No. ISa.j 455* 



This does not include the amount of maple sugar made by the 

 Indian population east of the Mississippi, which may be set down 

 at 3,000,000 of jmnnds. For the Indian population west of the 

 Mississippi and Lake Superior, say 2,000,000 of pounds. There 

 was returned to the Census department of Canada in 1849, of 

 maple sugar made in these provinces : 



For Upper Canada, 4,100,007 pounds. 



" Xower Canada, 2,303,108 « ' 



No returns in from Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick, Newfound- 

 land and Labrador. 



The above is independent of molasses made from maple sap, 

 which may be set down at 20,000,000 of gallons annually made 

 in North America. The world has seen but few trees of more 

 importance than the maple. 



Mr. Nash also read the following on 



AMERICAN HEMLOCK (pinus canadensis). 

 This tree is a valuable one ; its bark supplies more than one- 

 half of the tanneries of leather in the United States. The tree 

 may be cut down in May, .Tune, or July, then the bark peels from 

 the tr^e with the greatest facility. One wood chopper will strip 

 a tree one hundred feet long in three hours. This bark coutainss 

 the tanning principle in greater perfection than any other, except 

 the oak alone. The tree often grows one hundred and fifty feet 

 high, and sometimes attains the size of five feet in diameter foui* 

 feet from the ground- The timber of the aged treea is apt to be 

 Bhaky, so that when it is sawed into boards they are worthless, for 

 the reason that they split and crack into narrow strips ; nevei-the- 

 loss, when sawed one-half inch thick, they make good lathing for 

 I)lasteriag inside of houses and dwellings. The younger trees 

 afTord excellent timber and shingles, and make a very durable and 

 substantial board for covering buildings, and to finish off plain 

 joiner work in houses. Perhaps one-half of the boards used in tho 

 New-England Staters fur out-buildings, as well as for the construc- 

 tion of dwellings, are procured by sawing up logs from the young 

 and thrifty hemlock. The tree attains to tho ego of one thousand 



