RURAL MAXUFACTURE.^ 301 



for can goods." The legislature of 1921 enacted what 

 is described as a "model canning law." 



In the pioneer period, when cider vinegar might 

 be out of the question, a domestic supply of beer and 

 vinegar was obtained from maple sap derived from 

 the flow at the close of the season, and which was 

 slightly boiled to establish the desired consistency. 

 With the apple orchard came the cider press and cus- 

 tom cider mills, where apple cider for beverage 

 purposes and for vinegar was produced to an extent 

 which, if undetermined, was, and still is, manifestly 

 very large. 



The Indians were the first sugar-makers in Michi- 

 gan. The source of supply was in both peninsulas, 

 and the product of the aborigines' unaccustomed in- 

 dustry, if not attractive to the white man's palate as 

 it came from the red-man's kettle, was not infre- 

 quently the only provision against starvation. It 

 featured rural manufacturing among the whites, as 

 among the Indians, everywhere in the State, and it 

 remains a considerable item in the agricultural out- 

 put even today. When the sap begins to rise in the 

 tree late in February or early in March, the farmer 

 relieves the tree of a portion of its supply by the 

 process of "tapping," whereby an incision is made 

 in the trunk bark not far above the ground, into 

 which a "spile" is inserted as a conduit to the bucket 

 beside the tree. In the pioneer period, the spile and 

 all accessories were of wood. A trough hollowed from 

 a log of ash or pine received the sap, conveyed 



