THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
it is not unusual to tap a maple in three or four places at 
once. Michaux^ in his North American Sylva^, quotes a 
curious fact from the Greensburgh Gazette : — Having in- 
troduced/' says the writer^ twenty tubes into a sugar- 
maple, I drew from it, the same day^ twenty-three gallons 
and three quarts of sap, which gave seven and a quarter 
pounds of sugar ; — thirty-three pounds have been made this 
season from the same tree, w^hich supposes one hundred gal- 
lons of sap." No doubt more sap could be collected by this 
means, but I conceive it must be very detrimental to the 
health of the tree to extract so large a quantity of its nutri- 
tive juices. 
C. — How long does the sugar season continue ? 
F, — Generally it lasts about three or four w^eeks ; but 
there are many days in this period, during which nothing at 
all can be done. If the spring is late, it is sometimes neces- 
sary to close the sugaring prematurely, in order to commence 
the more important operations of agriculture. As I suppose 
your curiosity is satisfied, we may as well prolong our walk, 
and see what is going on in the world of Nature, especially 
as the weather is so inviting. 
C. — I picked up, some days ago, on the bank of the 
Coatacook, a cocoon, lying on the snow, resembling in texture 
those of the large Cimhexes, but much larger, nearly of the 
size of a pigeon's egg, of a dirty flesh-colour. It had evi- 
dently been spun in the midst of leaves, (I think those of 
the beech,) for it showed every fibre of them indented, like 
the impression, of a seal, on every part of the surface. It 
contained nothing but the brown exuvice of a large caterpil- 
lar, probably of a Saturnia ; for the skins even of green 
caterpillars become brown when cast. There was an open- 
ing in the side. 
