ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 159 



growth is rapid, and no tree combines more valuable pro- 

 perties. It is a beautiful shade-tree, it is excellent for fuel, 

 it is much used for manufacturing purposes, its ashes are 

 valuable for potash, and its sap is rich in sugar. There are 

 twenty-seven species of the maple known, twelve of them 

 are indigenous to this continent. All of these have a sacha- 

 rine sap, but only two, to a degree sufficient for practical 

 purposes, viz., Acer 8<zccharinuTn or the common sugar- 

 maple, and Acer nigrum or the black sugar-maple. The sap 

 of these contains about half as much sugar as the juice of 

 the sugar-cane. One gallon of pasture maple sap contains, 

 on an average, 3,451 grains of sugar ; and one gallon of 

 cane-juice (in Jamaica), averages 7,000 grains of sugar. 



But the cane is subject to the necessity of annual and 

 careful cultivation, and its manufacture is comparatively 

 expensive and difficult. Whereas the maple is a permanent 

 tree, requires no cultivation, may be raised on the borders 

 of farms without taking up ground, and its sap is easily con- 

 vertible into sugar, and, if carefully made, into sugar as 

 good as cane-sugar can be. Add to the above considera- 

 tions that the sugar-making period is a time of comparative 

 leisure with the farmer, and the motives for attention to this 

 subject of domestic sugar-making seem to be complete. 



Lbituce. — ^Those who wish fine head lettuce should pre- 

 pare a rich, mellow bed of light soil ; tough and compact 

 soil will not give them any growth. In transplanting, let 

 there be at least one foot between each plant. Stir the 

 ground often. If it is very dry weather, water at evening 

 copiously J if you water at all; but the hoe is the only 

 w^atering-pot for a garden, if thereby the soil is kept loose 

 and fine. We have raised heads nearly as large as a drum- 

 head cabbage by this method, very biittle, sweet and tender 

 withal. 



