44 THE PEODUCTJON OF MAPLE SIRUP AND SUGAR. 



scribable property of the sap which is lost when sugar is made and 

 redissolved. 

 A suitable paste for paper labels on tin cans is prepared from 



Silicate of soda v ounce. 



Cornstarch 1 ounce. 



Cold water _ l pints. 



Add the starch and silicate to the water and stir until the whole 

 is smooth, then place the vessel in another one containing a little 

 water and heat until the starch is gelatinized. This paste should be 

 made often, as it soon loses its sticking properties. 



PAINT. 



Any paint will serve for the outside of sap buckets, gathering pails, 

 and storage tanks. The ordinary red paint of an iron oxid base is 

 one in common use. It is often difficult to make paint stick to rnetal, 

 because of the grease on the surface, but this difficulty can be re- 

 moved by washing the meital surface with soap and water or a 

 little benzin and drying it before the paint is applied. Farmers' 

 Bulletin 474, on The Use of Paint on the Farm, gives details regard- 

 ing this and other paints and should be consulted. For the inside of 

 such apparatus, where the sap comes in contact, it is a questionable 

 procedure to use white-lead paints on account of the solubility of the 

 lead. Some form of enamel would be better, but the price may pro- 

 hibit its use. The iron paint already mentioned will serve admirably 

 for this purpose. 



Sap buckets should be painted in the summer or fall and then 

 thoroughly dried before being set away. Never paint just before 

 opening the camp, as metal buckets freshly painted inside have a 

 marked tendency to taint the sap. There is the same objection to 

 freshly painted wooden buckets, but in this case it will not last as 

 long. 



For the ironwork of the evaporator nothing better can be recom- 

 mended than an asphalt paint or the ordinary iron paint, which 

 should be applied after thorough scraping at the close of the season. 

 Its use will greatly lengthen the life of this apparatus. 



STATISTICS OF THE MAPLE SUGAR AND SIRUP INDUSTRY OF THE 



UNITED STATES. 



It is a rather difficult task to obtain figures for the actual amount 

 of maple products produced in the United States, first, because the 

 products are made in small quantities by many farmers, and. second, 

 because a large part of them does not reach the market, but is sold 

 to friends of makers. The census reports for the years 1850 to 1910 

 give figures for maple production, sugar only having been reported 

 in 1850, while in the other years sirup also was given. These have 

 been arranged in order of their importance in production first, 

 maple sirup; and, second, maple sugar, as reported by the 1910 

 census, in which year reports from 79,381 farms on maple sirup and 

 29,444 farms on maple sugar were received. 



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