JULT, 1911.] 



35 



Edible Products. 



smoking tobacco can be grown to advan- 

 tage ; but, as I said, to make the in- 

 dustry pay by finding outside markets 

 you must start from the beginning and 

 find out which tobacco can be most pro- 

 fitably grown according to the conditions 

 of soil and climate where the cultivation 

 is carried out." 



Mr. van Leenhoff is taking away with 

 him several samples of Ceylon tobacco 

 leaf, his collection including some very 

 fine specimens of tobacco grown as a 

 catch crop on Messrs. Molesworth Bro- 

 there' estates in Trincomalie. His re- 

 ports on the experiments at Maha-ilup- 

 palama and to the Government will be 

 looked forward to with interest, and 

 should lead to a better understanding of 

 the whole question of tobacco cultivation 

 in Ceylon. It would have been an ad- 

 ditional advantage of much value if Mr. 

 van Leenhoff could have carried out 

 practical investigations and demonstra- 

 tions as ne has done in other countries, 

 where he has served the Governments in 

 a practical way and left behind him valu- 

 able reports and data, it not actual 

 guides. 



MAPLE SUGAR. 



(From the Louisiana Planter and Sugar 

 Manufacturer, Vol. XLVI., No. 12, 

 March 25, 1911.) 

 Ranking prominently among the manu- 

 facturing and commercial industries of 

 New England, yet sometimes classified 

 as a farm industry, is the maple sugar 

 business of Vermont. 



Historically it dates from the time of 

 the Indians, who were accustomed to 

 make sugar from the sap of the maple, 

 by whom the art was introduced to the 

 white settlers, not of Vermont, however, 

 but of New Hampshire, for Vermont in 

 the early colonial times was a part of 

 New Hampshire. The Indians valued 

 highly the sugar of the maple, and they 

 used it as an agreeable flavouring lor 

 the dishes made from maize or the In- 

 dian corn. The advent of the sugar 

 making season, when the sap of the 

 maple tree began to run, was celebrated 

 by the Indians with a special ceremony, 

 and a dance was given in its honour. The 

 opening of this season in the spring was 

 regarded with the same reverence and 

 deference by the New England Indians 

 as the harvest moon and the season of 

 the wild rice by the Indians along the 

 western lakes. 



The Indians tapped the maple trees by 

 udely gashing them with their toma- 

 awks and collecting the sap in dishes 



of birch bark. The sap was reduced by 

 the continuous introduction into it of 

 hot stones until it became syrup and 

 subsequently sugar. The product of the 

 Indians was very dark, almost black, 

 and of the texture of gum opium, and it 

 was rather bitter, as well as sweet, the 

 result of the smoke, foreign matter and 

 scorching. 



The Indians, however, secured another 

 form of sweet from the maple tree which 

 was quite different from the syrup and 

 sugar and much more attractive. It 

 was in the form of wax, a maple wax 

 looking very much like honey. This 

 maple wax was evaporated in the sun, 

 and it was obtained in another way also. 

 Late in the season, near the conclusion 

 of the sap flow, the small quantity that 

 still exudes from the tree is very 

 heavy in sugar and very sweet. This 

 late sap, as it slowly trickles down over 

 the bark of the tree, is quickly trans- 

 formed by the warm spring sunshine 

 into wax, and even to civilized people 

 this maple wax is a delicious confection. 

 It is probably unknown in New England 

 to-day, but if a visitor to Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia, in the maple sugar season will 

 visit the green market and hunt up the 

 Micmac Indians, he will be very likely to 

 find for sale by the women sitting on 

 the curbstone little birch bark corn- 

 ucopias filled with maple wax. 



The early settlers in northern New 

 England were very grateful for the 

 production of the maple, and they had 

 no other sweetening material, for in 

 those remote settlements such luxuries 

 as sugar imported from England were 

 all but unknown. 



The industry of manufacturing maple 

 sugar for the market has been cne of 

 very marked development. The same 

 progress in the way of perfection of 

 methods from the tree to the com- 

 mercial use in the city has prevailed in 

 connection with the maple sugar busi- 

 ness as with other industries. 



The process begins with the tapping 

 of the tree. The opening of the season, 

 or the season when the sap flows freely, 

 varies according to weather conditions, 

 from early in February until some time 

 in March, and whatever time the sap 

 may begin to run it continues not much 

 later than the first day of April, and but 

 a few days later at the most. The condi- 

 tions favourable to a good maple produc- 

 tion season are plenty of snow, warm, 

 springlike days and cold nights. The 

 snow should thaw enough to make little 

 rills of water here and there during the 

 day, and it should freeze during the 

 night hard enough to form a crust that 

 will bear people, and often it will 



