6 



FIG. 4. Cup and gutters properly placed. 



the "scrape" from it, the pressure of the dip knife being almost in 

 line with the direction of the cut. A gutter inserted carefully into a 

 properly made incision will never fall out (fig. 5, A). 



Nails. Two mistakes are frequently made in driving the nail on 

 which the cup hangs. First, the nail is driven horizontally. In the 



latter part of the season, when hard- 

 ened resin collects under the head 

 of the nail, a cup hung on it will 

 easily drop off. The head of the 

 nail should have a steep slant up- 

 ward. A cup hung on a nail so 

 driven fits snugly between the nail 

 and the tree, is secure, and can not 

 swing away from the spout of the 

 lower gutter, though it may be 

 easily removed by the dipper. Sec- 

 ond, the nail is often driven into the 

 tree above the lower end of the lower 

 gutter. A cup hung on such a nail 

 is never vertical, and its capacity 

 is therefore diminished. Further, 

 when a cup so hung fills with water 

 or resin the increased weight tends 

 to bring it to a vertical position, thereby pressing on the lower gutter 

 and causing the latter to be prized out of the incision. The nail 

 should always be driven into the tree at a point slightly lower than 

 the lower end of the lower gutter (fig. 4). 



Cups. Experience has demonstrated that the cups will be broken 

 if water is frozen in them. During the winter, therefore, when the 

 cups are not in use, they should be re- 

 moved from the nails and inverted at 

 the base of the trees, so that water can 

 not collect in them. 



FIXING LOOSENED GUTTERS. 



Jn case a gutter is displaced dur- 

 ing the chipping season, the accident 

 can be easily repaired by reinsert- 

 ing it in the old incision and driv- 

 ing two nails into the tree flush with 

 the bottom of the gutter one nail 

 near the center of the face and the other near the upper end of the 

 gutter. Supported by these two nails a gutter will stand the scraping 

 of the dip knife without slipping. The gutter and both nails can 

 readily be drawn from the tree at the end of the season. 



FIG. 5. Position of gutters on the face. 

 A, correct; B, incorrect. 



