In early spring on the New Hampshire hillsides, the sap begins to mount
the trunks of the sugar maple trees, dissolving the sugar stored in the
wood cells during the previous summer. It is time for the making of maple
sugar. Winter is over. Spring work has begun.
Hundreds of twigs of elder have been cut in short lengths, and the pith
pushed out, to make “spiles.” Holes are bored in the trunks of the trees,
and in each hole one of these hollow spiles is driven. These are the
little spouts that drain the sap from the tree into the waiting buckets
that stand or hang below. Drip, drip, drip, the sweet sap flows into the
buckets; and as often as they fill, the farmer makes the rounds of the
trees with barrels on a low sled or “stone boat,” emptying the buckets.
The sap he gathers is poured into the evaporating pans in the sugar
house, and a roaring fire keeps it boiling. As the water goes off in
steam, the remainder becomes maple syrup, which thickens as it boils.
Skimming and straining removes any dirt or chips that fall into the sap.
When it is just thick enough, the syrup is drawn off into cans, and
sealed to be sent to market. A part of it, however, is boiled longer, and
when drawn off, and cooled, it crystalises into the granular yellow maple
sugar. It is cooled in shallow pans that hold a certain amount, and thus
the bricks of maple sugar are formed. Little heart-shaped cakes are made
by filling “patty pans” with this heavy syrup.
As long as the sap flows in sufficient quantities, the sugar harvest goes
on. If the trees are bored with care, with holes not too close together,
the tree will stand this draining from year to year, and seem not to be
injured by the loss of sap. If the holes are close together, and extend
all around the trunk, the tree will be practically girdled and it will
die from the injury.
The finest kind of maple sugar is the wax which is made by pouring heavy
syrup on the snow to cool. Quickly it thickens by the cold into stringy
yellow wax, which tastes like other maple sugar, but does not have the
unpleasant gritty feeling, which sets some teeth on edge. Maple wax may
be made at home, by melting the sugar, and pouring it into snow; but the
time and the place to enjoy it most, is in the sugar camp when the hot
syrup is poured from the long-handled ladle onto the nearest snow bank by
the person who is in charge of the boiling. The cold air of the woods
puts a keen edge on the appetite. The warm fire under the boiler takes
off the chill, and the silent woods all around give a charm to the scene
which one does not feel in any other place.
Hickory sap is sweet. This is sometimes added to that of the maples when
maple trees are scarce.
The sap of pine trees is a liquid called _resin_. The pine forests of the
South are rich stores of this resin, which we call also pitch. The crude
liquid drained from these trees is heated, and a light liquid called
_turpentine_ is drawn off. The remainder hardens, and is known as
_rosin_. The pine trees are tapped, not as the sugar trees of the North
are, but in a way that is far more injurious to the trees. Resin hardens
into gum when exposed to the air, so it is impossible to draw it out
through small tubes like spiles of elder that drain the maple sap. A
great gash is cut in the side of the trunk of a pine tree, forming a
pocket holding three pints or more. Now a square foot or more of the bark
above the pocket is cut off, and the wood is chipped to a depth of an
inch or more. The bleeding surface of the wood fills the pocket below
with resin, and a man comes around with pails and dipper to empty these
pockets as fast as they fill. The pails are carried to a still, where the
resin is poured into a tank and heated to draw off the limpid turpentine.
Once a week, from March till November, more bark and wood, above the
scored surface, must be chipped to renew the flow of resin. If this fresh
wounding did not occur, the flow would cease, because the resin thickens
and hardens when exposed to the air. This stops up the pores of the wood.
Fortunes have been made by the draining of these pine trees of their
rich, pitchy sap. Turpentine and tar and rosin are all products of the
sap of pines, and all are immensely valuable, especially in shipyards,
and in the provisioning of sea-going craft of all sorts. The term, “naval
stores,” has been applied to the products of turpentine gathering. Our
forests supply most of these products to other countries.
The sap of certain tropical trees hardens into rubber. This is one of the
most valuable of tree crops, for there is hardly a household that does
not have rubber articles of a dozen kinds that are daily used. Lacquer
varnish is the juice of certain sumach trees that grow in Japan. Gums of
fir trees have a special use in medicine, and in various arts.
Sweet gum oozes from trees of that name. This is not noticeable in our
trees of the North, but if we follow the trees southward, the gum flow
increases. In Mexico it is an article of commerce, obtained by wounding
the bark of the trees. It is one of the staple glove perfumes in France.
It is also made into medicines, perfumes, and incense.
The sap of wild cherry, holly, and buckthorn, of witch hazel and
sassafras all yield medicinal drugs. The flowers of locust, of basswood,
and all the fruit trees furnish nectar out of which bees make honey. The
juicy inner bark of the slippery elm is valuable for food, and as a
medicine.