OCR Text |
Show -., -.., -, TR1 V ELS TliROUGII LOWER CANADA: ,111 acr , on each of which thirty ma1 1' trees vould be fonnd; bnt liqh pcfinp- that only tw •t1ty-five trees were found on c:1ch acre, then on a track of five thoufan.i acre~, fllppofing each tree to produce five pound· of fugor, 5,5so cwt. z qrs. 12 lbs. of fugnr rnight be made an-nual ly. The maple tree attains a ~rowth fu£11cicnt for yielding five pounds of (ug:u annu1lly in t 1c (pace of twenty years ; as tbe oaks and other kinds <,f tr c:;, th erefore, wcr · cut away for different pnrpofes, m:~ples might bt.: planted in their r om, which would be ready to b~ tapped hy the time tl at the old ma 1Ic trees C iled. Moreover, if theft: trees were planted out in rows r ·gubrly, the trouble of colic ling the fap from them would be much Jc(q than if they i ood widely fcattered, as they do in thl' ir natnrnl i1ate, and of cour(c the expcnce of making the fugar would be confidcrably leDencd. Added to this, if young maple were con{bntly fet ont in pJ.,ce of the other trees, as they were cut down, the efi:atc, at the end of twenty years, would yield ten times as much fugar as it did originally. I t bas been afTcr tcd, that the difricu lty of maintaining horfcs and men in the woods at the fcafon of the year proper for mnhng the fu 6 ar would be fo gr at, as to render every plan for the manufaCtory of the fugar on an c. tenfive fcale al'OI·tivc. This might be very true, p rhaps, in the United States, where the fubjett has b en principally difcu!Icd, and where it is that this objeClion has been ma c; but it would not hold good in Canada. Many tr::tcks, containing five thoufand acres ea h, of fugar maple land, mirrht be procured in various parts of the country, no part of any of which wou1d be more than fix Englifh miles ditbnt from a po1 ulous village. The whole labour of lJOiling in each year would be over in the fpace of fix w eks ; the trouble ther :(i rc of arrying food during that period, for the men and hor-f·s that were wanting for he manufactory, from a vill.1ge into the wood , v .. ·oul i be trifling, and a few huts might be built for their accommod,ttion in the woods at a flllall cxpcncc. The great labour· requifite for conveying the ftp from the trees, that grow fo .fitr ap:Ht, to the boiling houfc, has been ad iuced as another ob - 4 jcelion MAPLE S U G A R. 22J jc.Ction to the dbbliOun nt of an e.·t nfive fur; ,u- m, nufa~ ory 111 th, w ods. T he fa p, :--.s I ha v c before obfcrved, is collcelccl by pri ,·at~ f:u 1il i c.:", by fcttin~~ a ven-d into which it drops, unc.kr each t ·cc, aml from thence carried by hand to the place where it is tC> be boiled . JC a re ruLu· 11anu faClory, however, were cfi~tbli01ecl, the f~tp mit-;1 t be conv ·ycd to thc boiling 1 ou!C with far lcfs la our; fmaU wooden troughs might be p 1c 'l l under the wounds in each trees, by which mean th f1 might callly he convcy d to the di fbnce of twenty yards, if it \Vere thought nlcc!Iuy, into rcfcrvoirs. Three or four of thde r fervoirs mi·rht be placed on :m acre, and avenues opened through the wooc.Is, [o as to :~.dmit carts with proper vcflds to pafs from one to the oth r, in order to conv y the f.q> to the boi ling houfe . Mere fhcds would :~.nfwcr for boiling houfcs, and thefc might be reetcd at nrious different phces on th ' el1atc, in order to fctve the trouble of carrying the fap a great w:1y. The xpence of cutting down :1 few tre..::s, fo as to clear an ave nue or a cart, would not be much j neither would that of making the fj) uts, and common tubs for rcfcrvoirr-;, be great in a country abounding with wood; the quaqtity of labo ur faved by fu h means would, ho\ •cv r, be very confid erable. When then, it is confidcrcil, that printe families, who l1avc to carry the f.tp by hand from each tree to their own houfcs, an l often at a confidcra le difl:ance from the woods, in order to boil it, can, with all th if> labour, afford to fell fugar, equally good with that which comes from the Well Indies, at a much low r price than \\-hat th httcr is fold Jt ; when it is confidered alfo, that by going to the linall expcncc, on the firft ;ear, of making a few wooclen f1 outs and tubs, a very great portion ofbbour would be h1.Vcd, and of cour{c the profits on the f.tle of the fugar would be far greater ; there is good foundation for thinking, that if a manufaCtory were efl:ablilhed on fuch a plan a I h;lVC hin ted at, it would anCvrer extremely well, and that mapk fugnr would in a 010rt time become ,t principal article of foreign commerce in anada. The f.1p of the maple tree is not only ulcful in yjc d:ng fugar; mot1: excellent vmegar may likewifc be made il·om it. In company ith fever, 1 |