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late as the first week in April. The season lasts on an average about 

 four weeks. The longest run on record included forty-three days, 

 and the shortest eight days. 



PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS. 



Before the sugar season opens, the necessary stock of dry wood for 

 fuel should be provided. Professional sugar makers cut their wood 

 supply six months or more before it is needed, so that it will be well 

 seasoned. Seasoned wood is most conducive to efficient work, but, 

 in its absence, green wood can be used. Yellow birch, in particular, 

 makes a good fire, even when newly cut. The necessity for fuel 

 makes thinnings and improvement cuttings in the sugar grove practi- 

 cable (see pp. 16, 21). The utensils also should be made ready for 

 use. (For list and prices see p. 36.) Spouts, pails, gathering tank, 

 storage tank, and evaporating pans should be thoroughly cleansed by 

 scalding them with boiling water. Absolute cleanliness is the watch- 

 word of good sugar making. 



TAPPING THE TREES AND GATHERING THE SAP. 



Before tapping a tree, any loose bark which may fall into the sap 

 should be brushed away from the trunk. For this purpose an old stiff 

 broom or brush is useful. Select a spot on the sunny side of the tree if 

 possible, and, avoiding defects or old scars made by tapping, bore a 

 hole 1 inch in depth with a three-eighths or half-inch l}it. The hole 

 should be directed slightly upward to insure drainage. Trees under 

 12 inches in diameter at breastheight should not be tapped, and 

 except in the case of the largest and most productive maples there 

 should be but one spout to a tree. 



The spouts should be of metal, preferably of malleable iron and 

 heavily tinned (fig. 6, Nos. 8, 9, and 10). These are most lasting, but 

 tin ones can be obtained at a slightly smaller cost. Wooden spouts 

 are usually made of elder or sumach, out of which the pith has been 

 forced with a stick, or burned with a hot iron. When these are used, 

 a supply of them should be made before the sap season and stored in 

 a cool place, where they will not check or warp. 



Sap pails should be of tin or galvanized iron ; wooden ones are less 

 durable and harder to keep clean (fig. 6, .Nos. 2 and 4). If wood is 

 used, the pails should be enameled white on the outside, as a protec- 

 tion against heating by the sun. It is best to keep the pails covered, 

 for rain, snow^ or dirt will cause a deterioration of the sap and darken 

 the color of the sugar and sirup. If sugar making is undertaken on a 

 large scale, it is well to have the covers reversible, with one side 

 painted red and the other white (fig. 6, No. 6). By turning the red 

 side up when the pail is emptied the gatherer will know it does not 



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