_THE MAPLES._
"The pink trees next, I suppose," said Malcolm, "since we have had the
yellow ones?"
"_Real_ pink trees?" asked Edith, with very wide-open eyes.
"No, dear;" replied her governess; "there are no pink trees, except when
they are covered with bloom like the peach trees. Malcolm only means the
maples that we saw in blossom yesterday and thought of such a pretty
color. There are many varieties of the maple, which is always a
beautiful and useful tree, but the red, or scarlet, maple is the very
queen of the family. It is not so large as are most of the others; but
when a very young tree, its grace and beauty are noticeable among its
companions. It is often found in low, moist places, but it thrives just
as well in high, dry ground; and it is therefore a most convenient
tree. Here is a very pretty description, Malcolm, in one of papa's large
books, that you can read to us."
Malcolm read remarkably well for a boy of his age, and he always enjoyed
being called upon in this way.
[Illustration: THE RED MAPLE.]
Miss Harson pointed to these lines:
"Coming forth in the spring, like morning in the east, arrayed in
crimson and purple; bearing itself, not proudly but gracefully in
modest green, among the more stately trees in summer; and ere it bids
adieu to the season stepping forth in robes of gold, vermilion, crimson
and variegated scarlet,--stands the queen of the American forest, the
pride of all eyes and the delight of every picturesque observer of
nature, the red maple."
"Why, I never saw such a tree as that!" exclaimed Clara, in great
surprise.
"Yes, dear," replied her governess; "you have seen it, but you never
thought of describing it to yourself in just this way. When you saw it
yesterday, it was coming forth in the spring, like morning in the east,
arrayed in crimson and purple,' but you just called it a pink tree. It
is much nearer red, however, than it is pink."
"I've seen all the rest of the colors, too," said Malcolm, "when we went
out after nuts."
"That is its autumn dress," said Miss Harson, "although a small tree is
often seen with no color on it but brilliant red. But first we must see
what it is like in spring and summer. It is also called the scarlet,
the white, the soft and the swamp maple, and the flowers, as you see
from this specimen, are in whorls, or pairs, of bright crimson, in
crowded bunches on the purple branches. The leaves are in three or five
lobes, with deep notches between, and some of them are very broad, while
others are long and narrow. The trunk of the red maple is a clear ashy
gray, often mottled with patches of white lichens; and when the tree is
old, the bark cracks and can be peeled off in long, narrow strips."
"Is anything done with the bark?" asked Clara.
"Yes, it is used, with other substances, for dyeing, and also for making
ink. The sap, too, can be boiled down to sugar, but it is not nearly so
rich as that of the proper sugar-maple. The wood, which is very
light-colored with a tinge of rose in it, is often made into common
furniture, as it takes a fine polish and is easy to work with. It is
used, too, for building-purposes. The early-summer foliage of the red
maple is of a beautiful yellow green, and the young leaves are very
delicate and airy-looking; but the graceful tree is in such a hurry to
display her gay autumn colors that she will often put on a scarlet or
crimson streamer in July or August. One brilliantly-colored branch will
be seen on a green tree, or the leaves of an entire tree will turn red
while all the other trees around it are clothed in summer greenness."
"Don't you remember, Miss Harson," said Edith, "the little tree that I
thought was on fire and how frightened I was?"
"Yes, dear, I remember it very well--an innocent little red maple that
_would_ put on its flame-colored dress when it should have been all in
green, like its sisters; but it was too green at heart to be in a blaze.
This tree is often used for fuel, but it has to be cut down and dried
first. The reddening of the leaf generally begins at the veins and
spreads out from them until the whole is tinted. Sometimes it appears in
spots, almost like drops of blood, on the green surface; but, come as it
will, it is always beautiful. It is said of the red maple that 'it
stands among the occupants of the forest like Venus among the
planets--the brightest in the midst of brightness and the most beautiful
in a constellation of beauty,'"
"Is there such a thing as a silver tree?" asked Clara.
[Illustration: THE SILVER-LEAF MAPLE.]
"There is a tree called 'the silver maple,'" was the reply, "and there
is also the silver poplar. The silver maple is considered the most
graceful of the large and handsome maple family. I have not told you, I
think, that the name of the family is _Acer_, which means 'sharp' or
'hard,' and it was supposed to have been given in old English times
when the wood of the maple was used for javelins. The silver maple gets
its name from the whitish under-surface of its leaves, and it is a
favorite shade-tree; it has a slender trunk and long, drooping branches.
The foliage is light and rather dull-looking, and it is not a very
bright tree in autumn. The leaves are so deeply notched that they have a
fringe-like appearance, and this, with its slender form and bending,
swaying habit, gives it a very graceful look."
Little Edith wished to know "if the wood was like silver," and Malcolm
asked her how she expected it to grow if it was.
But Miss Harson replied kindly,
"The silver, dear, is all in the leaves, and there is not much of it
there. The wood is white and of little use, as it is soft and
perishable; but the beauty of the finely-cut foliage, the contrast
between the green of the upper surface of the leaves and the silver
color of the lower, and the magnificent spread of the limbs of the white
maple, recommend it as an ornamental tree; and this is the purpose for
which it is intended. It is used very largely in the cities for shade
and beauty. It is often called the 'river maple,' because it is so
frequently seen on the banks of streams."
"And now," said Malcolm, "I hope there is ever so much about the
maple-sugar tree. Can't we get some this spring, Miss Harson, before
it's all gone?"
"We can certainly buy the sugar in town, Malcolm, if that is what you
mean; but it does not grow on the trees in cakes, and we shall scarcely
be able to tap the trunks and go through with the process of preparing
the sap, even if it were not too late for that. We will do what we can,
though, to become acquainted with the rock maple, that we may be able to
recognize it when we see it. When young, it is a beautiful, neat and
shapely tree with a rich, full leafy head of a great variety of forms.
It is the largest and strongest of the maples, and gives the best shade.
It can be distinguished from the other members of the family by its
leaves, in which the notch between the lobes is round instead of being
sharp, and also by their appearing at the same time with the blossoms,
which are of a yellowish-green color. The green tint of the leaves is
darker on some trees than it is on others, and in autumn they become,
often before the first touch of the frost, of a splendid orange or gold,
sometimes of a bright scarlet or crimson, color, each tree commonly
retaining from year to year the same color or colors, and differing
somewhat from every other. The most beautiful and valuable maple-wood is
taken from this tree. It is known as 'curled maple' and 'bird's-eye
maple,' and the common variety looks like satin-wood. In the curled
maple the fibres are in waves instead of in straight lines, and the
surface seems to change with alternate light and shade; in the
bird's-eye, irregular snarls of fibres look like roundish projections
rising from hollow places, each one resembling the eye of a bird.
Buckets, tubs and many useful things are made of the straight variety,
and for lasts it is considered better than any other kind of wood. The
curled and the bird's-eye are largely used for furniture."
"But isn't it a shame," said Clara, "to spoil the maple-sugar by making
the trees into chairs and things?"
"You would not think so," replied her governess, "if you needed the
'chairs and things' more than you need the sugar. But the supply of
trees seems to be sufficient for both purposes."
"Does the sugar come right out of the tree when people tap on it with a
hammer?" asked Edith, whose ideas of sugar-making were rather crude.
"You blessed baby!" cried Malcolm, with a shout of laughter. Let's take
our hammers and go after some maple-sugar right away."
"No, Edie," said Miss Harson as she took her much-loved little pupil on
her lap; "we'll stay at home and learn just how the sugar is made. To
_tap_ a tree, dear, means to make cuts in the trunk for the sap to flow
out, and in the sugar-maple this sap is more like water than sugar. From
the middle of February to the second week in March, according to the
warmth or the coldness of the locality, is the time for tapping the
trees; and when the holes are bored, spouts of elder or sumac from which
the pith has been taken are put into them at one end, while the other
goes down to the bucket which receives the sap. 'Several holes are so
bored that their spouts shall lead to the same bucket, and high enough
to allow the bucket to hang two or three feet from the ground, to
prevent leaves and dirt from being blown in.' The next thing is to boil
the sap, and this is done in great iron kettles, over immense
wood-fires, out there among the trees, with plenty of snow on the
ground, and only two or three rude little cabins for the men and boys to
sleep in. This is called 'the sugar-camp,' and the sap-season lasts five
or six weeks."
"And why is it boiled?"
"Boiling drives the water off in vapor, and leaves the sugar behind in
the pot."
"And do they stay in the woods there all the time?" asked Malcolm, with
great interest. "What lots of fun they must have, with the big fires and
the snow and as much maple-sugar as ever they want to eat! _I'd_ like
to stay in a sugar-camp in the woods."
[Illustration: MAKING MAPLE SUGAR.]
"Perhaps not, after trying it and finding how much hard work there is in
sugar-making," replied his governess. "'The kettles must be carefully
watched and plenty of wood brought to keep them boiling, and during the
process the sap, or syrup, is strained; lime or salaeratus is added, to
neutralize the free acid; and the white of egg, isinglass or milk, to
cause foreign substances to rise in a scum to the surface. When it has
been sufficiently boiled, the syrup is poured into moulds or casks to
harden.' The sugar with which the most pains have been taken is very
light-colored, and I have seen it almost white."
"Have you ever been to a sugar-camp, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, who was
wishing, like Malcolm, that she could go to one herself.
"Yes," said Miss Harson; "I did go once, in Vermont, when the family
with whom I was staying took me to see the 'sugaring off.' This is
putting it into the pans and buckets to harden after it has been
sufficiently boiled and clarified; and we younger ones, by way of
amusement, were allowed to make jack-wax."
"Oh!" exclaimed three voices at once; "what is that? Is it good to eat?"
"I thought it particularly good," was the reply, "and I am quite sure
that you would agree with me. To make it, we poured a small quantity of
hot syrup on the snow to cool; and when it was fit to eat, it was just
like wax, instead of being hard like the cakes in moulds. It took only a
few minutes, too, to make it, and it seemed a great deal nicer because
we did it ourselves. I remember that it was the last of March and very
cold, but there were big fires to get warmed at, and we had a
delightful time."
"Were there any Indians there, Miss Harson?" asked little Edith, after
being quiet for some time. Vermont was such a long way off on the map,
besides being up almost at the top, that Indians and bears and all sorts
of wild things seemed to have a right to live there.
"No," said her governess, smiling at the question; "I did not see one,
even at the sugar-camp. Yet the Indians made maple-sugar long before we
knew anything about it, and from them the white people learned how to
do it."
"Well, that's the funniest thing!" exclaimed Malcolm. "I thought that
Indians were always scalping people instead of making maple-sugar."
"They did a great many other things, though, besides fighting, and their
life was spent so much out of doors that they studied the nature of
every plant and living thing about them. The healing-properties of some
of our most valuable herbs were first discovered by the Indians, and, as
they never had any grocery-stores, the presence of trees that would
supply them with sugar was a blessing not likely to be neglected. The
devoted missionary John Brainerd first heard of this tree-sugar from
them, and it is said that he used to preach to them when they were thus
peacefully employed, and obtained a better hearing than at other times."
"Have we any maple-sugar trees?" asked Clara.
"No," replied Miss Harson; "there are none at Elmridge, and I have seen
none anywhere near here. They seem to flourish best in the Northern and
North-eastern States, while in Western Canada the tree is found in
groves of from five to twenty acres. These are called 'sugar-bushes,'
and few farmers in that part of America are without them. In England the
maple trees are called 'sycamores,' and the sap is used as a sweet
drink. I will read to you from a little English book called _Voices from
the Woodlands_ a simple account of a country festival where maple sap
was the choicest refreshment:
"'"Take care of that young tree," said Farmer Robinson to his laborer,
who was diligently employed in clearing away a rambling company of
brambles which had grown unmolested during the time of the last tenant;
"the soil is good, and in a very few years we shall have pasturage for
our bees, and plenty of maple-wine."
"'The farmer spoke true; before his young laborer had attained middle
age the sapling had grown into a fine tree. Its branches spread wide and
high, and bees came from all parts to gather their honey-harvests among
the flowers; beneath its shade lambkins were wont in spring to sleep
beside their dams; and when the time of shearing came, and the sheep
were disburdened of their fleeces, you might see them hastening to the
sycamore tree for shelter.
"'A kind of rustic festival was held about the same time in honor of the
maple-wine. Hither came the farmer and his dame, with their children and
young neighbors, each carrying bunches of flowers. Older people came in
their holiday dresses, some with baskets containing cakes, others tea
and sugar, with which the farmer and his wife had plentifully supplied
them; and joyfully did they rest a while on the green sward while young
men gathered sticks, and, a bright fire having been kindled, the kettle
sent up its bubbling steam.
"'When this was ended, and few of the piled-up cakes remained--when,
also, the young children had emptied their cans and rinsed them at the
old stone trough into which rushed a full stream--tiny hands joyfully
held up the small cans and bright eyes looked anxiously to the stem of
the tall tree while the farmer warily cut an incision in the bark.
"'What joy when a sweet watery juice began to trickle! and the farmer
filled one small cup, then another, till all were satisfied and a
portion sent to the older people, who were contentedly looking on from
the grassy slope where they had seated themselves. The farmer's wife
knew naught concerning the process for obtaining sugar, or else she
might have sweetened her children's puddings from the watery liquid
yielded by the sycamore, or greater maple--an art well known to the
aboriginal tribes of North America.'"
"Does that mean Indians, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm, with a wry face at
the long word.
"Yes," was the reply; "and I hope that you will feel properly grateful
to these aborigines whenever you eat maple-sugar."