year would damage the first run of sap considerably. Utensils that 

 have become rusty should be discarded or painted. If painted on 

 the inside they should not be used before the following season because 

 freshly painted buckets have a strong tendency to taint the sap. 



Having distributed the buckets and spouts the tapping is begun. 

 In the early days it was the custom to tap with an axe, then came 

 the large auger which held sway for a long time as makers were slow 

 to find out that as much sap could be secured from a small as from 

 a large hole. Sap is forced out by internal pressure, and a very small 

 opening will relieve that pressure causing the sap to flow as rapidly 



Fig. 20. A JOY OF SPRING 



as from a larger hole. If the tree is tapped again on the opposite side 

 the pressure in another area is relieved and more sap is secured but 

 not twice as much, another tapping will give still more sap in the 

 aggregate and so on in a decreasing ratio. 



As a general rule a tree is tapped at only one point but it is not 

 uncommon for a large tree to carry two vessels or even three which 

 is quite exceptional and not recommended. 



Tapping is usually done with a three eighths, seven-sixteenths 

 or half inch bit. The hole is bored in a slightly upward direction about 

 1^ in. deep in a medium sized tree to 2 in. in a large one. The point 



