Looking at the mountains of oak logs, Marlin was half happy, while the other half was sore...
Why is it so painful? Logically speaking, so much wood should be able to explode many warships. But the problem is that except for wood, Marin lacks other resources...
Shipbuilding is not just wood, but also requires nails, dry oil and paint (both form a waterproof coating). Moreover, because iron nails are not good for soaking in the sea for a long time. Because iron nails are easily corroded by sea water. Therefore, it is best to use copper nails. For dry oil, there is no tung tung oil in Europe, and linseed oil is generally used. Sometimes olive oil is also used, but it needs to be mixed with paint. Because olive oil is a non-dry oil and has poor waterproof performance. Therefore, it needs to be used with paint.
However, the production of flax oil is too small. Moreover, flax oil is still edible. Therefore, its price is naturally high. It is really expensive to use for shipbuilding.
There is no need to talk about copper nails. The price comparison between silver and copper in Europe is 1 to 15. 15 copper nails are equivalent to silver nails made of silver, which shows the cost...
Paint, Europe does not have sumac, paint is carefully prepared from minerals and animal products, and it is very expensive...
So, even if Marin has more wood, not enough copper nails, dry oil and paint, it will be useless. Moreover, Marin does not have too many shipbuilders in his hands now, and it will be tears if he says too much...
...
After seeing the reserved wood, Marin felt hungry, so he took his hands to a barbecue in the wild. The barbecue ingredients were made locally - a guard took off his armor, and at the speed of Liu Xiang and Bolt, he caught a sheep on the grass, and slaughtered and divided it directly on the spot, and then put it on the grill to roast...
What? You say you steal the sheep from the people? Joke, the entire Cape Breton Island belongs to Marin, and killing a sheep requires nonsense? Of course, Marin is a person of particularity. Although legally speaking, he just asked someone to kill a sheep, in order to show that he was very reasonable, Marin still asked someone to find a shepherd and reward the shepherd with a small silver coin for the shepherd as a reward. In fact, this sheep is not worth a small silver coin (the Finney silver coin with 50% silver), but Marin draws the only one who is happy, so it doesn't matter if he gives more. Of course, this farm belongs to Marin's manor, and Marincoln gives money, but he just doesn't want to break the rules. Before the shepherd leaves, Marin reminds him to take the money worth a sheep to the manor to report the bill, and the rest is rewarded to him...
The shepherd left with great gratitude, while Marin and his guards focused on roasting the whole sheep...
The wood was also taken locally, but this Marin did not pay. Why? In North America, sheep are important property, but wood is not. Because, on Cape Breton Island, except for oak being classified, the rest of the wood is thrown everywhere. Except for the non-oak wood that affects farming, the rest of the wood is thrown away. Whoever lacks firewood, picks it up everywhere...
The fat sheep kept turning on the grill, and Garland, the governor, personally added firewood beside him. His firewood was chopped out by the fierce men who served as guards on the side.
Smelling the smoke of firewood, Marin suddenly felt something was wrong - why did she still have a faint caramel smell?
Suddenly, Marin suddenly realized - he finally remembered what this was...
This kind of wood is actually called sugar maple, also known as sugar maple. Anyone who has read books in later generations knows that the symbol on the Canadian flag is maple leaves. The red maple leaves on the Canadian flag are actually also called sugar maple leaves.
Sugar maple is a tall tree native to high-latitude areas in North America. Its leaves will turn red in autumn, just like the Canadian flag in later generations. Of course, what is most distinctive is that his trunks can flow out a sweet sap. This sap, slowly heated and concentrated on low heat, will get natural maple syrup, a kind of malt sugar with woody aroma and caramel flavor.
Marin read a report in his previous life that maple syrup is not as sweet as sucrose, but has much lower calories than sucrose. Moreover, it is rich in calcium, magnesium and various organic acids, which can supplement the weak constitution with unbalanced nutrition.
It is said that in winter, Indians in North America could only hunt and eat meat, lacking vitamins and various minerals, causing many people to die of illness. Winter in Canada is already very cold. If the winter lacks nutrition, causing the body to get sick and it is easy to die in winter.
Later, around 1600, Canadian Indians accidentally discovered that they could drill holes from sugar maples to make them flow out of a sweet sap. Drinking this sap is not only sweet, but also good for the body. Later, European colonists once called maple syrup "Indian syrup"...
Of course, this is something that has not happened yet. Now, only 1507, the Indians obviously have not discovered maple syrup. After all, that was around 1600 years.
Moreover, Marin remembers that the extraction requirements for maple syrup are also relatively high - he needs to be in spring and has strict requirements on temperatures. It is very simple to extract maple syrup, which is 15 years old and drill a small hole in a sugar maple tree, then put a tube on it, and wait for the sap to flow out slowly.
Generally, a tree can collect about 100 kilograms of sap once a year. Then, after concentration and processing, two or three kilograms of maple saccharine can be processed. The processed maple saccharine is somewhat similar to rosin. The lighter the color, the higher the level...
However, although it is spring, the weather required to collect maple syrup is also very strict. An article in Marin's previous life said that the season for collecting maple syrup is in the middle and early spring in Canada. The temperature requirement is - the temperature at night should not exceed 0 degrees Celsius, and during the day it should be above 5 degrees Celsius...
It is said that sugar maple accumulates a large amount of starch in the trunk in spring, summer and autumn. Then, during the long winter, starch in the trunk is mostly converted into maple syrup...
In spring, when the temperature begins to rise, these maple syrups will be slowly absorbed by the sugar maple trees and converted into energy. Therefore, in early spring, maple sap must be collected at the latest in mid-spring. Otherwise, the sugar maple itself will absorb the maple syrups. Moreover, in order not to let the sugar maple trees die, it is best to just make a small hole in the trunk. You can't drill too many holes, otherwise the tree will die...
Marin thought, it was April. It was logical that it was mid-spring. However, Cape Breton Island belonged to Canada in later generations, with a higher latitude and spring came relatively late. Last night, he felt that the temperature was around 0 degrees, but during the day, it looked like 10 degrees. It was indeed a good time to collect maple syrup...
So, after eating the whole roasted lamb, Marin didn't bother to continue inspection, but went back to find tools. After finding the chisel, leather tube and wooden barrel for the tree hole, Marin greeted Garland:
"Let's go, let's collect honey!"
Garland's face was full of inexplicable-what? The young master said to collect honey? But we are not bees...
With a question mark on his head, Marin found that under the leadership of a carpenter, he walked to a red-leaf tree (Garland didn't know what it was called a sugar maple tree, but only knew that the tree had red autumn leaves) and directly drilled a hole. Then, he guided it with a leather tube to let the sap slowly flow into the barrel...
Then, Marin was not satisfied with the slow flow rate. So he went back to find a batch of tools to dig holes in the trunks of multiple sugar maple trees on the island to collect the sap...
The next day, Marin had collected about two hundred kilograms of sap. Then, he found a pot, heated it on low heat, and began to purify the sap...
After purification, Marin obtained a thick natural amber syrup in about 5 kg...
"Come on, everyone will try..."
"%￥#@%#￥%..." After drinking maple syrup, everyone was shocked, and many people even had indescribable expressions on their faces...
"This... is this honey?" Garland was shocked... He couldn't figure it out. Marin could make a hole in the tree and could make sweet juice similar to honey. It was so amazing...
"It's not honey, it's just maple syrup. On average, each sugar maple tree of full age can collect 100 kilograms of sap every year, and can boil two or three kilograms of maple syrup..."
Garland's mouth suddenly grew up:
"There are the most common trees here, which are much more than oak trees. If each tree collects two or three kilograms of maple syrup, how much sugar will it take?"
You know, in this era, sugar was a scarce resource in Europe, and was sold in pharmacies. And on Cape Breton Island, sugar maples were everywhere, and Garland had already seen rolling gold coins hit him...
Marin nodded and said:
"From now on, stop cutting down sugar maples unless necessary. Also, you must collect maple syrup as soon as possible. I guess there is not much time to collect maple syrup. You must collect enough maple syrup within half a month. Otherwise, after the season, you will not be able to collect..."
"Ah? There is such a thing?" Garland suddenly panicked.
"Nonsense, this kind of sugar juice can only be collected in early spring. The requirement is that the temperature at night should not exceed 0 degrees and above 5 degrees during the day... By the way, do you have a mercury thermometer invented by Da Vinci? You can use it as a reference..."
"Yes, I get it. I'll arrange to prepare enough tubes and buckets to try to collect enough sugar juice!"
"Well, remember, a tree can only be dug one hole, don't dig it too big. Otherwise, the tree will die..."
"Ah? We extracted sugar juice, and the tree can survive?" Garland was a little shocked. In his opinion, 100 kilograms of sap flowed out of the tree, so how could the tree have a reason to live?
"Nonsense, those trees are old trees over 40 years old, so tall and thick. What's the point of 100 kilograms of sap per tree? Remember, don't kill the tree! After the sap, you must do some treatment for the trunk to recover. Otherwise, you won't be able to get maple syrup out the next year! Also, find a few craftsmen to study how to turn syrup into solid maple syrup. Put the solid maple syrup into an oil paper bag and seal it for me to buy it back in Europe!"
Chapter completed!