as a branch of domestic manufacture and home
production, the business is of no little consequence. The time
occupied too in the manufacture is very limited, and occurs at a
season when very little other labor can be performed.

Hitherto but comparatively little attention has been bestowed upon
this important branch of industry in Canada. The inhabitants of that
province might doubtless manufacture a sufficient quantity of maple
sugar to supply the demand or consumption in this article for the
whole population of the country. This variety of sugar may be refined,
and made as valuable for table use as the finest qualities of West
India sugar. On the south shore of Lake Huron, and the islands of
that inland sea, there are forests of sugar

maple unsurveyed capable of producing a supply for the whole
population. The Indians upon those islands have lately turned their
attention pretty largely to the manufacture of sugar from the maple;
and many tons have been exported from this source. If the Indians
could obtain a fair value for their sugar, say seven or eight dollars
per 100 lbs., they would extend their operations upon a large scale.
Upon these islands alone, there are upwards of a million of full-grown
maple trees, capable of yielding each from two and a half to three
pounds of excellent sugar per annum; and if proper attention were
given to this branch of production in that quarter, I see no reason
why a most profitable business could not be carried on. Every farmer
who has a grove of sugar maple, should endeavour to manufacture at
least sufficient for the consumption of his own family. In most cases
150 trees of medium growth would yield an amount of sap that would
make 300 lbs. of sugar, twenty-five gallons of molasses, and a barrel
of vinegar. The labor required to manufacture this amount of sugar,
molasses, and vinegar, would scarcely be felt by the well-organised
cultivator, as the season for the business is at the close of the
winter, and opening spring, when no labor can be done upon the land.
In proportion to the amount of labor and money expended in the
production of maple sugar, it is as capable of yielding as large a
return of profits as any other branch of farm business. It is
certainly an object of great national interest to the inhabitants of
our North American Colonies, that they should supply their own market
with such products as their highly-favored country is capable of
producing. Sugar is an artic