Maple. 



Bird's-eye Maple. It is most highly vahied for inlaying 

 mahogany, for making bedsteads, portable writing-desks ^ 

 and is indeed looked upon, I believe, as wood exceeding all 

 others in beauty. But, the great use of this tree might be 

 the making of sugar. I remember seeing several trees in 

 Nova Scoiia which were under the operation of sugar- 

 making. This work is begun in the month of March, long 

 before the snow quits the ground in Nova Scotia. Little 

 ti'oughs are placed against the tree, which have perforations 

 made in them eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, 

 the perforations being made in an obliquely ascending 

 direction. Care should be taken that the augers do not 

 enter more than half an inch within the wood. Tubes are 

 put into the holes, to conduct the sap down into the troughs. 

 The sap is every day collected, and temporarily poured into 

 casks, fi'om which it is drawn out to fill the boilers. The 

 evaporation is kept up by a brisk fire, and the heat is 

 maintained until the liquid be reduced to a syrup, after 

 which it is left to cool (having been carefully skimmed 

 during the boiling), and then strained through some thick 

 'woollen stuff, to separate the remaining impurities. Maple 

 sugar, manufactured in this way, " is (says Michaux) lighter 

 " coloured, and in proportion to the care with which it is 

 made, and the judgment with which the evaporation is 

 " conducted. It is superior in quality to the brown West 

 " India sugar, generally used in the United States : its 

 " taste is as pleasant, and it is as good for culinary pur- 

 " poses. When refined, it equals in beauty the finest sugar 

 ^' used in Europe ; but, from prejudice, it is made use of 

 " only by the people where it is made. Wild and domestic 

 " animals are inordinately fond of the Maple juice. I feel 

 " authorised in recommending this tree for propagation in 

 *^ all the northern countries of Europe.'* Now, as these 

 fiicts are in^ontcstible ; as sugar is become a sort of neces- 



