The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-01-28
GUM, FRESH AND FRAGRANT.
How 1T Is Gathered-Its Native Forest.
AduIteration.


AduIteratiOn.
A lump of clear, genuine spruce gum,
fresh and fragrant from its native forest,
is not to be despised as a chewing sub
stance. and if everybody could get the
real article, instead of cheap, adulterated
stuff. the army of chewers would be
vastly augmented. The natural gum is
said by physicians to be beneficial to the
teeth, and it is certainly a great improve
nent on tobacco. The woOdsInen bring
ont considerable quantities of gum, some
times packed in pretty miniature barrels,
which they white and carve from blocks
of white pine or cedar during idle hours
by the camp fire, as presents for their
friends, but there are people who make
business of gathering gum, and In GER
tain sections of the spruce country 1t pays
well.
Host of the spruce gum handled by the
dealers comes from Canada and northern
Maine, while Vermont and New Hamp-
shire contribute a moderate quantity to the
total Weld The best gum comes from no
particular section, but always from the
biggest spruce trees, and it begins to run
in july or August, when, in these high lati-
tudes, the sun becomes so hot as to crack
the bark. On the limbs, in the crotches,
and even in the trunk of the spruce, the
molten gum forms during the heat of
summer in all sorts of fantastic shapes,
and when cold weather sets in it becomes
hard. The first year after its run the
gum is white and pitchy, then it begins
to turn amber and red, and the second
year it is fit to ''pick'' for the market
although it is better if allowed to remain
on the trees until the third year. After
the third season the gum remains in the
same state for several years, and then
begins to turn old, - as the pickers say,
and the consumer complains that it
''chews hard'' and crumbles up. A little
more age makes it dark colored and bitter,
and then its value is gone.
Up in Canada much of the gum is
picked. in the autumn, beginning as early
as October, but there, as in Maine, the
best time for the work is during the deep
SHOWS of the winter, when snowshoes are
used, or in the early spring, when man
can travel along at a lively rate on the
heavy crust, above the underbrush. The
pickers are provided with long poles, on
the end of which is fastened a sharp
chisel, and underneath that a cup to re-
ceive the gum as it is Clipped off. The
cup holds from a pint to a quart, and
when full it is enptied into a long bag
which the packer carries slung to his
back like a knapsack. These gum har-
vesters erect huts in the woods when far
distant from a settlement or a logging
camp and stay from two days to week
on trip. When they have secured as
much as they can ''tote" they come out,
and then the women and children have
the tedious job of scraping each and
every lump free from bark and moss.
The clean, bright article offered for sale
in the shops looks very much different
from the brown nuggets in the picker's
bag, although occasionally a clear, shiny
piece is found on the limb of large tree.
1t is the cleaning of the gum that
makes first class article expensive. An
ordinary picker usually earns fair days
wages, although in localities that have
not been explored he sometimes ''strikes
it rich" l have known a man to gather
$50 worth of gum in one day.
There are two or three firms in Maine
which buy large quantities of gum from
lumbermen and pickers for the purpose
refining it, as they say. But, as general
rule, the refining consists of adulteration
with rosin. They throw the gum into
big vat, bark, moss and all, and boil it to
about the consistency of molasses, skim
ming Oh lhe Impurities DIS Cuey rise 10
the surface. Then, if the purpose be to
adulterate, some lard or grease and lot
of rosin is thrown in, with sometimes a
little sugar. The mixture is stirred until
thick, and then poured out on a slab,
where. while it is yet hot, it is rolled out
in a sheet about a quarter of an inch
thick, and afterward cut with steel die
into pieces half an inch wide and three
quarters of an inch long. These pieces
are wrapped in colored tissue paper and
packed in wooden boxes-200 pieces to a
box. This is the socalled patent gum.
Tons of it are sold south and west of US,
but here on the verge of the primeval
forest it is drug in the market Bangor
(DIe.) Cor. New York Sun.