into the boilers over a
slow fire, when the dirt rises to the top, and is skimmed off. To know
when it has boiled enough, a small quantity is dropped on the snow. If
it hardens when cool it has been boiled enough. It is then poured into
the moulds, when it quickly hardens and is ready for use. Very good
vinegar can be made by boiling three pails of sap into one, and then
adding some yeast, still better is made from the sap of the birch; beer
is made both from maple and birch sap, and a flavour given by adding
essence of spruce or ginger. Boiling the sap and molasses requires
constant attention, as there is a danger of their boiling over.

While Michael and Rob attended to the boiling, David and Tommy drove the
sleigh, and the rest took care of the troughs. They had a large number
of troughs, and some were a long way from the boiling-sheds.

Michael and his son had filled the kettles, which they did not expect
would boil for some little time, when Tommy came running up to say that
the sleigh had stuck fast between two stumps, and that he and David
could not clear it, while one of the oxen had fallen down and hurt
itself against a log. On bearing this, Michael and Rob, thinking that
there would be plenty of time to help David, and to get back before the
sugar boiled, ran to assist him. They found the sleigh firmly fixed,
and it took them longer to clear it than they had expected it would.
They had just got it clear, when a loud bellow reached their ears from
the direction of the boiling-sheds. Leaving David and Tommy to manage
the oxen, Michael and Rob ran back to their charge. They arrived in
time to see one of their cows, with her muzzle well covered with
molasses, galloping off through the bush, followed by her companions,
while the kettle lay upset, the contents streaming out on the fire, and
burning away, and threatening to set all the sheds in a blaze. The cows
had found their way into the bush, and being fond of sugar, one of them
had put her muzzle into the boiling liquid, little expecting to have so
warm a greeting.

"I hope it will teach her not to steal sugar for the future," observed
Michael, as he and his son righted the kettle. They had to pull down
some of the shed before they could put the fire out; but such trifling
events were too common in the bush to disturb their tempers, and they
were thankful that matters were no worse.

Just before this, a neighbour's cow had got into his sugar-bush