MAKING MAPLE SUGAR.
One warm spring morning
Father said, “Spring is here!
The sap will run to-day.
Come! We will tap the big maple trees.”
“Oh! Oh! What fun!” said John and Mary.
“Here are the pails,” said Father.
“We will carry them down to the maple trees.”
Father made a hole in one of the trees.
He put a spout in the hole.
Then he hung a pail under the spout.
Soon the sap began to run out.
Drop by drop it ran into the pail.
“It looks like water,” said John.
“It tastes like water with a little sugar in it,” said Mary.
II
Father said, “I will tell you the story of the sap.
All winter the maple trees were asleep.
When spring came the warm rain ran down to the roots of the trees.
‘Awake!’ said the rain, ‘It is time to grow.’
The bright sun looked down and said to the trees,
‘Awake! It is time for the sap to run.’
Sap helps the little buds to grow.
In the spring the maple tree has more sap than it needs.
So we make a hole in the tree and the sap runs out.
Maple sugar is made from the sweet sap of the maple tree.”
III
Near the maple trees there was a log house.
The next morning father made a hot fire in the log house.
“Now we will go to the trees and get the sap,” said father.
He hung a big kettle over the fire.
They put the sap into this big kettle.
After a long time the sap was brown and thick.
“Here is some good maple syrup,” said father.
He put the syrup into pans.
There were big pans and little pans and middle-sized pans.
“Here is a little pan for you, Mary.
This one is for you, John,” said father.
“When the syrup is cold and hard it will be maple sugar.”