object being to econo- 

 mize all the heat, and to obtain the greatest possible 

 extent of evaporating surface. 



March 15. From the first to the middle of March 

 the season made steady progress. There were no 

 checks, no drawbacks. Warm, copious rains from the 

 south and southwest, followed by days of unbroken 

 sunshine. In the moist places and what places are 

 not moist at this season ? the sod buzzed like a 

 hive. The absorption and filtration among the net- 

 work of roots was an audible process. 



The clod fairly sang. How the trees responded 

 also ! The silver poplars were masses of soft gray 

 bloom, and the willows down toward the river seemed 

 to have slipped off their old bark and on their new 

 in a single night. The soft maples, too, when massed 

 m the distance, their tops deeply dyed in a bright 

 maroon color, how fair they looked ! 



The 15th of the month was " one of those charmed 

 iays when the genius of God doth flow." The wind 



