SECRETARY'S REPORT 191 



Y. — Maple Sugar. 



The sugar maple (acej' saccharinum) is one of the most interest- 

 ing and useful of our native forest trees. There are enumerated, 

 by botanists, thirty-four species of the genus acer ; nine of which 

 belong to America, twelve to Europe, six of extreme loveliness to 

 Japan, and the rest to various parts of Asia. Prof Gray has 

 proved that Linnaeus established the A saccharinum upon a speci- 

 men of the white maple, {A dasycarpum,) but as it was done under 

 a mistake of its character, the right name has been used by all 

 succeeding botanical writers. 



In Somerset county the sugar maple abounds, and in situations 

 where the soil is of good quality, attains a large growth. The 

 manufacture of sugar and molasses from the sap of this tree, has 

 become an item of considerable account in the statistics of the 

 county, and it is also one of the most valuable staples produced. 

 By the census of 1850, the value of the molasses and sugar made 

 in the county was $1,493.75 ; since that time it has more than 

 doubled. 



The process of obtaining the sap and making it into sugar and 

 molasses, is very simple and needs but a brief description. The 

 tree is tapped with an auger three-fourths of an inch in diameter, 

 into which a spout a foot in length is placed to conduct the sap 

 into a vessel placed to receive it. These were formerly troughs 

 dug out of some soft wood, such as fir or bass, each of which 

 would contain from one to two pails of sap ; but recently the 

 business has so much increased that unpainted cedar buckets made 

 especiall}- fur the purpose, are used in most cases. They hold 

 twelve quarts, are obtained for a shilling each, by the quantity, 

 and will last many years. In some cases, tin vessels are used to 

 catch the sap, and are considered better than wooden buckets for 

 this purpose, because they are more easily cleaned. 



The sap is collected from the trees once a day, usually in the 

 morning, when it is immediately strained into the boilers. When 

 boiling down, one boiler is filled from the other, and this again 

 supplied from the store tubs. The sap is boiled as fast as possible, 

 for the sooner it is boiled after being collected, the whiter and 

 nicer the sugar will be. Farmers who make an extensive business 

 of sugar-making during the sap season, have a rude camp erected 

 in the grove, where the sap is boiled down, and where all the tools 

 used in the business are kept ; but producers upon a small scale 

 perform this part of the work at their own houses. 



