James Fenimore Cooper's Frontier: The Pioneers as History

 [Part Two: March - July Vignettes of Village Life] 

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70 

Chapter 20:

 [Maple Sugaring] At the end of March Richard Jones proposes to Elizabeth, Louisa 

Grant, Oliver Edwards, Judge Temple, and Monsieur Le Quoi, that they ride to visit a sugar bush 

where Billy Kirby is making maple sugar, and then go on to see a view of the Lake. There is still 

snow on the ground, and the riding is rough. Judge Temple argues the need to protect sugar 

maples, and claims that maple sugar can be refined as white as the cane sugar produced in 

Monsieur Le Quoi's West Indies. They find Kirby boiling sap and singing a sugaring song to the 

tune of Yankee Doodle. Details of sugaring described. Kirby tricks Monsieur Le Quoi into 

drinking boiling sap. Judge Temple bemoans Kirby's harmful methods of tapping trees, and 

foresees a loss of ancient forests that no one will live to see replaced. Kirby wonders how anyone 

can like a tree, though he understands that rich men in Europe treasure them. The Judge retorts 

that he wants to conserve trees for their economic utility, rather than as ornaments; soon there 

will be laws to protect both trees and game. The party continues on its way.