The suburban citizen., 1900-05-12
THE SPRUCE GUM CROP.
NAMES COSTLY CONNECTION IS
SCARCE THIS SEASON.

brnncncs-it rays heh TOT some.
TTHIS has been an oil year for
gum in Maine. Ordinarily
the Maine supply of clear,
q pink, odorous and sweet
spruce gum has been in the tons, and
every ton of it is worth $4,000 at first
hands. This year the supply Of
marketable gum will fall much below
the average. This sad fact is not
brought about by a dearth Of gum so
much as a lack Of skillful harvesters.
Everybody is goiug into it," said
a Wholesale gum dealer in Bangor,
Me-, the chief gum market o; the
United States, "aud the supply is not
so good this year in consequence.
They bring in all kinds of stuff, dirt
and pitchy aud full of black spots, aud,
of course, we can't buy it. We won't
get the good, clear gum this winter we
did last year on that account.
''I remember" went on the gum
dealer, as he leaned over the counter,
"when gum gatherers came in here
with from 400 to 500 pounds OF gum
to the man to sell after q winter in the
woods. Every pound OF it was worth
\ dollay, and that is just what L gave
for it, right through.
''rhis winter haven't seen any Of
the kind of gum we used to get; that
is, not in quality. Last year bought
more than ton Of gum, and sent it
out of the State, There is good de-
mand for it. especially from the West,
where there are Maine people in large
numbers. / don't geta very big prof
il ont OF it, for it retails ut ten cents
an ounce, all done mp in a neat paste
board box. Then, there is q shrink
age Of ten per cent. on it,, aud the adj
ditional loss from it becoming broken.
After ! have sold it to mIddleman,
say at 1925 pound, and ne sells it
to the retailer, who can only get ten
cents an ounce for it, you will see there
iA no great profit in it for any of as.
N is HARD TO COLLECT.
"As for the man who gathers il"
vent on the gum dealer, ''he earns his
dollar pound. wouldn't clean the
stuff for that money. Every piece in
it has 10 be handled, and most of it
scraped with knife TO tako off the
rough outside. There is a good deal
of waste in the cleaning. The best
gum gstherers are those who know
how to get clean gum, the kind that
does not require lot OF cleaning.
Notwithstanding the dihiculty in
getting together 100 pounds of gum,
the dealer recalled that he bought on
one occasion 99S pounds of gum from
two men, who had gathered it in a
winter. They were Swede farmers
from the vicinity Of New Sweden, in
northern Aroostook. Work is dull on
the potato farms in winter, and the
thrifty Swedes look around for a
chance to make dollar. Many OF
them go into the woods rs lumber-
men. Some trap, while others gather
gum. These two farmers netted 81
= pound for their gum.
Only men OF great patience and
ever-ceasing activity eau gather near
ly 500 pounds Of gum in winter. The
task is one calling for almost incredi-
BILE work. When one buys little box
of the pure, amber blood Of the spruce
he little thinks of the patience that
has been put into the work of gather
ing it.
The gum gatherer begins his work
in the fall, as soon as the snow comes
and makes travelling on foot in the
forest easier than when the ground is
bare, and he keeps at his task, day
after day, in storm and shine, until
spring.