A MAPLE-SUGAR CAMP.
W H I L E advancing the best way I could through the magnificent woods
that cover the undulating grounds in the vicinity of the Green River in
Kentucky, I was overtaken by night. With slow and cautious steps I
proceeded, feeling some doubt as to my course, when the moon came
forth, as if purposely to afford me her friendly light. The air I thought
was uncommonly keen, and the gentle breeze that now and then shook
the tops of the tall trees, more than once made me think of halting for the
night, and forming a camp. At times I thought of the campaigns of my
old friend D A N I E L BOON, his strange adventures in these very woods, and
the extraordinary walk which he performed to save his fellow-creatures at
Fort Massacre from the scalping knives of the irritated Indians. Now
and then a racoon or opossum, causing the fallen leaves to rustle, made
me pause for a moment; and thus I was forcing my way, thinking on
many things dismal as well as pleasing, when the glimmer of a distant
fire suddenly roused me from my reveries, and inspired me with fresh
animation. As I approached it, I observed forms of different kinds moving
to and fro before it, like spectres; and ere long, bursts of laughter, shouts,
and songs apprised me of some merrymaking. I thought at first that I
had probably stumbled upon a camp-meeting; but I soon perceived that
the mirth proceeded from a band of sugar-makers. Every man, woman,
and child stared as I passed them, but all were friendly, and, without
more ceremony than was needful, I walked up to the fire, at which I
found two or three old women, with their husbands, attending to the
kettles. Their plain dresses of Kentucky homespun were far more pleasing
to my sight than the ribboned turbans of city dames, or the powdered
wigs and embroidered waistcoats of antique beaux. I was heartily welcomed,
and supplied with a goodly pone of bread, a plate of molasses, and
some sweet potatoes.
Fatigued with my long ramble, I lay down under the lee of the smoke,
and soon fell into a sound sleep. When day returned, the frost lay thick
around ; but the party arose cheerful and invigorated, and after performing
their orisons, resumed their labour. The scenery around was most
pleasing; the ground all round looked as if it had been cleared of underwood
; the maples, straight and tall, seemed as if planted in rows; be-
A MAPLE-SUGAR CAMP. 439
tween them meandered several rills, which gently murmured as they hastened
toward the larger stream ; and as the sun dissolved the frozen dews,
the few feathered songsters joined the chorus of the woodsmen's daughters.
Whenever a burst of laughter suddenly echoed through the woods,
an Owl or Wild Turkey would respond to it, with a signal welcome to
the young men of the party. With large ladles the sugar-makers stirred
the thickening juice of the maple; pails of sap were collected from the
trees and brought in by the young people; while here and there some
sturdy fellow was seen first hacking a cut in a tree, and afterwards boring
with an auger a hole, into which he introduced a piece of hollow cane, by
which the sap was to be drained off. About half a dozen men had felled
a noble yellow poplar, and sawed its great trunk into many pieces,which,
after being split, they were scooping into troughs to be placed under the
cane-cocks, to receive the maple juice.
Now, good Reader, should you ever chance to travel through the
maple grounds that lie near the banks of that lovely stream the Green
River of Kentucky, either in January or in March, or through those on
the broader Monongahela in April; nay, should you find yourself by the
limpid streamlets that roll down the declivities of the Pocano Mountains
to join the Lehigh, and there meet with a sugar-camp, take my advice
and tarry for a while. If you be on foot or on horseback, and are thirsty,
you can nowhere find a more wholesome or more agreeable beverage than
the juice of the maple. A man when in the Floridas may drink molasses
diffused in water; in Labrador he may drink what he can get; and at
New York or Philadelphia he may drink what he chooses; but in the
woods a draught from the sugar-maple is delicious and most refreshing.
How often, when travelling, have I quenched my thirst with the limpid
juice of the receiving troughs, from which I parted with regret; nay,
even my horse, I have thought, seemed to desire to linger as long as he
could.
But let me endeavour to describe to you the manner in which the sugar
is obtained. The trees that yield it (Acer saccharinum) are found more
or less abundantly in all parts of the Union from Louisiana to Maine, growing
on elevated rich grounds. An incision is made into the trunk, at a height
of from two to six feet; a pipe of cane or of any other kind is thrust into
the aperture; a trough is placed beneath and receives the juice, which
trickles by drops, and is as limpid as the purest spring water. When all the
trees of a certain space have been tapped, and the troughs filled, the peo