APRIL. 
69 
C. — How much sap does a maple yield in a day ? 
F. — That varies exceedingly,, according to the size^ age^ 
healthy and situation of the tree^ and to the weather. Some- 
times a tree will yield in twenty-four hours^ a gallon or two ; 
at other times not a drop can be collected. A young tree^ 
provided it has attained a growth of about a foot in diameter^ 
yields better than an old one ; and one growing in a clearings 
that is^ raised there, better than a forest tree. 
C — What weather is most favourable ? 
F, — A warm^ sunny day, after a frosty night. In frosty^ 
cold weather^ or rainy weather^ or when the nights are mild, 
the sap almost ceases to flow ; but let such a night as we 
have just had, be succeeded by such a warm day as this, 
and, as you see, the sap drops rapidly, and keeps the men 
going. Sometimes, it runs ail night. 
C. — How many trees generally compose a sugary ? 
F. — From two to three hundred are as many as can 
conveniently be attended to, at one boiling place or camp, 
but sometimes a thousand are tapped, with two or three 
camps. If the trees generally are near together, more can 
be tended than if they are scattered ; and when little or no 
snow lies on the ground, more business can be done than in 
deep snow, owing to the greater facility of carrying the sap 
to the camp. I have known the snow more than two feet 
deep at the sugar season, causing it to be very laborious for 
the men to move about ; and from the shelter of the forest 
it continues unmelted there much later than in the fields and 
roads. 
C. — How can the men carry the 3ap ? the buckets have 
no handles. 
jP. — These are not nearly full either. They carry a 
couple of pails suspended from each end of a yoke fitted on 
their shoulders, as you have seen milkmen carry their pails 
at home. They go a regular round with these, visiting every 
