FACTORS INFLUENCING QUALITY. 



99 



It is seen that over 70 per cent of the Canadian maple products 

 come from the Province of Quebec. The native forest of these 

 provinces of southern Canada is the hard maple, and this section, 

 which is probably the oldest in the production of maple products, 

 seems to have made fewer improvements than any other maple 

 region. The patent evaporator, however, is fast taking the place of 

 the iron kettle, and the metal bucket, both covered and uncovered, 

 is superseding the wooden firkin or hollowed log; yet in the northern 

 sections, where much maple sugar is produced, the very crude 

 apparatus of the Indians is still used. It is from these sections that 

 many of the dark-colored, strong-flavored products come, and they 

 are the result of crude methods and lack of care rather than of 

 environment or local conditions of soil and climate. Dark, strong 

 maple sirup is no more in demand in Canada than it is in the United 

 States. The price paid is based on color, appearance, etc., the 

 lighter grades obtaining the higher price. Only the mixers desire a 

 dark sirup. 



As the samples collected represent only the one province of Quebec, 

 comparison can only be made with the product of the United States 

 as a whole and with the adjacent region in the United States, namely, 

 Xew York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 



Average analyses of maple sirups of Canada, of the Northern States, and of the whole 



United States. 



In general the average figures for Canada are a little higher than 

 for the adjoining States but lower than the general average for the 

 United States. Considered individually the average color of Canadian 

 sirups is much darker than that of the United States or of the adjacent 

 States. As was before mentioned, this is probably due to the fact 

 that there has been more advance in the United States in cleanly 

 methods of handling and boiling sap. The climatic conditions and 

 the soil can not account for the production of dark sirups, for among 

 the Canadian samples are many sirups of as light a color as those of 

 the United States. The per cent of moisture in the three averages is 



