278 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



a spot; but in the forest generally, where 

 they are interspersed with other trees, they 

 average from thirty to fifty per acre ; they 

 grow in rich soil, and often in stony ground ; 

 and it is remarked, that the springs found 

 in the neighbourhood of the sugar maple 

 tree are of the purest water. 



It is a general observation in North Ame- 

 rica, that, whenever they see a tree of this 

 sort with a blackish trunk, it is a sure sign 

 of a rich one, as the blackness proceeds 

 from the incisions made in the bark by the 

 pecking of the parroquet, the woodpecker, 

 and other birds, in the season of the juice 

 rising, which, oozing out, dribbles down its 

 sides, and colours the bark, which in time 

 becomes black. The sap of these trees is 

 much sweeter than that of others that have 

 not been previously wounded. 



" The season for tapping," says Imlay, " is 

 mostly about the middle of February, in 

 Kentucky ; but not until the latter end of 

 the month, aboutPittsburg, the head branches 

 of the Susquehannah and Delaware, and 

 in the state of New York. The season con- 

 tinues about six weeks ; and it is found to 

 discharge most abundantly in warm sunny 

 days that succeed frosty nights. After the 



