106 
SUGAR MAPLE. 
The amount of sugar manufactured in a year varies from different causes. 
A cold and dry winter renders the trees more productive than a change- 
able and humid season. It is observed, that when a frosty night is follow- 
ed by a dry and brilliant day, the sap flows abundantly ; and 2 or 3 gallons 
are sometimes yielded by a single tree in twenty-four hours. Three per- 
sons are found sufficient to tend 250 trees, which give 1000 pounds of su- 
gar, or 4 pounds from each tree. But this product is not uniform, for many 
farmers on the Ohio have assured me, that they did not commonly obtain 
more than 2 pounds from a tree. 
Trees which grow in low and moist places afford a greater quantity of 
sap than those which occupy rising grounds, but it is less rich in the sac- 
charine principle. That of insulated trees, left standing in the middle of 
fields or by the side of fences, is the best. It is also remarked, that in 
districts which have been cleared of other trees, and even of the less vig- 
orous Sugar Maple, the product of the remainder is, proportionally, most 
considerable. 
While I resided in Pittsburg, the following curious particulars appeared 
in the Greensburg Gazette ; “ Having introduced,” says the writer, “twenty 
tubes into a Sugar Maple, I drew from it the same day 23 gallons and 3 
quarts of sap, which gave pounds of sugar : 33 pounds have been made 
this season from the same tree ; which supposes 100 gallons of sap.” It 
appears here, that only a little more than 3 gallons was required for a 
pound, though 4 are commonly allowed. 
In the foregoing experiments, 5 quarts were drawn in one day from each 
tube, which is about equal to the quantity discharged when two pipes are. 
employed. Might it not hence be concluded, that the sap escapes only 
from the orifices of the vessels, which have been divided by the auger, 
without being diverted to this issue from the neighboring parts? I am 
the more inclined to this opinion, as in rambling one day, in the profound 
solitude of the forests, on the banks of the Ohio, the idea suggested itself 
to me of cutting into a Maple which had been bored the preceding year, 
I found, amid the white mass of its wood, a green column, equal in width 
and in depth to the hole beneath. The organization appeared not to be 
affected; but this is not sufficient to warrant the conclusion, that these 
vessels would be in condition to give passage to the sap the succeeding 
year. It may be objected, that trees have been drained for 30 years, with- 
out diminution of their produce. But a tree of 2 or 3 feet in diameter pre- 
sents an extensive surface, and the tubes are every year shifted ; besides, 
the successive layers of 30 or 40 years would restore it nearly to fhe state 
of one that never had been perforated. 
In the United States, Maple sugar is made in the greatest quantifies in 
the upper part of New Hampshire, in Vermont, in the State of New l^ork, 
particularly in Genesee, and in the counties of Pennsylvania which lie on 
