The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1891-12-04
THE SPRUCE GUM PICKER.
An Industry for Which Vermont Was
Once Famous Now Laneuishss.

+, An Industry for Which Vermont Was
Once Famous Now Languishss.
Genuine spruce gum has almost disap-
| peared as regular article of merchandise
from the Bennington market. Formerly
the supply was abundant. the price low
and the quality first class. But the sup
ply now depends on mere chance, the gum
picker giving little attention to the gath
ering of the commodity, as there fs no
money in the business. The sawmills,
pulp mills and forest fires have wrought
such devastation among the big tracts Of
spruce trees which formerly clothed the
Green mountains that the occupation Of
the gum picker is almost gone. Some
times q lumberman or a mountaineer in
Woodford, town adjoining Bennington
on the east, discovers a tree that will yield
several pounds of marketable gum, which
is brought to Bennington, where it finds
ready market at good price.
The price depends entirely upon the quail
ity, ranging all the way from fifty cents to
S1.50 pound. Gum of poor quality is read.
lily distinguished by its opaqueness, and
by its very intimate admixture of miRute
bits Of bark, which became entangled in
the gum when 1t exuded from the tree in a
semiliquid state. Poor gum is either
distinguished as being too heavy or too
light, bitter and permanently sticky to the
teeth in some cases, and very hard and
crumbly in other specimens.
Gum of the finest grade Is either trans.
lucent or transparent, of light amber
color, filled more or less with minute bub-
bles of air, breaking with short, shining
fracture, and having a sweet, peculiar and
balsamic odor and taste. The word "gum,"
however, is popularity misapplied, as the
substance is, properly speaking, a resinous
matter.
A considerable portion Of the gum of.
fered for sale in Bennington is sent west in
small packages by mail. The reason for
this is that large numbers of eastern
people who have gone west miss their &C.
customed ''chew," and send back to their
old home for small supplies at a time. In
this way, too, quarter pound packages Of
gum are sent across the continent to Cali
fornia, where the article is valued almost
beyond price. When the Ohio and Michi-
gan branches of the Olin family held their
annual reunion in Bennington they "cor-
nered" about all the spruce gum stocks in
town.
Several years ago an enterprising young
man, H. w. Martin, of Bennington,
worked up a very large trade in this COM
modify. Tons of gum by mail. express
and freight were sent by him to remote
sections of the country, and the demand
was often greater than the supply. The
gum, however, which was of extra fine
quality, was obtained in the state of New
York. Mr.. Martin was subsequently ap.
pointed postmaster at Bennington, and the
gum business was abandoned.
Perhaps the most famous gum picker in
Vermont is Alonzo Z. Bishop, of Wood
ford. He is a professional in this peculiar
industry. Bishop Is about forty-fve years
old, stout, well built, good natured and
wears long hair. During the hot season,
when gum cannot be gathered in a mer-
charitable condition. owing to its sticki-
ness and its liability to run together,
Bishop poses as q farmer and a Yankee
notion peddler. But when cold weather
sets in, "Lop," as he is Familiarity called in
all the region round about, penetrates the
deep forests of the mountain in pursuit of
his favorite calling, which he has followed
all his life.
With bag slung over his shoulder, and
carrying a long, slender pole, which is
armed at one end with a sharp chisel, that
gum may be detached from the tree at
considerable distance from the ground,
this man roaE1s the mountains, often days
at time, alone, md miles from any hui
man habitation.-Cor. New York Times.