994 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1917 



who was the hero of many Indian 

 fairy tales. 



When Nokomis had cut holes in 

 the trees, one for each vessel she had 

 made, Manabiish looked into the 

 vessels, and saw that they were filling 

 with thick syrup. 



"My grandmother," said he, "it 

 will not do to have these trees produce 

 syrup in this manner. The people 

 will not have any work, if they make 

 sugar so easily; they must cut wood, 

 and boil the syrup for several nights 

 to keep them busy, so that they may 

 not form bad habits." 



Manabush climbed to the tip top 

 of a maple and scattered water all over 

 it like rain, so that the sugar should 

 dissolve and flow from the tree in the 

 form of sap. 



This is why people always have to 

 work hard when they want to make 

 sugar. Wood must be cut, vessels 

 must be made, and the sap that is 

 collected must be boiled for a long 

 while, otherwise the people would 

 spend too much time in idleness. 



So, thanks to Manabush's kind in- 

 terest in Indian morals, the sap of 

 maples has nowadays less than four 

 per cent, of sugar. 



Swaying Pumps the Fkiid 



The sugar-maker is helped by a 

 series of warm, sunny days, followed 

 by sharp, frosty nights. March gales 

 help him by swaying the tree. Dar- 

 win, that great student of life and its 

 laws, caused a twig to drink some 

 water containing a strong dye, and 

 then he could follow the travels of 

 the sap as it mounted through the 

 wood. He found that when he kept 

 bending the twig to and fro with his 

 fingers the sap was forced to rise much 

 faster. 



The tree sways with every breath 

 of wind. Every time it bends,, the 

 wood-cells are squeezed and the sap 

 is forced out. Everytime it straigh- 

 tens again the little tubes and cells 

 fill with sap from below. 



But no one can really understand 

 or fully explain the rise of the sap. 



From the lowest root-tip to the top- 

 most twig of a gigantic tree, water may 

 have to travel a distance of three or 



four hundred feet. For much of this 

 distance it must climb straight up, 

 and all the journey is through tubes 

 as fine as a hair. We must remember, 

 too, that these tubes are not con- 

 tinuous, like the water-pipes of a 

 house. The sap goes up through a 

 long series of wood-cells like little 

 oblong boxes piled end to end. 



U7?t'/7 the Leaves Breathe 



Later in the year, when many 

 leaves are spread wide in the sun- 

 shine, water is breathed away from 

 the upper part of the tree. Some of 

 the cells up there part with so much 

 moisture that their sap becomes 

 thickened, and this causes a suction 

 which draws more watery sap up 

 through the w^ood from below. 



When summer is here, and growth 

 is active, there are, furthermore, 

 little bubbles of gas in the sap, and 

 these, as they rise, help to bring the 

 sap up with them. 



But even when all these things are 

 considered, w^e cannot fully under- 

 stand how or why the sap rises as it 

 does. Its upward mounting is the 

 greatest wonder of the spring. 



COMMENT ON NEW BOOKLET 



From Montreal Herald 



In order that the French-speaking 

 children of Quebec shall grow up with 

 a patriotic knowledge of their forest 

 resources and what their mainten- 

 ance means to the future of the coun- 

 try, the Canadian Forestry Associa- 

 tion of Ottawa has issued another of 

 its children's series: "Mon Premier 

 Livre Sur La Foret," by Robson 

 Black. It is being distributed free 

 through church and civil agencies. 

 The booklet contains 32 pages and 25 

 photographic illustrations and ac- 

 quaints the youthful or adult reader 

 in a most entertaining way with the 

 forests, the forest industries, the work 

 of fire rangers, and the inexcusable 

 havoc of fires. This booklet makes 

 every tree a working partner in the 

 provincial estate and ought to make 

 the forest resources better under- 

 stood. 



