SUGAR FARMING 153 



The stalks are cut about six inches above the ground. 

 The seed tops are cut off and saved for forage. The canes 

 are run through a roller crusher to extract the juice, which 

 is treated much the same as the juice from sugar cane in 

 the process of its manufacture. 



5. Producing Maple Sugar 



The United States and Canada are the only regions 

 where maple sugar is made. The American Indians un- 

 derstood the art of making sugar from maple trees before 

 the earliest explorers reached this continent. 



The sugar maple region. While all maple trees 

 have sweet sap, only a few varieties produce sugar in pay- 

 ing quantities. The sugar maple stands first and the black 

 maple second in importance. The red maple, silver maple 

 and Oregon maple produce sugar sap, but hardly in paying 

 quantities. 



The sugar maple is spread over a wide area, but occurs 

 in large enough quantities for commercial sugar produc- 

 tion only in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, the 

 states of the Ohio Valley and around the Great Lakes. 



Tapping the trees. Tapping should be done as early 

 in the season as the run of sap begins. Not only does this 

 insure a larger quantity of sap, but the first runs are the 

 sweetest. The time of tapping varies with the season and 

 locality, usually from late in February till the middle of 

 March. 



The hole bored in the tree should be from ^ to ^ 

 inch in diameter, and from \y 2 to 2 inches deep. It should 

 slant slightly upward into the tree so that the sap will 

 easily drain out. As a rule only one tap to the tree should 

 be made. Spouts, preferably of metal, are fitted into the 

 holes, and buckets hung from the spouts to collect the sap. 



