MAPLE SYRUP AND SUGAR 377 



sanitary utensils and methods. The purest product secures the best 

 prices on the market so it is considered of the highest importance to 

 use the most sanitary methods in every respect. 



It must not be assumed from the foregoing that all our maple sugar 

 and syrup are made with the use of the evaporator and other up-to-date 

 methods. Only the larger commercial operations tapping from 50 or 

 100 up to several thousand trees every year can afford these improve- 

 ments. Both products are made on most of the farms in the Northeast 

 where sugar maples are available, but on many places only a compara- 



Phvtograph t>jt U. S. Forest Service. 



FIG. 99. The old-fashioned method of reducing the sap to syrup by " boiling down " in copper 

 kettles in the woods. The modern evaporator has replaced this method in large sugar 

 bushes because it is more efficient and sanitary. 



lively few trees are tapped and the syrup and sugar made in the home 

 kitchen and only for home use. 



In the early colonial days, maple sugar was made as an article of food. 

 With the advent of cane sugar, it ceased to be an important necessary 

 commodity on the markets and is now classed as a luxury. The demand 

 for both sugar and syrup as luxuries has kept the industry alive and it is 

 on the steady increase. However, in spite of the strong demand, the 

 production has remained about stationary for the past two decades or 

 more because of the large amount of adulteration. It is estimated that 

 approximately seven-eighths of the total product is adulterated before 

 it reaches the ultimate consumer. The increase in demand, therefore, 



