A Forest Prodact. 



By WILLIAM F. FOX. 



F 



'OREST products are not confined to building 

 material and fuel, but embrace others little 

 thought of in connection with our woodlands. 

 They include, for instance, the sheets from which we 

 read our daily news ; the foundation on which our 

 railroads are laid ; the tanning material necessary in 

 the manufacture of our shoes; the furniture in our 

 homes; the charcoal in our ranges ; and the maple 

 sugar and syrup which, as articles of food, are found 

 on every table in our State. 



The forests of our Northern State yields annually 

 over 50,000,000 pounds of sugar and 3,000,000 

 gallons of syrup ; or about seventeen per cent, of the 

 granulated sugar manufactured in the United States. 

 By far the greater part is produced in New England 

 and the Middle States, while a considerable amount 

 is also made in Ohio and Michigan. Vermont leads 

 in this industry, its total product last season amount- 

 ing to 14,123,921 pounds of sugar and 993,685 

 gallons of syrup. The industry, though wide-spread, 

 does not include the entire habitat of the maple 

 tree, there being certain climatic conditions which 

 tend to restrict the area in which this sugar can be manufactured. 



All our maples yield a sap rich in saccharine matter; but the manufacture of 

 sugar is confined principally to the species known as the hard, rock, or sugar maple 

 (Acer saccharimtm, Wang). Sugar can be made, and is made in some localities, from 

 both species of soft maple, the red maple (Acer rubrum) producing more than the 

 other. For our first knowledge of this product we are indebted to the North American 

 Indians, the same people who gave us corn and tobacco. From the records of the 

 earliest explorers on this continent it appears that the Indians tapped the maples, 

 gathered the sap in rude receptacles, and boiled it. The first white settlers used the 

 same methods, which substantially remain unchanged to-day. The only difference is 



in the improved utensils and greater cleanliness in connection with every detail of 



308 



FLAP-JACKS WITH MAPLE SUGAR. 



