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Profits From the ''Sugar JBush*" 





As bi-proJucts from our uort.heru han.lwood forests, maple sugar 

 and syrup are coming into greater prominence in the efforts to utilize 

 to best commercial acjs'antage all of the available assets. For a long 

 time the industry has been generally considered as a woodlot proposi- 

 tion, but in portions of New York, New Hampshire and Vermont 

 the hard maples are frequently tapped before logging, even on some 

 of the large operations, in the same way that the southern longleaf 

 pine is being bled for turpentine 

 and rosin before being logged. 



The art of making maple 

 sugar was learned by the early 

 settlers from the Indians. This 

 was the only kind of sugar that 

 they had at that time, for cane 

 sugar was practically unobtain- 

 able by them. Vessels of clay 

 or liark were used to catch and 

 carry the syi'up in. The settlers 

 did not improve the old method 

 of obtaining sugar, merely sub 

 stituting iron or copper vessels 

 in which to handle the syrup. The 

 trees were tapped in the old In- 

 dian way, and the sap caught in 

 wooden troughs, usually hollowed 

 out parts of logs. The boiling 

 was invariably done in the o] en 

 woods, no protection being |)ro- 

 vided against snow and rain or 

 other inii)iirities. The fuel was .[.jjp; qld I'ltlMITIVK .\ND W 



near at hand, dead and down TAI 



timber being largely used. After the sap had been boiled down to 

 the consistency of thin syrup it was stored until enough was on hand 

 to "sugar off." The early product was dark in color and variable 

 in quality. At first not very much was made, but in the course of 

 time the industry assumed commercial importance in the northeastern 

 states. 



Maple sugar at first was an article of food; now it is a luxury. 



Pure maple sugar and syrup 

 are now very scarce articles on 

 the market and bring very high 

 prices. It has been estimated 

 that at least seven-eighths of 

 the maple sugar and sjTup sold 

 today are not genuine. There are 

 large concerns that buy up the 

 pure article, and use it to flavor 

 a body of glucose or cane sugar 

 from six to ten times as large as 

 the original maple sugar, and this 

 resulting mixture is then pnt 

 ujion the market as pure maple 

 sugar. An Indiana man has even 

 tjiken out a patent to protect 

 the process by which he makes 

 nmple syrup by flavoi-ing with an 

 extract of hickory bark. 



For these reasons the ma]>le 

 sugar producers do not like to 

 sell their products to these 

 .\STEFUI. MI:tii..i> of sr.;.\lt "mi.xors," as they are called, 



•riXG but prefer to sell the [Hire sugar 



<'nl,I.i:(TlN(; S.M' IN TlIK SUU.VK HLSII 



