Canadian Forestry Journal, March, ig20 



107 



where the maple already exists in the 

 stand and natural reproduction can 

 be secured.' 



Let us examine this problem of a 

 maple orchard ideal in location, ar- 

 rangement and outfit for producing 

 maple sugar of the highest quality at 

 the lowest possible cost. To produce 

 an article economically is, of course, 

 to produce it in fairly large quanti- 

 ties. It is, therefore probably wise 

 to develop as large an area as pos- 

 sible in one sugar orchard. The chief 

 expense in administering a sugar 

 orchard is in gathering the sap from 

 tree to tree. The quickest and most 

 economical method of doing this is 

 by gravity through a system of pipe 

 lines. The orchard preferably should 

 be placed around a sloping hillside, 

 not too rough or steep for the neces- 

 sary road where teaming is needed, 

 and this entire slope should focus at 

 some point lower down, where the 

 sugar cabin and storage tanks should 

 be placed. 



It is not difl^icult to find in this 

 Province of Quebec many suitable 

 areas in which more than 30 or 40 

 acres of hillside are tributary to a 

 suitable point for a sugar cabin. If 

 we take, then, for illustration, a unit 

 of thirty acres, sloping preferably to 

 the east or southeast, we would in 

 time be able, by proper planting, to 

 vhae an orchard of 4,000 trees or 

 more, estimating 133 trees per acre. 

 This should mean 4,000 buckets, or, 

 perhaps more if some trees are large 

 enough to permit of more than one 

 bucket. If this area contains maple 

 trees already, it simplifies the under- 

 taking very much, as it will not be 

 necessary for the owner to wait 

 twenty-five years for the full matur- 

 ity of his orchard. If the other varie- 

 ties of wood are first cleared out, 

 and the vacant ])laces filled by plant- 

 ing young ma])les where necessary, 

 the orchard will go on imi)roving 

 year by year. 



In considering the economical ad- 

 ministration, small subsidiary cabins 

 should be built at convenient points 

 to allow for the storage of tanks, 

 covers, snouts and piping, each cabin 



Mr. C. E. E. USSHER 

 President of the Canadian Forestry Association. 



to contain from 500 to r,ooo buckets. 

 This facilitates tapping in the earlv 

 spring, when the snow is deep and 

 the transportation is diflficult. With 

 a system of two-inch galvanized 

 sheet iron pipe in ten ft. lengths, 

 Avhich can b eplaccd in position on a 

 series of posts, or suspended from a 

 line of barb wire, so as to be easily 

 taken up after the season is over and 

 stored in the cabin, all long hauling 

 of sap is obviated. The collector of 

 sap, with a neck yoke and two pails, 

 gathers the sap from tree to tree, and 

 empties it at pleasure into the near- 

 est pipe by means of a connecting 

 hopper. The sap flows direct to the 

 storage tank, and the collector wastes 

 no time in needless journeyings to 

 the storage tank. \\"\{\\ a c(->mplete 

 line of jiiping, it is no\or necessary 

 fiM- a collector to travel more than 

 a few yards before emptying his 

 load. A good man should be able 

 lo gather all the sap from 600 to 800 

 trees each day in this way. 



It is very important that the 

 evaporating outfit should be ample. 



