THE COMPOSITION OF MAPLE SAP 



F. W. MORSE AND A. H. WOOD 



Note. Professor Wood resigned his position on the Station Staff, No- 

 vember I, 1S94. 



All work upon maple sap hitherto published, so far as the 

 writer is aware, is recorded in Bulletin 5, Division of Chemistry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. The results now 

 mentioned are in several cases closely accordant with those in 

 the work mentioned, and are of value on that account. 



In the sixth annual report of this station, a detailed descrip- 

 tion of these investigations has just been published, therefore in 

 this bulletin only the most noteworthy results will be given. 



The variation in percentage of sugar has been found to be 

 wide, and some trees have yielded sap which was hardly worth 

 evaporating. Trees with many branches, and exposed to the 

 full effect of the sun, have been found to give the richest saps, 

 and trees with small tops in a thick grove, or much shaded, 

 have given the poorest sap. The amount of sugar in the sap 

 has not depended upon variety of maple, since soft maples have 

 yielded both as high percentages of sugar, and as low as rock 

 maples. 



The sap toward the close of the season has shown neither as 

 much sugar, nor as much solids as at the beginning of the sea- 

 son. This change has not taken place at a uniform rate, but 

 instead there have been fluctuations up and down. 



VARIATION IN SAP FROM DIFFERENT TREES, MARCH 31, 1892. 



Description of Tree. Sa^ifchal-ose. 



A. Rock maple, with smaril top, in a grove-. 1 .30 



(S Rock maple, witti medium top, in a grove beside cart path... 2.30 



E. Rock maple, with large, wide top, surrounded by tall, youngj 



pines 2.80 



L. Rock maple, large pasture shade tree , 5.60 



F. Soft maple, with many small branches, in open ground 4.00 



G. Soft maple, with wide-spread top, surrounded by pines i 2.50 



