A SHOWER OF SAP. 257 



of several gauges, attached to various parts of the same tree, 

 as observed three or more times daily. 



Upon reference to the table showing the flow of sap from 

 the sugar maple, it will be noticed that the tree (No. 1) 

 tapped near the ground flowed quite freely in December and 

 January as well as in March and April-, the total amount of 

 sap being five hundred and sixty-six pounds and twelve 

 ounces. Notwithstanding the large quantity previously ex- 

 uded, the flow from this tree during the month of April 

 amounted to one hundred and four pounds and eight ounces, 

 while a tree (No. 2) nearly as large, from which no sap had 

 been taken, but which was tapped at the height of thirty feet 

 from the ground, bled only fifty-five pounds and eleven ounces. 

 It is evident, therefore, that the flow is greatest at the lowest 

 point, other things being equal ; but it often happens that the 

 sap will drop from a broken twig in the top of a tree when it 

 will not run at all from the trunk. 



Mr. Samuel F. Perley, of Naples, Maine, in an interesting 

 communication containing much valuable information derived 

 from his large experience in the sugar-bush, relates the fol- 

 lowing incident : " Happening, on a bright, sunny morning, to 

 visit a sugar tree standing in open land, and having a large, 

 spreading top, I was surprised, on walking beneath. the limbs, 

 to find quite a smart shower falling upon me. On looking 

 up, I could see no clouds, yet the drops were falling thick 

 and fast in all the area covered by the branches of the tree. 

 An examination showed the drops to be drops of sap flowing 

 from innumerable broken twigs. I then remembered that a 

 day or two before there had been a storm of sleet and rain, 

 which had encased the trees with a heavy coating of ice, and 

 following that, a violent wind which had twisted and broken 

 many of the smaller branches. From these was now flowing 

 a brilliant shower of sap, sparkling in the bright sunshine. I 

 could not perceive that this wholesale tapping diminished at 

 all the flow from the trunk, or in any manner injured the 

 tree." 



Icicles of frozen sap are not unfrequently seen depending 

 from the branches of maple and butternut trees during severe 

 cold weather, when the temperature rises only slightly 

 above 32° F. at mid-day. On Thanksgiving Day, 1874, the 



33 



