Oh, the gladdest time of year
Is the merry sugar-making,
When the swallows first appear
And the sleepy buds are waking!”
In the great wilderness were to be had, a few comforts and luxuries. Sugar is not only a luxury, but is really a necessary article of food. The properties of the sap of the maple was understood by the Indians, and the French soon availed themselves of the means of making sugar. To the present day, the French Canadians make it in considerable quantities. At first, the settlers of Upper Canada did not generally engage in making it; but, after a time a larger number did. The maple, the monarch of the Canadian forest, whose leaf is the emblem of our country, was a kind benefactor. In the spring, in the first days of genial sunshine, active operations for sugar making were commenced. Through the deep snow, the farmer and his sons would trudge, from tree to tree, to tap them upon their sunny side. The “spile” would be inserted to conduct the precious fluid into the trough of bass-wood, which had been fashioned during the long winter evenings. A boiling place would be arranged, with a long pole for a crane, upon which would be strung the largest kettles that could be procured. At night, the sap would be gathered from the troughs, a toilsome job, and put into barrels. In the morning a curling smoke would rise from amidst the thick woods, and the dry wood would crackle cheerily under the row of kettles, all the sunny spring day; and night would show a rich dark syrup, collected in one smaller kettle, for the more careful work of being converted into sugar. Frequently the fire would be attended by the women; and the men would come to gather the sap in the evening. In this way many a family would be provided with abundant sugar, at all events it had to serve them for the year, as they felt unable to purchase from the merchant. In another place, we have related how a few made a considerable quantity of sugar and sold it all, to pay for a farm, doing without themselves.
The absence of various articles of food, led the thoughtful housewife to invent new made dishes. The nature of these would depend in part upon the articles of food most abundant, and upon the habits peculiar to their ancestry, whether English, Dutch or some other. The great desire was, to make a common article as tasty as possible. And at harvest time, as well as at bees, the faithful wife would endeavour to prepare something extra to regale the tired ones. There was, for instance, the “pumpkin loaf,” a common dish. It consisted of pumpkin and corn meal made into a small loaf, and eaten with butter. Another dish which seems to have been derived from the Dutch, was Pot Pie, which was always, and is even yet in many places, made to feed the hands at bees and raisings, and even was generally made to grace the board on a wedding occasion. We cannot give the space, if we felt prepared to speak, of the several made dishes commonly in use among the older Canadians of Upper Canada. Many of them are truly excellent in taste and nutritious in quality. They are often similar to, or very like the dishes in the New England and Midland States.
This subject will be concluded by giving a few extracts from Rochefoucault who wrote of what he saw and learned in Canada in 1795, and who may be regarded as quite correct.
He says, “It is asserted” (by Simcoe) “that all Canada, produces not the necessary corn for the consumption of its inhabitants, the troops are supplied with flour from London, and with salt meat from Ireland.” But Simcoe then thought that Canada was capable not alone of feeding her inhabitants, but of becoming the granary of England, and receiving commodities in Exchange. Speaking of Forty Mile Creek, he says: “Before it empties itself into the lake, it turns a grist mill and two saw mills, which belong to a Mr. Green, a loyalist of Jersey, who, six or seven years ago, settled in this part of Upper Canada.” “Land newly cleared yields here, the first year, twenty bushels of corn. They plough the land after it has produced three or four crops, but not very deep. The price of flour is twenty-two shillings per hundred weight, that of wheat from seven to eight shillings per bushel. Laborers are scarce, and are paid at the rate of six shillings a day. Wheat is generally sown throughout all Upper Canada, but other sorts of grain are also cultivated.” “Mr Green grinds the corn for all the military posts in Upper Canada.”
Approaching Kingston by water he remarks that “on the left is Quinté Bay, the banks of which are said to be cultivated up to a considerable extent. The eye dwells with pleasure once more on cultivated ground. The country looks pleasant. The houses lie closer than in any of the new settled parts of Upper Canada which we have hitherto traversed. The variegated verdure of the cornfields embellishes and enriches the prospect, charms the eye, and enchants the mind.”
“This district not only produces the corn requisite for its own consumption, but also exports yearly about 3 or 4000 bushels. This grain, which, in winter, is conveyed down the river on sledges, is bought by the merchants, who engage, on the arrival of the ships from Europe, to pay its amount in such merchandise as the sellers may require. The merchants buy this grain for government, which pays for it in ready money, according to the market price at Montreal. The agent of government causes part to be ground into flour, which he sends to the different ports in Upper Canada, where it is wanted; and the surplus he sends to England. The price of flour in Kingston is at present (12th July, 1795) six dollars per barrel. The district of Kingston supplied, last year, the other parts of Canada with large quantities of pease, the culture of which, introduced but two years ago, proves very productive and successful. In the course of last year, 1000 barrels of salt pork, of 208 pounds each, were sent from Kingston to Quebec; its price was eighteen dollars per barrel. The whole trade is carried on by merchants, whose profits are the more considerable, as they fix the price of the provisions which they receive from Europe, and sell without the least competition.” Indeed, the profits of the dealers must have been immense. They sold to the military authorities at a rate which would remunerate them when the provisions came from England; and when the farmers of Canada began to raise grain to sell, they bought it, or exchanged merchandise for it, upon which they fixed the price, and continued to sell the flour at the same price to the military authorities.