Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1902-04-02

" eve
Tor trees. A careless and myopic man
would travel over acres OF territory and
miss the dollars right along. The shrewd
picker, the experienced man, runs his
prscticed eye along every trunk. Here
aud there be sees tall spruce marked by
seam through which its life blood has
| oozed for years. The bubbles have crept
out, and have been clarified day by day in
the sun and the rain. They have absorb
the odoriferons breath OF the forest.
There they are at last, amber and garnet
nuggets, ready for the picker's chisel and
for the teeth Of the gum chewing girls
far away In the city. Sometimes the
picker goes up on his climbers and taps
and ticks and picks like giant wood
peeker. Sometimes the tree is felIed.
The gum king" of the Moosebead se-
tion is a rather cranky old chap, who has
been at the business ever since he was A
youth. He rosms all over that section
and has reduced the thing to science.
At regular intervals he makes trip
through some remote section, and wounds
the spruces with his axe and chiseI. Then
after few years, he travels around that
way and gathers the gum from the
crevices.
1t Is only in Maine that the great gum
nuggets, with centers like the red OF a
dying coal, are obtained, and the folks
who chew gum, say that for "yanking"
qualities this gum beats the world.
THE HOOP POLE MAN.
The Maine hoop-poIe man makes even
better wages than his brother the gum
picker. The hoop-pole man follows
along the wake OF the loggers. He bar
bers the face of the hiilsides of stuff that
no one else wants. He Is after the "sec-
ond growth" as the young birch and ash
are called. These spring up around the
rotting stumps OF the great trees.
The hoop polo man takes a horse with
him In his tours. He cuts the poles, and
the horse hauls them to camp by daylight.
Evenings the pole man fashions the hoops
with draw shave, sitting beside roar
ing fire and quacking at his black pipe.
Sometimes the poles are sold "round",
| bat the harvester who trims his own stuff
and shages the hoops receives two or
three cents tor the finished product-and
that pays. The hoop-poie business 10
pretty steady work, but the evenings are
pleasant, after all, with the slish of the
shaves, the crackle of the FIRE and the
rumble of story telling. Even the rabbit,
up ending outside, looks in through the
windows at the light and warmth, wag-
giles his ears, and wishes he might join
the group.
As soon as the hoop poles are sold, each
Is marked across with red chalk a little
way from the end. For some time in
snug business by stealing poles. But
nowadays no dealer Will buy any that
have been thus marked Yet sometimes
the canny theft cuts off the ends that bear
the chalk mark. A while ago one man
sold his hoop poles to dealer who mark
ed them and laid them In bis shed. Then
the seller came around by night, stole the
poles, cut them of, and sold them to an
other dealer as hoops for half barrels.
II may be seen, therefore, that the city
man doesn't know all the tricks. II this
| enterprising hoop pole man could have
got the hoops once more he could have
trimmed them down and disposed OF
them as hoops for nall kegs.
OTHER WOOD HUNTERS.
Then there is the axe-handle man. He
needs ash OF larger growth than the
hoop pole saplings. The trees are chop
I ped in tho fall, and then by means OF q
"troe" and Hxe, each handle IS roughly
blocked out. Then they are buried so
that they may season without cracking.
As an additional precautioa again
parting OF the tioers, the broad end 4
each handle is dsubed with sort Of
paint, the principal ingredient OF which
Is grease. Ash goes to pieces easily IL
the sun gets at 1t, and the axe handle
man must be careful OF his wares. The
rough handles are sent away TO the factory
as soon as the snow comes.
OF all tough jobs the ship-knee man has
the worst ia the woods. The knees bring
good prices, but the man who gets them
out earns every cent. He goes prospect
Ing with an axe, hunting for "haek",
iuniper or tamarack. When one is found
he looks to see II it has the proper crook
In It's root. II the right angle is there
aud the root proves sound, he sets to
work digging it out-and It is muscle
cracking job.
The man who is after bemlock bark for
the tanneries is another chap who strays
far Ia the woods for the bark Is "away
back" nowadays.
The Indian who hunts after basket
! stuff or birch bark for canoe hull is the
most patient searcher. The big birches
are few and far between in the Maine
woods, and sometimes an Indian from the
Penobscot or Passamaquody tribe will
tramp a hundred miles ere be finds tree
that will yield piece of bark without
a knotbole or crack and which will be
large enough for canoe.
A numb Der OF men are now making good
money in the Maine woods by searching