234 The Farm Woodlot 



show little or no effect from this slight injury. Usually 

 the holes heal over in one or two seasons. 



Notes on maple sugar making 



Ice found in the buckets on frosty mornings should be thrown 

 out, if it is floating. If the whole mass is frozen, it should be 

 collected. 



One gallon (eleven pounds) of standard sirup will produce 

 from six and one-half to eight pounds of sugar. 



One hundred trees in a favorable season should yield forty 

 gallons of sirup of three hundred pounds of sugar. 



One tree will yield from one to seven pounds of sugar a season 

 or from one pint to one gallon of sirup. 



Wash the spouts or spiles with boiling water and when dry 

 store away for next season. 



Trees in the open give more and richer sap than those farther 

 back in the bush, crowded and shaded, because of greater leaf 

 expansion and sun exposure. 



No more sugar is yielded by tapping on the "branchy" side 

 of a tree than that relatively devoid of branches. 



Without exception more sap and sugar is obtained from the 

 outer 1.5 inches than from tissues deeper in the holes. Four- 

 fifths of the sugar yielded from a tap-hole six inches deep came 

 from the first or outer three inches of wood tissue. The remain- 

 ing fifth would not compensate for the extra labor of boring and 

 increased injury to the tree. 



The sap obtained from the customary tapping height (four feet) 

 was found to be greater in quantity and better in quality than that 

 from the root (at ground level) or higher on the tree (fourteen feet). 



The larger the tap-hole the more isap and sugar, for a time at 

 least. It is undesirable, however, so to wound the tree that 

 the hole will not soon heal over. A f-inch to f sharp bit is 

 recommended for tapping. 



The spout should not obstruct the wood tissues of the tree, 

 should securely hold the pail and should be easily inserted and 

 removed. 



