The times., 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
0thers-Crops Gathered i'm March.

!
and Popular Article - The state
Furnishes supply Ahead Of All
others-Crops Gathered i'm 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. rs fish
| are always in good demand in Lent, and
! as pickerel is the only kind of fish upon
which there is no legal limit as to the
number of pounds that may be taken a
good deal of money is made by the men
! who sit around holes I'm 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
| Il, and he will not need to be without
money while the pelts are worth $25 hun
| dred and steel traps cost only $50
| dozen. Should both fishing and trapping
! be Improbable or distasteful. one can fall
]
for the making of which sap flows from
! million trees at this time of the year,
and in the absence of all these opportuni-
! ties man can take a basket and a
| hatchet much smaller than Mrs. Nations
! and 20 gum hunting. Anyone who can
! climb q tree and is willing to dig hard
! into the spruce limbs can make anywhere
| from 81 to S. 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 be
! 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 gatherers 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
hours, but if a man were to try tc pro-
duce spruce gum by boiling the sap of the
spruce tTee he would get nothing except
bitter and sticky tar.
OF the $1,000 pounds of spruce gum
annually harvested in Maine, r. 900 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 hatchet, while
strapped TO his waist is bag with wide
mouth for the reception of the gum.
Climbing tree, the picker proceeds from
| limb 10 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 pickf
| ed all the gum on the tree, the piclSet
| hacks and scars the bark, SO that tbs.
| 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
| juices filed with spills and bits of
! bark before they have time to crystailize.
/ 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
/ wiBdess days, followed by cool nights.
/ the overlapping coats of pitch viii hard
! en- UP az pure gum. a windy or a cloudy
/ day. followed by q hot night, leaves the
/ gum soft on the surface; then, when
! dead spill or an insect lights upon the
glObue il becomes glued 10 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
4 hinty Jumps of fragrance How the Lro-
cess is carried on, or what chemical
! changes take place in the ripenng, no
one may know. 1t is a secret Cf the
/ spruce trees.
| In MAY and June the gum drops have
/ a wartV appearance, they are yellow ana
viscid, and have a disagreeably pungent
I taste much like that OF turpentine. A
month later the drops are hardened en-
! 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.
In September and October the pink
! line grows deeper, and is streaked with
! browns; by December every particle Of
/ pitch 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.