o02 AT AM/- MICH 1(1 AN 



thither in a pair of wooden pails borne suspended 

 from a sort of neck-yoke surmounting the stalwart 

 shoulders of the workers. Boiling in kettles of iron 

 or brass reduced the watery sap of a delicate sweet- 

 ness to the delicious amber liquid sirup and, ulti- 

 mately if sufficiently prolonged, to the equally deli- 

 cious maple sugar, suited to the taste of the most 

 exacting epicure. Primitive methods have yielded 

 to more elaborate processes, in which implements of 

 metal have replaced those of wood. Sugar-making 

 time, coming at a season when other labors of the 

 farmer are less exacting than usual, remains one 

 of the few high spots in the rural calendar. The 

 Thirteenth United States Census listed fifteen coun- 

 ties as contributing to Michigan's output of maple 

 sirup, or 209.093 gallons in 1909, the lead being held 

 by the counties of Eaton (2(;,r)96 gallons), Hills- 

 dale (23,041 gallons). Ionia (12,005 gallons), 

 Genesee (10,625 gallons), and Ingham (10,428 

 gallons). Eeturns were entered from northern coun- 

 ties, such as Grand Traverse and Crawford in the 

 Lower Peninsida, and from Delta, Iron and Dickin- 

 son in the Upper Peninsula. Of maple sugar, the 

 -output stood at 293,301 pounds. The same number 

 of counties gave this total, with Eaton again in the 

 leading position with 90,511 pounds.^ Ten years 

 later the Michigan Cooperative Crop Pcporting Serv- 

 ice found the production of maple sirup to be 190,200 

 gallons, the output of 848,000 trees, and the produc- 



^ Thirteenth Census of the U. S., "Abstract with Sup- 

 plement for Mich.," 660. 



