The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-01-02
Gathering Spruce Gum.

Gathering gum is quite business
by itself and is carried on much
more Systematically than is general
ly supposed The gum picker is O
busy fellow, and, like the hotel pro
prietor at some pleasant seaside re
sort, has only a few months for his
business. When the woodsmen enter
the forests in the fall, the gum pick
ers follow and continue in the woods
till springtime. There are men who
make practice of nipping from the
spruce this material known as gum
and do nothing else. They follow the
choppers through the woods, and
when the trees are felled pluck from
lhe trunk all the gum they may find
Besides gathering it from the trees
cut down to make logs the picker
shells it from the standing tree, but
this is much harder method, al
though In many cases larger guam
tity is procured, because none is lost,
as in the case where the spruce is
falling and rolls against other giants
of the forests stripping it at times
of several quarts of it's gum deposits,
provided there is well filled seam
in the tree In collecting the Jumps
of gum from the standing spruce the
picker has an apparatus especially
arranged for the purpose. 1t con-
sists of long pole, upon the top of
which is a little sack that will hold
about two quarts of gum Back of
this sack is piece of iron or steel
made like a hammer and working
upon pivot, while a cord is attach
ed to the end and extends to the foot
of the pole. The picker places the
top of this picking machine along
the gummy seam of the spruce, and
T operating the little hammer by
.eans of the cord is able to clip off
le Jumps of gum into the sack To-
{ ated under the top of the hammer
sometimes from one tree bushel of
gum is picked but not very often is
the gatherer fortunate in finding so
productive spruce, and he is quite
contented in plucking from pint to
half bushel from each
When the day picking is finished,
all return to camp and sitting around
the open fire in the evening clean
this gum piece by piece, some requir-
ing large amount of scraping, while
other pieces need but little Quite
often the picker will find a spruce
with large seam from the trunk to
over half the length of the tree,
while bullying from each side will be
bright clear Jumps of choice gum.
He also finds trees with large Jumps
projecting from the side, while in
the spruce not seam can be found
Great lunches of gum are frequently
found on the trunk of the tree
There are different kinds of gum.
The choice is the clear and best
Jumps, what the picker terms bright
Then comes the second grade, con-
sisting of tho assortment next to the
choice, while the third grade is dis
posed of at Il low figure and is made
into patent gum. A figurehead of
the gum pickcrs is the middleman,
who is general manager, superin-
tends the work and sells the gum
From one posse of pickers this mid
dleman often handles 1000 pounds
in season. Often he makes deal
with the pickers by supplying them
with food and clothing and finding
market the profits being shared
You will understand that the gum
is always toted several miles through
the woods to reach point of trans
portation
The most gum handled by dealers
in this section is received from
Aroostook county, Canada and New
York state. Gum, not being a manu-
! featured article is free of duty. An
Augusta firm handled over 1920
pounds last year When candy sold
for II cents II pound, an even ex-
change was made for n pound of
gum. During the summer, if you
have ever visited the forest and OBJ
served the spruce, you have doubt
less noticed that the gum was of a
sticky nature, tits then that it forms
for the next winters gum gatherer,
and when the cold weather comes it
gradually hardens. No patent gum
has as yet surpassed the flavor of
the spruce, and as long as these
trees stand will the gum chewer cling
to its product. -Kennebec Journal