MAPLE SUGAR MAKING. 169 
made and enforced that these beautiful creatures might 
be better protected and become more numerous. Their 
presence is as necessary to give a charm to the woods 
as are the plants and flowers. If the sugar bush is 
next to the clearing, the fauna and early flora will both 
be more abundant and interesting, and you will have 
the daily companionship of blue birds, robins, jays, nut- 
hatches, woodpeckers and song-sparrows, and before 
the season closes, some of the most beautiful and inter- 
esting early flowers will show themselves above the 
decaying leaves. The woods are not only filled with 
pleasant sights and sounds, but the sweetest odors fill 
the air; the limpid sap is fragrant with the essence of 
maple; the bark of trees, the chips and newly cut 
wood, all send out their subtle tribute of incense to 
mingle with that of the plants and flowers which are 
just starting into life; the dead leaves that have lain 
all winter beneath the snows have a pleasant, earthy 
smell, and even the old crumbling logs reddening in 
decay, have about them the very essence of the aroma 
of the woods. When several sugar bushes are contig- 
uous, it is a pleasant sight to see the blue and gray 
smoke curling above the treetops during the day, 
and the gleaming fires marking the whereabouts of a 
dozen camps at night. The provisions are sent from 
the farm house, and they are such provisions as can be 
prepared only by loving hands at home, and are eaten 
with a relish known only to those who labor and eat in 
the woods: everything tastes well, as at a picnic—even 
the salt pork has a most appetizing flavor—especially if 
