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 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. The red maple
(_Acer rubrus_), another species, is very bright when the leaves are
changing, but it gives no sugar."
"Then I will not let it grow in my garden, nurse!"
"It is good for other purposes, my dear. The settlers use the bark
dyeing wool; and a jet black ink can be made from it, by boiling down the
bark with a bit of copperas, in an iron vessel; so you see it is useful.
The bright red flowers of this tree look very pretty in the spring; it
grows best by the water-side, and some call it 'the swamp-maple.
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