378 FOREST PRODUCTS 



results in the use of more adulterants so that the producers do not profit 

 from this strong demand. Organizations to combat this evil and to 

 place their product directly in the hands of the consumer, as well as to 

 standardize and advertise their product, have done much good work, 

 notably among them being the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Associa- 

 tion, organized in 1893. The growers, consequently, do not like to sell 

 their product to these " mixers," as they are called, and prefer to sell the 

 sugar and syrup direct. This results both in protecting the trade against 

 a spurious product and in bringing in more returns for their work. 



SPECIES OF MAPLES USED 



There are about 70 species of maples distributed over the world, of 

 which Sargent recognizes 13 species or varieties as growing in the United 

 States. The most important in the making of sugar and syrup is the 

 sugar maple (Acer saccharum) which also goes by the names of hard or 

 rock maple. Probably between 80 and 90 per cent of all the maple 

 sugar and syrup is made from this tree. All of the other native maples 

 yield a sweetish sap, but only a few of them are capable of producing 

 sugar on a commercial scale. 



Sugar Maple. 



The sugar maple is found throughout the eastern part of the United 

 States, but for the production of sugar and syrup it does best in western 

 New England, New York, Pennsylvania, the northern Appalachians, 

 northern Ohio and the Lake States. The southern varieties of sugar 

 maple, namely, A. jloridanum and A. leucoderme, do not yield sugar or 

 syrup. 



Throughout its northern habitat, the sugar maple is one of the most 

 prominent trees in the forest, growing in mixture particularly with yellow 

 birch and beech and on the higher elevations with spruce. It has a 

 very wide range of soil requirements and is found both on moist, well- 

 drained soils as well as on gravelly, dry hillsides. 



It is classed as a tolerant tree so that its crown is rather deep and 

 broad even when growing in close association with other trees or under 

 the shade of other dominant specimens. 



Sugar maple sometimes reaches a height of from 100 to 120 ft. although 

 it commonly grows to a height of from 60 to 80 ft. Its diameter averages 

 between 14 and 24 in. and it is said to occasionally reach 4 ft. in diameter. 

 It is a very slow growing tree and frequently reaches an age of between 

 three hundred and four hundred years. 



