MARKETING 



Maple syrup and sugar can hardly be considered at the present 

 day as products of general commerce as are white sugar, tea, flour, 

 or the like, which enter into the regular household economy of the 

 average family. Indeed it is safe to infer that thousands of Canadian 

 families know nothing of these products although some of them may have 

 bought for the first and last time a compound or a flavoured sugar 

 bearing a name or design suggestive of the Canadian emblem . Genuine 

 maple products of fine quality have entered the class of luxuries that 

 are called for more and more as people become better off. Because 

 maple sugar possesses a distinctively delicious flavor and is therefore 

 in more or less demand, more particularly during the spring months, 

 the candy maker has sought in various ways to produce from cheap 

 sugars compounds to take its place. Such mixtures are usually com- 

 posed of cane sugar and glucose to which has been added a greater 

 or less quantity of strong flavoured, low grade maple sugar or, worse 

 than that, an extract made from coal tar or other substances designed 

 to impart a " maple" flavour. These substances unfortunately not 

 only supplant the genuine maple goods but they do not for long satisfy 

 the palate and when taken for the sugar they seek to imitate, tend 

 to drive away a customer from the genuine goods. In this way 

 imitation sugars are more injurious to the industry than maple sugar 

 of poor quality which can always be sold to the confectioner at a price 

 that appears to satisfy the indifferent maker. Indeed it is a remark- 

 able fact that even the better class of grocery stores are able to handle 

 considerable quantities of very indifferent sugar. So long as it is 

 genuine, people will use more or less of it as an annual treat. All 

 purchasers are not satisfied with a dark, strong sugar, but want a better 

 grade which can always be depended on to bring a higher price. Oc- 

 casionally the very best grocery stores display really first-class maple 

 products to supply discriminating customers who are willing to pay 

 the extra price which is always demanded for them. 



It is not through the regular commercial channels that the first 

 grades of maple sugar command the highest prices. The private 

 customer is the best outlet for the superior article of which the 

 wide-awake maker seldom has enough to go round. 



After one has taken the pains to make a first-class product, it 

 is worth his while to seek out the best paying customers. A thousand- 

 tree maker in Compton County, Quebec, who covers his buckets and 

 takes every other reasonable precaution to make fine goods, sells 



