Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1913 — GO IN THE WOODS FOR SPRUCE GUM [ARTICLE]

GO IN THE WOODS FOR SPRUCE GUM

There Are Men Who Make a Business of the Trip Into Maine’s Wilderness IHEY CALL IT “801N6 SUMMING” •> a From 26 to 80 Work the Mains Woods Each Bprin* Leases from ths Lumbermen—May Pick *8 Worth In a Day. In ths early days of April from twenty-five to fifty athletic, canvas :lad young men start for ths up-river woods from Bangor, Me., and nearby towns to collect spruce gum from the more than 20,000,000,000 feet of ipruce timbers still standing in the northern forests of Maine. Not a few of these men are the well to do sons of old families, who go “gumming** partly for profit and partly as a pastime. A majority, however, are trained climbers who kne* the woods and who break away from sidewalks and electric lights to gain health and money at a time of the year when lumbering operations are drawing to a close and before the itreams open up for driving. Instead of being a solitary and Bilent man the gum picker as a rule Is as talkative as a book agent and as Ingratiating as a poor kinsman in straitened circumstances, says the Boston Herald. For, in order to secure exclusive control over the gum territory he desires to monopolize, the picker must claim lease over spruce timber lands whose owners he has never met Before he can do this he must ingratiate himself into the favor of the camp bosses and their subordinates. A man who can sing a rollicking song or tell a lively story Is welcome. Jhe travelling outfit of the gum picker is very light A set of 'steel sllmbers, such as are used by linemen, a heavy and broad hatchet for cutting off the gum and for scarring the trees for the making of more gum the next year—these with tobacco, pipe and' matches, complete his rig. His food and lodging are given to him by the boss of the camp where he chances to stop over night his cheerful ways and the news he brings from the outer world more than paying for all dues. The picker who gleans his harvest from the same trees year after year enhances the value of the holding greatly, though this value applies to the gum alone, for the trees are not materially affected. The owners of the woods are too busy to spend time In allotting gum areas, and as the Income from gum picking is never large and the time of picking lasts but a few weeks the harvesters cannot afford to pay the fees for drawing the leases, to say nothing of giving tribute for the gum.

A “smart** man working In an old gum orchard of thrifty trees that are scattered widely enough to admit sunlight for ripening and hardening the gum can under fair conditions collect In a day from eight to ten pounds of rough gum, which on cleaning will shrink two pounds, worth $1 a pound In the cities. Before starting out to operate a gum orchard a picker must spend one spring In marking and scarring the trees, so as to make sure of finding gum enough to pay for his labor when he calls around a year later. This Is done by climbing a thrifty tree to above the old limbs and high Into the sunlight and scarring the south side of the trunk between the whorls of limbs with deep Incisions shaped like a V. The spruce sap exudes from these wounds and moving downward along the cut Is dried in the sun until a pitchy crust Is formed, which fends off the bits of bark and spills blown about by the wind and prohibits the entrance of Inquisitive bees and other Insects. Thus protected from harm, the embryo nugget of gum continues to grow from the Inside by fresh supplies of resinous sap and to harden from the outside by slow evaporation. The sun goes away south, winter arrives and the sweetening frosts remove the pitchy and acrid taste, leaving from a score to a hundred of sweet and ruddy and crystallised “teats” of genuine spruce gum. There are good reasons why the harvesters should choose April as the month for the tasks. It Is then that the gum Is in Its ripest and best condition, not so old as to be hard and crumbly, not so young as to be soft and taste of pitch. The scaly crust above the winter snow banks among the trees Is then as smooth as glass, carrying all the gum which escapes the hand of the picker into the hollows among the drifts and holding them safely in plain view until they can be picked up. Before the end of May the coming sun will have warmed the tree trunks nod set the old wounds to bleeding new sap, thus spoiling the harvest for another year. If he Is an old hand at soiling In the city the gum hunter will charge from $1 to $1.60 a pound for his gum. If he Is new at the business he may sell to some sharp broker or druggist tor 75 cents a pound. If he likes to haggle he will call around from place to place and in a day or more can sell out for $2 a pound.