304 RURAL MICHIGAN 



tion effected an arrangement with the Michigan 

 State Farm Bureau for the marketing of its sirup 

 through the Bureau's forestry department. It was 

 further contemplated to establish a central cannery 

 and blending plant to handle the output of members. 

 The association emphasized the unusually excellent 

 flavor of maple sirup produced in Michigan in rela- 

 tion to the marketing of the State's product^ and of 

 the necessity of reopening and maintaining unim- 

 paired groves of sugar maple trees as a means of per- 

 petuating the industry. In March, 1921, there were 

 some fifty active members of this association under 

 agreement to furnish the selling agency with two 

 thousand gallons of their product. It is required 

 of members that one-third of their product of aver- 

 age grade must be sold through the association. The 

 association recognizes three grades of sirup as mar- 

 ketable through its organization. The membership 

 is largely in the south central counties with the sec- 

 retaryship at Charlotte, Eaton County, in the heart 

 of the commercial sirup-producing district. As the 

 governing body of the ]\Iichigan Maple Syrup Pro- 

 ducers Association, the membership elects a board of 

 seven directors, who select the executive officials. 



It has been many years since the pioneer women of 

 Michigan of necessity spun and wove the material 

 for their own cloth, and the spinning-wheel is now 

 preserved in museums as a relic. Nevertheless, even 

 now among certain elements in the State, this primi- 

 tive method of obtaining socks and mittens from 



