174 LITERARY PILGRIMAGES 



and snatch a few hours' sleep. If the night has 

 been warm gathering may begin again soon after 

 sunrise and again he must be at his fires. 



It is at the sugar house that the business of 

 making maple sugar has lost much of the ro- 

 mance of old days. The big black kettle in the 

 little shed or the open woods with its sugaring-off 

 frolics by the boys and girls is a thing of the 

 past. In its place you have a small factory equip- 

 ment running overtime, with much of the regu- 

 larity of factory drudgery, while the short season 

 lasts. Yet it is a godsend to the farmer. His 

 winter's work in the woods is done. His farm 

 work has not yet begun, and the sugar brings in 

 many hundred dollars in ready cash, readier 

 cash than he gets on any other farm product. 

 Good syrup brings from $i to $1.25 a gallon, and 

 on a recent year it was estimated the returns 

 from maple sugar averaged, over $3 each for 

 every man, woman and child in the State. That 

 of course is gross returns, not profits. These 

 vary so greatly in individual cases and in various 

 years that it is impossible to get at the net result. 

 Some Vermont farmers do not think that sugar 



