ed of its juice, and incapable of yielding
more sugar, its wood is applicable to a far greater number and variety
of uses than the bruised cane, since as fuel the maple is most
valuable; and its ashes yield, from their richness in the alkaline
principle, four-fifths of the potash exported to Europe from Boston
and New York. The timber of the sugar-maple is also highly prized,
both for common and ornamental purposes--as the beautiful bird's-eye
maple is obtained from this tree.

"The sugar-maple begins a little north of Lake St. John, in Canada,
near 48 deg. of north lat., which, in the rigour of its winter,
corresponds to 68 deg. of Europe. It is nowhere more abundant than
between 46 deg. and 43 deg. of north lat., which space comprises Canada,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, and
the district of Maine. Farther south, it is common only in Genessee,
in the state of New York, and in the upper parts of Pennsylvania. It
is estimated by Dr. Rush, that in the northern part of these two
states, there are 10,000,000 acres which produce these trees in the
proportion of thirty to an acre. The process of making maple-sugar is
commonly begun in February, or in the beginning of March, while the
cold continues intense, and the ground is still covered with snow. The
sap begins to be in motion at this season, two months before the
general revival of vegetation. The sap continues to flow for six
weeks; after which it becomes less abundant, less rich in saccharine
matter, and sometimes even incapable of crystallization. In this case
it is consumed in the state of molasses; or exposed for three or four
days to the sun, when it is converted into vinegar by the acetous
fermentation: a kind of beer is also made of it. The amount of sugar
produced by each tree in a year varies from different causes. The
yearly product varies from 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. for each tree[V]." The sap
is most abundant from young trees, but less charged with sugar. The
average produce is five per cent. of sugar. The richer the sap is in
saccharine matter, it is so much the more profitable to extract it, as
in such a case it is nearly pure from all mucilaginous matter, or free
acid, and may be consolidated by the action of cold alone by merely
freezing it, thus rendering boiling unnecessary.

Sugar exists in many other plants, such as the beet-root, from which
it is extracted; and also the stem of the maize, or Indian corn, is
charged