"Yes, [Footnote: All the maple tribe are of a saccharine nature. Sugar has
been made in England from the sap of the sycamore.] my lady; but I believe
the sugar-maple yields the best sap for the purpose; that of the
birch-tree, I have heard, can be made into sugar; but it would require a
larger quantity; weak wine, or vinegar, is made by the settlers of
birch-sap, which is very pleasant tasted. The people who live in the
backwoods, and make maple-sugar, always make a keg of vinegar at the
sugaring off."

"That must be very useful; but if the sap is sweet, how can it be made
into such sour stuff as vinegar?"

Then nurse tried to make Lady Mary understand that the heat of the sun,
or of a warm room, would make the liquor ferment, unless it had been
boiled a long time, so as to become very sweet, and somewhat thick. The
first fermentation, she told her, would give only a winy taste; but if it
continued to ferment a great deal, it turned sour, and became vinegar.

"How very useful the maple-tree is, nurse! I wish there were maples in
the garden, and I would make sugar, molasses, wine, and vinegar; and what
else would I do with my maple-tree?"

Mrs. Frazer laughed, and said,--"The wood makes excellent fuel; but is
also used in making bedsteads, chests of drawers, and many other things.
There is a very pretty wood for furniture, called 'bird's-eye maple;' the
drawers in my bedroom that you think so pretty are made of it; but it is a
disease in the tree that causes it to have these little marks all through
the wood. In autumn, this tree improves the forest landscape, for the
bright scarlet leaves of the maple give a beautiful look to the woods in