Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-02-10
VERMONT SPRUCE GUM.
How 1t Is Produced and What Becomes of


How 1t Is Produced and What Becomes of
1t All.
In November, when the cold wealth
er has fairly set in, the gathering OF
spruce gum begins in Vermont, says a
Bennington letter. Genuine spruce
gum has almost entirely disappeared
from the Bennington market as regu-
lar article of merchandise. Formerly
the supply was abundant, the price low,
and the quality tirst-cIass. But the
supply now largely depends on chance,
the gum pickers not being SO numerous
or industrious as in former years, as
there is little money in the business.
The sawmill, pulpmill, and forest fires
have wrought such devastation among
the big tracts of spruce trees which for
merlv clothed the Green Mountains that
the occupation of the gum picker is al
most gone. Sometimes lumberman or
q mountainer in Woodford, a town adj
joining Bennington OF the east, discovers
tree that will yield several pounds of
marketable gum, which IS brought to
Bennington, where it finds ready mar
ket at good prices. The price depends
entirely upon the quality, ranging all
the way from 80 cents to S1.50 pound.
Gum of poor quality is readily distin-
guished by it's opaquenese and by its in
innate admiXture of minute bits of
bark, which became entangled with the
gum when iteXuded from the tree in a
semi-liquid state. Poor gum is further
distinguished as being too heavy or too
light, bitter, and permanently sticky to
the teeth in some cases, and hard and
crumbly in other specimens. Gum of
the finest grade is either translucent or
transparent, of a light amber color,
filled more or less with minute bubbles
of air, breaking with a short, shining
fracture, and having a sweet, peculiar,
and balsamic odor and taste. The word
gum" however, is popularity misap-
Piled, as the substance is a resinOus
matter.
A considerable portion of the gum
offered Tor 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
send back to their old home for small
supplies at time. In this way, too,
quarter-pound packages OF gum are sent
across the continent to California,
where the article is valued almost be-
vond price. The Ohio and Michigan
branches of the DIN family, that re-
Gently held their annual reunion in
Bennington, "cornered" about all the
spruce gum stocks in town.
Several years ago an enterprising
young man, II. W. Martin, of Benning
ton, worked up a large trade in this
commodity. Tons of gum by mail, ex-
press, and freight were sent by him to
remote sections of the country, and the
demand was often greater than the sup
ply. The gum, however, which was of
extra fine quality. was obtained in New
York State. Mr.. Martin was sub
sequently appointed postmaster at
Bennington, AMI the gum business
was abandoned.
Perhaps the most famous gum picker
in Vermont is Alinzok Bishop, of Wood
ford. He is a professional. Bishop
poses as a farmer and Yankee-notion
peddler, but when cold weather sets in,
Lin" as he is familiarity called in all
the region round about, penetrates the
deep forests Of the mountains in pursuit
of his tavorIte calling, which he has toll
lowed all his life. With bag slung over
his shoulder and carrying long slend
er pole, armed at one end with sharp
chisel, with which gum may be detached
from a tree at a considerable distance
from the ground, this man rOams the
mountains, often several days at time,
alone, and miles from any human hab-
itation. When deep snow comes and
the air is bitter cold, Bishop puts
on his snow shoes and treads undaunt-
eddy the deep gorges and narrow passes
of the Green Mountains in quest of
gum.
Bishop takes the gum to his humble
home, where it is cleaned of all adher-
ing bark and dirt and sorted into three
grades, which Bishop designates as
good, bad and Indifferent" The gum
is then put in small bags and generally
brought to Bennington, where the full
grades find ready market for cash, but
the other grades are generally bartered
for any small wares that may be wanted
for family use.
Experimenting with Turtles.