The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-13
HARVESTING GUM IN MAINE
Profitable Work for Lab0rers
Among Spruce Trees.

Methods of Obtaining the Fragrant
and Popular Article - The State
! Furnishes supply Ahead Of All
| Othcrs-Crops Gathered in March.
In the windy month Of March, when. as
the woodsmen say, Winter turns black
| in the face" and the first signs Of spring
are visible the live Yankee who lives
along the forest belt of Maine finds many
ways OF money making that are not open
| to him in summer nor always in the
| depth OF winter. The pickerel. which all
winter have sulked at the bottoms of the
| ponds, begin to grow hungry, and Will
bite greedily at any kind of bait. As fish
are always in good demand in Lent. and
! as pickerel is the only kind of fish upon
which there is no legal limit to the
| number of pounds that may be taken, a
good deal of money is made by the men
who sit around holes In the ice and drop
lines cautiously through.
The man who does not care to angle for
pickerel congratulates himself that the
close time on muskrats is off after March
Is, and he will not need to be without
money while the pelts are worth $25 hun
dred and steel traps cost only S.5O
dozen. Should both fishing and trapping
back on maple sugar and maple syrup,
for the making of which sap flows from a
million trees at this time of the year,
and in the absence of all these opportuni-
ties a man can take basket and
hatchet much smaller than Mrs. Nation
and 20 gum hunting. Anyone who can
climb a tree and is willing to dig hard
into the spruce limbs can make anywhere
from 81 to So a day in the gum business,
for the crop never fails. and Maine pro-
duces more spruce gum than all the tther
States combined.
In order to be fragrant and agreeable to
those who chew it, spruce gum must DC
rIpened under certain climatic conditions
that are best realized in Northern Maine.
While good. clear gum is often found
growing spontaneously in the wild woods
without the help of human agencies, the
best spruce gum-the kind that sells at
81 a pound WHOLESALERS the direct result
of the gum gatherer's foresight. Gum Is
the dried and crystallized sap of the spruce
tree. which has eXuded and simmered in
the heat of summers sun, and then hard
ened into amberlike nuggets inthe cold OF
a long winter.
Maple sugar may be made by boiling
the sap of the rock maple tree for a few
duce spruce gum oy boiling the sap of the
spruce Tree he would get nothing except
a bitter and sticky tar.
OF the 1000 pounds of spruce gum
annually harvested in Maine, 1900 pounds
or more are gathered in the month of
March. The gum picker wears steel
climbing spurs on his boots, and in his
belt he carries a light Ratchet, while
strapped to his waist is bag with wide
mouth for the reception of the gum.
Climbing a tree, the picker proceeds from
limb to limb, chipping off the Jumps of
gum as he finds them, until he reaches
the top. Most of the gum is caught in
the wide open bag as 1t falls from the
tree, while all that goes to the ground
stands out in such relief upon the snow
that it is easily picked up. Having pick
ed all the gum on the tree. the pickot
hacks and scars the bark. SO that the
tree may produce another crop.
The best tasting and cleanest gum
comes from the deep and narrow cuts
made on the south side of a tree. Wounds
made on the north side may eXude sap.
but, being away from the sun. the sticky
bark before they have time to crystalline.
By scoring the bark In March the early
flow of sap is made to come out slowly
and il forms dam of pitch, so that when
the heat of summer comes on and the
sap runs freely. the gum hangs in pendu-
lous bags, which are glued to the bark
in the matrix which formed soon as
the scar was made.
Weather conditions have as much to do
with the making of good gum as in the
making of good hay. When the first drop
Of crystal gum has eXuded and hardened
il grows daily In layers from the outside.
When there is a succession of warm and
windiess days, followed by cool nights.
the overlapping coats of pitch will hard
up pure gum. windy or a cloudy
day followed by hot night, leaves the
gum soft on the surface; then. when
dead spill or an insect lights upon the
globule it becomes glued to the spot. and
remains there, a permanent blemish to
the gum.
Spruce sap ceases to flow after July 10.
From that time on, until the picker comes
in March. the bags or globules Of pitch
harden and sweeten, until they turn to
linty Jumps of fragrance How the Irp-
cess is carried on, or what chemical
changes take place in the ripening, no
one may know. 1t Is a secret q the
In MAY and June the gum drops have
a warty appearance; they are yellow ana
viscid, and have disagreedbly pungent
taste, much like that Of turpentine. A
month later the drops are hardened On
the surface, and the yellow color has
given place to an amber-like transpar-
ency. The masses are still sticky inside,
and the turpentine taste has been sue
ceeded by an intense bitterness. Under
the suns of August the crystals OF gum
show pink and amber tints on the sur
face and have a vitreous lustre When
broken open. Most of the sticky centre
has hardened, but the pungent taste re-
mains.
line grows deeper, and is streaked with
browns: by December every particle of
mitch has become hardened. while from
New Year Day to March the frosts and
ice take out the bitter taste and leave
i'm its place that matchless aroma which
gum chewers prize. Then the gum picker
has his harvest time.-New York Tribune