THE PRODUCTION OF MAPLE SIRUP AND SUGAR. 9 



THE SILVER MAPLE. 



The silver maple ranges from New BrunswirK to western Florida, 

 ;ui(l Avest through southern Ontario and Michigan to eastern North 

 and South Dakota, Kansas, and Indian Territory. In the North it 

 appears in mixture with the sugar maple, but in general prefers 

 lower altitudes and moister soils. It reaches its greatest perfection 

 in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, where it is one of the 

 characteristic trees on the lowlands of these rivers and their tribu- 

 taries. The flow of sap is plentiful and sweet, but, like that of the 

 red maple, liable to discoloration, and the season is short and uncer- 

 tain. It is, like the red maple, only to be considered as a sugar tree 

 outside the region where the sugar maple is a dominant snecies. 



THE OREGON MAPLE. 



The Oregon maple is the only western species which can be con- 

 sidered as a producer of sugar. In localities where the season is fav- 

 orable the sap is of good quality and the flow considerable. The 

 tree is found west of the jfcascades and Sierra Nevada, from the 

 Canadian border to southern California. It prefers rich, moist soil, 

 and reaches its best development in the river bottoms of Washington 

 and Oregon. The census of 1910 reports a very small production 

 (10 gallons of sirup) from Columbia County, Wash. 



SUGAR GROVES. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



The ideal sugar grove should contain that number of trees which 

 will give a maximum yield of sap per acre; whence it follows that 

 the formation of a grove must consider the yield per given area 

 rather than the yield per tree. To determine the exact number of 

 trees that should occupy- an area would take many years of experi- 

 ment, but directly and indirectly there has been much information 

 collected on the subject of sap production through a study of indi- 

 vidual trees, and from this a number of safe deductions can be made. 

 An equal amount of sunlight being given, the sap and sugar produc- 

 tion is proportionate to the leaf area of the tree. This statement is 

 corroborated in a bulletin of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, 1 where it is also asserted that the sugar production of the 

 tree depends more on the actual leaf area than on the amount of 

 light which it receives. In other words, if a small-crowned mature 

 tree be set free to light on all sides, the sap production will be stimu- 

 lated only to a very slight extent. From this it follows that the 

 number of trees per acre must be consistent with the greatest possible 

 crown development of each tree in the grove. At the same time 

 it is not to be forgotten that the maple is inherently a forest spe- 

 cies. The large crown of foliage has an extensive leaf area for 

 evaporation, and demands a protected soil which can keep it well 

 supplied with water. Such soil is best found in the forest, where 



1 Vermont Agr. Exper. Sta. Bui. 103, December, 1903, pp. 117, 118. 

 60157 Bull. 51612 2 



