THE SUGAR FARM 



THE GROVE. 



On many farms the sugar bush is simply the wood lot that has 

 been preserved to supply fuel for the household, to afford a bit of 

 beauty and shelter in the midst of a wind swept country and to pro- 

 vide an annual crop of sugar and syrup to be used as a delicacy or 



Fig. 6. SECTION OF AN EASTERN TOWNSHIPS SUGAR BUSH 



Note the covered buckets and freedom from obstructions to sap gatherers 



sold to regular customers at a high price. Such bushes usually contain 

 trees of several varieties, but the maples are the last to be taken. These 

 are usually to be found on high priced farming land where as a rule 

 one is apt to grudge the land occupied by the trees which in many 

 cases would scarcely be saved were it not for the annual spring harvest. 

 It is not from these small mixed groves that the great market- 

 able supply is secured but rather from the more rugged areas where 

 the plow and the harvester are not so easily operated. The groves 

 as found in the principal sugar counties are chiefly maple trees, the 

 other kinds having been removed for fuel or the saw. This is the con- 



