HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



to customers directly. In order to protect themselves and the trade, 

 these growers have organized maple sugar makers associations. The 

 A'ermont Maple Sugar Association is an especially strong one. It 

 has done much to uphold the legitimate trade, its object being to 

 control the trade through or- 

 ganization. When maple sugar 

 is backed by one of these asso- 

 ciations the consumers can de- 

 pend upon its purity. 



The importance of the indus- 

 try is shown by the fact that an- 

 nually about 14,000,000 pounds 

 of maple sugar and about 4,000,- 

 000 gallons of syrup are pro- i| 

 duced. 



SUGAR MAPLES 



All of the maples have sweet 

 sap, but from only a few of them 

 has sugar been made in paying 

 quantities. The first place is held 

 by the true sugar maple (Acer 

 saccharum) and a variety of it 

 — the black maple (Acer sac- 

 charum nigruni), the red maple 

 {Acer minim), the silver maple 

 (Acer saccharinum), and the 

 Oregon maple (Acer macrophyl- 

 lum) are of less importance, and 

 the box elder (Acer negundo) 

 is the least important of all. 



The range of sugar maple 

 spreads over a wide area, but as 

 a tree for the production of sugar 

 it does best in the western New 

 England, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and the northern Appa- 

 lachians, the Ohio valley, the 

 Lake states, and the adjacent 

 parts in Canada. In its northern 

 home it is often the principal 

 forest tree, and forms from 

 twenty-five to seventy-five per 

 cent of the total stand. 



The black maple is found in 

 Vermont on the shores of Lake 

 Champlain, ranging southward, 

 west of the Alleghanies from 

 Minnesota to Arkansas and eastern Kansas. 



The red maple i? fnnnd alonsj the borders of streams and on low 



THE L.\TEST DEVKLOI'MENT IN 

 LINE lllKECT FK(IM THE 



swampy ground. Its range covers almost the entire eastern United 

 States. As a sugar producing tree it enters into consideration only 

 where the sugar maple is not plentiful. Prejudice has been developed 

 against this tree, because of the fact that its sap is often discolored. 



The silver maple ranges from 

 New Brunswick to western Flori- 

 da and west through southern On- 

 tario and Michigan to the eastern 

 Dakotas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 

 The sap of this tree is also liable 

 to discoloration, and its season 

 is also short and uncertain. 



The Oregon maple is the only 

 western producer of sugar. The 

 tree is found west of the Cas- 

 cades and the Sierras, from the 

 Canadian border to southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



SUGAR GROVES 



' ' The ideal sugar grove should 

 contain that number of trees 

 which win give a maximum yield 

 of sap per acre. ' ' It has been 

 observed that, an equal amount of 

 sunlight given, the sap and sugar 

 production are proportionate to 

 the leaf area of the trees. The 

 amount of leaf area is more im- 

 portant than the amount of light 

 tde tree gets. It is the leaves 

 that manufacture the starch that 

 is converted into sugar. It is 

 seen then that the point to be 

 observed in laying out a sugar 

 grove is in getting the number of 

 trees per acre consistent with the 

 greatest possible crown develop- 

 ment per tree. At the same time 

 the ground must be kept heavily 

 matted with leaves and humus. 

 The maple must be supplied with 

 plenty of moisture, hence the 

 ground must not be allowed to 

 become bare, with consequent 

 evaporation of the soil moisture. 



A peculiar climatic requirement 

 has caused the commercial pro- 



COLLE CTING THE SAP— A PIPE 

 TREE TO THE SUGAR HOUSE 



iluotion of sugar to be confined to a small part of the area of the 

 range of the maples.' It is the gradual northern spring, with the 



TYPICAL "SUGAR BUSH" WITH PAILS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF 

 THE TREES TO OBTAIN THE MAXIMUM YIELD OF SAP 



THE OLD METHOD OF "BOILING DOWN' THE SAP IN THE OPEN- 

 COPPER KETTLES 



