THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 55 



wooden spout with a nail driven in the tree beneath it to hold 

 the bucket, but the nail will rust and contaminate the sap. 

 The holes are usually not more than two inches in depth as the 

 sap rises inside the bark through the outer ducts. If not more 

 than one or two shallow holes are made each year the trees 

 do not seem to be seriously damaged. Prof. C. S. Sargent 

 mentions in his "Sylva of North America" a tree which was 

 known to have yielded sugar every year for a century. 



The season for maple sugar gathering varies with the 

 weather. It starts when the sap commences to run in spring, 

 and, while the season in the "sugar bush" lasts about four 

 weeks, there are usually only from ten to fourteen good sap 

 days. The best weather is when the temperature falls to about 

 fifteen degrees at night and rises to fifty during - the day. 

 Bright, warm, still days and frosty nights induce the largest 

 Mow of sap. 



Trees differ greatly in the amount of sap produced. In 

 favorable weather an average tree will yield two to three gal- 

 lons in twenty- four hours and during a g"ood season give about 

 twenty-five gallons of sap. It is stated that trees standing on 

 hig'h ground, on uneven rocky land or .on hillsides are the best 

 producers. The sap from different trees varies in quality and 

 quantity and contains on the average 3% °f sugar. Four 

 gallons of sap are required to produce a pound of sugar and 

 thirty-five gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup. 



In large camps the old method of bringing in the sap in 

 buckets, evaporating the surplus water in a large kettle hung 

 over a wood fire in the open, has been greatly improved. 

 Metal pails with covers are now made which are hung on 

 metallic spouts. A sleigh on which is a large tub lined with 

 white metal goes from tree to tree and the buckets are emptied 

 and replaced. At the sugar house there is a large tank with 

 a strainer into which the sap is dumped. The evaporator pans 

 in which the sap is now placed are six inches deep, thirty to 



