9 



cents a pound for sugar and 91 cents a gallon for sirup in 1903. 

 Meanwhile the census returns show that the actual production of 

 the groves has not increased since 1860. No other statement could 

 show more eloquently the position of the trade or make clearer the 

 fact that the grower has not profited by the development of maple 

 sirup into an article of luxury. The cheaper the price of cane sugar 

 the easier it is to adulterate the maple product. 



By 1875 cane sugar had become cheap enough to undersell the 

 maple, which it has now supplanted everywhere. Since 1885 maple 

 sugar has been an article of luxury only. In this capacity its 

 prospects are many times greater than under the old conditions; 

 yet the grower is likely to have little share in the benefits to be reaped 

 from this broadened field. 



NECESSITY FOE SUGAR MAKERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 



With a steadily growing demand for maple sirup, which to-day is 

 almost entirely supplied by the mixer, the producers of pure sirup can 

 hope to control the trade only through organization. The difference 

 between the pure and the adulterated product is so marked that 

 there would be little question as to choice, were the genuine article 

 known to the popular trade. A large number of the consumers 

 hardly know pure maple sirup when they taste it, and as so great a 

 part of that on the market is spurious they have little chance to 

 learn. Under such a condition the market can be gained for the pure 

 product only by means of united action. An example of such action 

 is the present Vermont Sugar Growers 7 Association. 



A similar situation has been successfully met, in the case of certain 

 other farm products, by organized cooperation of producers, some- 

 times aided by government action. Canadian dairy products, which 

 formerly had little sale in Great Britain, are now in good demand in 

 the English market. The Irish Agricultural Organization Society 

 has gone far toward bringing about an economic regeneration of the 

 island, and in Germany rural prosperity has been vastly increased 

 by the same methods. In all these cases the principal purposes 

 aimed at have been to improve the methods of production and 

 to furnish a guaranty of purity to consumers. 



In the case of maple-sugar producers the first necessity is a market 

 for high-grade, unadulterated sugar and sirup. This they should be 

 able to secure without much difficulty through responsible associa- 

 tion, which can guarantee the quality of all the product bearing its 

 name or stamp. Where desirable, the growers of a county or region 

 could unite in forming a stock company, thus securing capital for the 

 24151 No. 25206 2 



