N. Y. Maple Producers’ Plan to Co-operate 
Part I. 
T iie romance of farm sweets 
a romance about making maple 
tends to thrill both producer and consumer. Years 
after cane sugar had ceased to he a luxury, in fact, 
when it. could he bought 20 lbs. for $1, men continued 
to work long hours in the snow and slush over a 
smoky kettle in order to produce the good old- 
fashioned sweet. Boys who had left the farm to 
enter more lucrative work in the city found their 
thoughts turning back in the early Sprin, 
ping time, and sugaring-off parties. The thought of 
pancakes with maple syrup (spiced with that splen¬ 
did appetite which they had long since lost) made 
them almost feel that maple syrup is that elixir of 
life, the having of which might unite them with their 
long-lost youth. 
THE PASSING OF THE INDUSTRY.—Those 
who could, bought it direct from the 
farm; tiiose who couldn't, with sonic r inm(iuj 
misgivings as to its real source, bought 
it from the store. For this latter the 
farmer received anywhere from Dll per 
cent to 12% per cent of the retail price. gfaHjlB 
depending upon the number of middle- 
men who handled it before its arrival 
on the table of Mr. Ultimate Consumer. 
A few farmers gave thought to this 
state of affairs. Some'of them decided 
that the price offered by the wholesale ijLtjraSH 
buyers was not sufficient to return hired 
man’s wages, together with a return 
of the interest and taxes expended. , —« 
When the mills came into that section 
they gladly sold their sugar bushes. 
that the trees might he manufactured 
into shoe lasts, mangle rolls, flooring 
or furniture. The evaporator met the 
same fate as the mower or the plow—it 
rusted away in the open. And the farm 
lost an important source of income. 
PRIVATE SALES.—A few maple 
syrup makers scurried around and 
found private customers who were will- - 
ing to pay prices commensurate with 
those which they would have paid in 
the city stores. The rest of them were 
carried away by the romance of mak¬ 
ing maple syrup, regardless of the price 
or the prospects of price. Any at- 
tempt to think the matter through was 
always ended with the fact that maple 
syrup or sugar can be made when there 
isn’t anything else to do on the farm. 
So a large majority of the maple pro¬ 
ducers continued to tap their trees and 
■There is her shortage makes the ready cash of maple logs 
syrup which look better to many than the periodic and uncertain 
income from boiling maple sap. Is one to be con¬ 
demned for killing the goose if the eggs cost more 
to produce than the average market will offer? 
HIGH-PRICED SUGAR.—The phenomenal sugar 
prices which accompanied our activities in the war 
awoke many producers to thp opportunities in their 
product. Cane sugar reached a price which ma le 
maple sugar look cheap. This seemed especially 
true to any man who failed to keep abreast with 
the rapidly changing labor and material costs. There 
was the eall from many sourees to “save sugar." 
Every available means of making sugar was called 
into action; not the least of these was the maple 
tree. All the available equipment was utilized; 
shade trees as well ns forest trees were tapped, and 
farmers m Cortland County, N. Y., conceived the 
idea that the principles of co-operation of which 
they had heard so much might be applied to this 
industry. The more they looked into it the more 
plausible it seemed. Here was an article of recog¬ 
nized merit, capable of being produced in a com¬ 
paratively small section of the country. Vermont 
and Nov Vork, with approximately the same num¬ 
ber of trees being tapped, were producing two-thirds 
of the entire crop of the United States. The re¬ 
mainder was principally produced in that section 
from the Ohio north and from Minnesota east. Many 
a group of producers might be able to list their cus¬ 
tomers in every State of the Union. Statistics 
showed that if the annual crop were distributed 
equally throughout the country, each man. woman 
and Child would be able to get less than one-third of 
g to tap 
the Cortland County Maple Sap Pro¬ 
ducts Association was organized in 
1 blS. and incorporated under Article 
1.‘i-a of the laws of the State of New 
\<>rk. They purchased steel drums 
similar to those used by the big buying 
aud blending companies of Northern 
New York and Vermont. Later they 
took over a milk station at Homer, 
which they fitted up for the rectifying 
and storing of syrup. Altogether they 
tied up a good deal of money, hut that 
Spring they succeeded in selling their 
syrup to good advantage. The Cortland 
association was followed by one in Del¬ 
aware County, and that in turn by 
others in various parts of the State. 
The first year was a continuation of 
What was generally termed a “seller's 
market.” brought on by the unusual 
conditions of the war. Late in the 
Spring of 1919 the market broke. Those 
who- sold their syrup or suirar earlv 
Tapping Maple Trees. Fig. 30 
‘ namplain had sent down several 
drums of syrup, as had also some 
farmers over in Chenango County. 
Some of the companies manufacturing 
evaporating equipment were interested, 
because so long as that syrup remained 
unsold there would be*diffieulty in col¬ 
lecting for many recently sold outfits. 
And in the background were the rank 
and file of farmers, aud the compara- 
rt tively small group of Farm Bureau leaders and tin 
or representatives of the College of Agriculture, who 
id saw here a menace to their faith in the principles of 
L!0 co-operation. 
lie EXTENDING THE ASSOCIATION—Work to- 
o- ward a State-wide maple syrup marketing associa¬ 
tion began in earnest in the Fall of 1920. Meetings 
ar were held in nearly all the sugar producing sections 
e- of the State. Some were held in Vermont as well, 
vo because it was hoped that the proposed association 
?- might prove large enough to include the producers 
m of the two principal maple States. There was cre- 
re ated an organization committee consisting of repre- 
— scuta five producers from all over the State. This 
that maple committee had frequent meetings in Syracuse and 
for from $4 Ithaca; they called in experts to advise them, and 
is was being as a result they bet:; me more and more convinced of 
lottles. But the feasibility, if not the actual necessity, of a State- 
lg—aud the wide association for the co-operative marketing of 
Some of the maple sap products. Meetings were sufficiently fre- 
L Maple Sap Boiling House. Fig. 31 
