126 LUTHER BURBANK 



say that many people who suppose themselves 

 familiar with this product know it only in 

 a diluted and adulterated form in which 

 only a suggestion remains of the real maple 

 quality. 



Nor does there seem to be much prospect of 

 improvement in this regard, for the maple tree 

 is seldom or never cultivated for the garnering 

 of its unique crop. The relatively small quantity 

 of maple sugar that finds its way to the market 

 is the product of trees that chanced to grow in 

 the woodland and they are reserved not so much 

 as sugar producers but as ultimate material for 

 lumber. Yet maple sugar is a sweet of acknowl- 

 edged quality, and one that deserves a larger 

 measure of recognition as a commercial product 

 than has hitherto been given it. 



Possibly the time may come when maple trees 

 will be cultivated for the production of sugar. 

 But it is hardly likely that such cultivation of 

 the maple can ever constitute a significant in- 

 dustry, because the product of a single tree is 

 relatively insignificant. 



It is only the fact that the sugar maple has 

 wood of such quality of fiber as to make it valu- 

 able for the cabinetmaker that could justify 

 the cultivation of these trees as a commercial 

 enterprise. 



