inter in Canada.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

TAPPING THE MAPLE-TREES.

It was now April, and for some days Malachi and John had been very busy,
assisted by the Strawberry; for the time had come for tapping the
maple-trees, to make the maple-sugar, and Mrs Campbell had expressed a
wish that she could be so supplied with an article of such general
consumption, and which they could not obtain but by the _bateaux_ which
went to Montreal. In the evening, when Malachi and John were, as usual,
employed in cutting small trays out of the soft wood of the balsam-fir,
and of which they had already prepared a large quantity, Mrs Campbell
asked Malachi how the sugar was procured.

"Very easily, ma'am; we tap the trees."

"Yes, so you said before; but how do you do it? Explain the whole
affair to me."

"Why, ma'am, we pick out the maple-trees which are about a foot wide at
the bottom of the trunk, as they yield most sugar. We then bore a hole
in the trunk of the tree, about two feet above the ground, and into that
hole we put a hollow reed, just the same as you would put a spigot in a
cask. The liquor runs out into one of these trays that we have been
digging out."

"Well, and then what do you do?"

"We collect all the liquor every morning till we have enough to fill the
coppers, and then we boil it down."

"What coppers will you use, then?"

"There are two large coppers in the store-room, not yet put up, which
will answer our purpose very well, ma'am. They hold about a hogshead
each. We shall take them into the woods with us, and pour the liquor
into them, and boil them down as soon as they are ready. You must come
and see us on the boiling-day, and we can have a frolic in the woods."

"With all my heart," replied Mrs Campbell. "How much liquor do you get
from one tree?"

"A matter of two or three gallons," replied Malachi; "sometimes more and
sometimes less. After we have tapped the trees and set our trays, we
shall have nothing more to do for a fortnight. The Strawberry can
attend to them all, and will let us know when she is ready."

"Do you tap the trees every year?"

"Yes, ma'am, and a good tree will bear it for fifteen or twenty years;
but it kills them at last."

"So I should suppose, for you take away so much of the sap of the tree."

"Exactly, ma'am; but there's no want of sugar-maples in these woods."

"You promised us some honey, Malachi," said Emma, "but we have not seen
it yet. Can you g