The Genesee country, making a part of the new county of Ontario, in the state of New-York, is consequently under the government of the congress of the United States, which government is perfectly free. Every inhabitant is eligible to be chosen a member of the legislative body, or to be appointed a public magistrate. Religious opinions exclude no man from any public situation in the government, and every sectary or society are at perfect liberty to exercise their own mode of worship, under the protection of the same laws which give the most perfect security to their property.

The native Indians have wholly retired from the Genesee country.* In this particular quarter of America, these tribes are now perfectly tranquilized, and disposed to cultivate the arts of peace and civilization. After ceding any tract of country, for a valuable consideration paid, and after a treaty signed for that purpose, as in the present case, no instance occurs of these Indians ever settling upon the same lands. They are remarkable for keeping faith in this respect. Indeed they always retire from the settled countries, on account of the scarcity of game, upon which they principally depend for subsistence.

But above all the extended society of white inhabitants, amounting to upwards of 6000 persons,† already established in this new country, half of whom may be presumed able to bear arms, gives the most perfect security to the settlers, and the more especially as their numbers will daily increase.

With this increase will also be introduced, in a greater degree every year, public schools and other seminaries of learning for the education of youth of both sexes, as well as places of public worship. Some churches and chapels are already built in this new country; and the latest advices state that the rev. Mr. Ross was to establish an academy for the education of youth, in the county town of Cannandarqua, in the Genesee tract, in the course of the spring or summer 1791.

To these improvements in civil society are added, courts of justice, and public magistrates; and judges for the new county of Ontario; where court-houses, and other public buildings, are either erected or in progress, so as to extend to the inhabitants the same civil and political privileges, in well-executed laws, and in sending representatives to congress and to the assembly, which are enjoyed by other citizens of America.

In addition to what has been already said concerning the maple-sugar, it may here be remarked that no cultivation is necessary; that no contingency, such as hurricanes or bad seasons, can disturb the process; that neither the heavy expense of mills, engines, machinery, or a system of planting, which occupies negroes for the whole of the season, is necessary at all to make the maple-sugar:the process occupies six weeks, from the middle of February to the end of March; and the whole of the buildings, and other articles necessary for carrying it on, are to be obtained at so trifling an expence, as to be within the reach of any person of common industry, whose conduct in life can entitle him to the most moderate credit.

Upon the scale of four men, and for the purpose of making 40 cwt. of sugar, all the implements that are necessary, are these following:

* The Genesee lands are nearly 800 miles from the Kentucky lands, and are by that means distantly seated from the present war with the Indians (1793).—EDIT.

This number is almost doubled, and last year upwards of 500 Germans went from Hamburgh, &c., for the purpose of improving the lands, and were to be embodied as militia.-EDIT.

1. Sixteen kettles of 15 gallons each, to boil the sap, with pot racks for each kettle,..... 2. Two iron ladles, with bowls of a gallon, to shift the sap from one kettle to another,. . 3. Four screw augers, to inch, for boring the trees,..

3

4. Ten buckets with covers, of three gallons each for collecting the sap, and yokes for carrying two between the shoulders,..

5. Sixteen hundred wooden troughs, of three gallons each, to receive the sap from the trees, three pence each,...

N. B. One man, acquainted with the business may cut down wood and make 20 troughs
in a day (or eight days work of ten men.)

6. Six wooden troughs, dug out from large timber, like a canoe, for holding the sap,.
In a new country, where cisterns cannot be had, such large troughs, made of well seasoned
timber, (of which there is vast abundance, of an uncommon size, wherever the
maple tree grows) answer the purpose very well. Upon the top of this cistern
there should be a linen strainer fixed, through which the sap brought in the
buckets should pass.

7. A shed and walls for the fire places, to be erected of stone or clay(of both which there
are plenty in the country) of sufficient length for the 16 boilers; which shed should
be covered so as to keep out the weather,.

Expence.

£16-0-0

1- 5-0 0-6-0

2-10-0

20-0-0

4-10-0

10-10-0

8. Sugar moulds may be made of seasoned boards, until earthen ones can be procured, 9. Pickers (so called by the sugar-bakers,) to run up the moulds, may be also made of hard-wood found in the country,.

1-10-0

0-9-0

These are the whole implements that are required for a sugar work in America, all which, it is to be observed, excepting the 16 kettles, the two iron ladles, and the four augers, are prepared by the workmen themselves, from the resources they find in the country. If, however, a large work were to be established, the expence would probably be less in proportion, than upon the scale of four men engaged in this pursuit.

SEASON FOR TAPPING.-By trials in February each year, it will be discovered when the maple-tree ought to be bored, for the purpose of extracting the syrup or sap; as in that month, sometimes earlier and sometimes later, it begins to yield a sufficient quantity for commencing business.

TAPPING OR BORING.-Four hundred trees, each tree bored with two holes on the south side, and also with two holes on the north side of the tree in the early part of the season, with screw-augers from half to one inch, according to the size of the tree. And towards the middle of the season a like number of trees to be bored in the same manner. This upon the scale of four hands; eight hundred trees in all, to be tapped.

The sap of the second tapping will be found richer and more productive than the first.

At first, the auger should go no deeper into the tree than of an inch, and to be deepened afterwards to the extent of two inches and a half, as the manner of the sap's running may render necessary.-The hole to be made in a slanting or descending position, that the sap may run freely in frosty weather.-In these holes there should be fixed spouts to project from the tree 12 inches, but not to enter the orifice more than half an inch. Elder wood spouts to be prepared in the season.

PRESERVING THE SAP OR SYRUP.-In the early part of the season, the sap will keep during frost, but as the spring advances it will be necessary to boil it the day after it is drawn from the tree, to prevent souring and fermentation.

Boiling the saP.-A smart fire should be kept up while the sap is boiling, and a table spoonful of slacked lime put into each 15 gallon kettle, while the sap is warming, and before it boils, to raise the scum, and give the sugar a grain.

When the scum rises, it should be skimmed off. When the liquor is reduced one half, discharge it into the one half of the kettles, continuing the process till the whole is placed in one kettle, filling up the empty ones as soon as possible with fresh sap.

When the liquor in the last or aggregate kettle becomes a syrup, it should be strained through a woolen cloth, before it becomes too thick.

When thus cleaned, it should stand in buckets or other proper vessels 12 hours, that the whole sediment may fall to the bottom, and the clarified syrup to be poured off into a kettle or boiler. The sediment to be boiled up again with fresh sap. In graining, cleaning, and whiteing the sugar, the method of the sugar-bakers to be used.

In graining the sugar, pour the syrup into a boiler after having stood 12 hours, and place it over a smart fire of charcoal, so as to prevent any flame, using butter or hog's lard to keep down the sap when it rises to the top. This should be carefully attended to when the sugar is graining.

The mature state of the boiling is known by taking a little of the syrup from the boiling stick, and trying if it ropes or draws into a thread between the finger and thumb; then it should be put into a tub or cooler, and stirred incessantly until the grain can be felt, when it is in a fit state to be poured into the moulds.

MOLASSES AND VINEGAR.-When the trees of the second tapping become poor, which may be about the 31st, of March, or perhaps not till the 10th of April, the number of fresh tapped trees will yield a sap, of which may be made good molasses, and excellent vinegar

Rum has also been made of an exceeding good quality from the rich sap.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

In maple plantations, it may be useful to cut down all other timber which grow intermixed with the sugar trees, and also those of that species which are not thriving.

It is not yet ascertained from experience, how long a tree may be tapped with success.-But there are instances among old settlers on the North river of trees being tapped for 50 years, and still continue to yield their sap in season, the same as new trees; and it is even asserted by persons of some experience, that these trees become more valuable, yielding a sap of a richer quality the more they are tapped.

How far a careful cultivation in plantations may still increase the quantity and enrich the juices. drawn from this valuable tree, remains to be ascertained by experiment.

The presumption, however, is in favour of still greater advantages from cultivation and art.