382 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 7 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
Maple Sugar Problems. —The Ver¬ 
mont Experiment Station publishes in 
Bulletin 105 a condensation of elabor¬ 
ate investigations in the formation of 
maple sugar and the flow of maple sap 
made by the Station observers during 
the last five years. The sugar season 
is so brief, taking one year with an¬ 
other, that investigations concerning 
the problems involved proceed very 
slowly. There is not much literature 
on the subject, and the conclusions 
given in this bulletin make a real con¬ 
tribution to plant physiology. The 
sugar in maple sap is produced as in 
other plants by the transformation of 
starch manufactured in the leaves under 
the influence of sunlight. The amount 
of sugar in a given tree at the beginning 
of the sap season thus depends on the 
leaf development and activity of the 
preceding Summer. The sap has been 
repeatedly noticed to carry a less pro¬ 
portion of sugar in seasons following 
extensive defoliation of the trees by 
forest caterpillars or injury by severe 
sugar; less than nine per cent of the 
total amount 'contained. There are 
many bad seasons, however, and it is 
thought that the usual sugar camp prac¬ 
tice, taking one year with another, does 
not secure more than four per cent of 
the sugar present in the trees. This 
amount, it would appear, can be easily 
spared by the tree after a normal grow¬ 
ing season. It is interesting to note 
that the sugar from Soft or Red maples 
is just as good as from the preferred 
hard-wooded species, but that the trees 
do not endure repeated tapping as well. 
Maple Products a Luxury. —In the 
early pioneer days maple sugar and 
syrup were household necessities to be 
had at practically the cost of labor in¬ 
volved in the manufacture. Now they 
are luxuries of comparatively high cost 
and most uncertain composition as they 
reach the 'average consumer.. Araeri;- 
cans are not willing to dispense with 
these delicacies, but if the future de¬ 
mand is to be measurably supplied it is 
time maples were being planted for the 
purpose. There are thousands of acres 
of waste lands in the Northern States 
that might well be converted into maple 
groves. The returns appear too distant 
and uncertain for private investment, 
but the restoration and increase of our 
maple woodlands would seem a very 
proper subject for State or National 
supervision. No sweet known to c-hem 
m 
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cover SO to 40 acres 
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Straddles 2rows, sprays 
4 atatime. Wheels ad- 
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Sprays to any fineness and gearing of pump to wheel of 
cart gives any pressure desired. Automatic agitator and 
suction strainer cleaner. It never spoils foliageor clogs. 
Free Instruction and formula book shows the famous Garfield, Em* 
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Field Force Pump Co., 2 11th St.,Elmira, N,Y. 
The Actual 
DIFFERENCE 
between sprayed, partial- 
Sprayed with a ly sprayed and unsprayed 
L fiordie puma fruit is just as it is shown 
^ here. The best fruit is 
grown where the 
DAHDIE SPRAT PUMP 
. is used. The spray from 
Sprayed w/th a this powerful machine 
cheap machine, covers tree and vine with 
a mist as fine as fog. It 
works so easy. Catalogue 
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dot sprayed, 
at all. 
Hook-Hardie Co. 
69 Main St.Hudson.Mlch. 
GOULDS 
Power Sprayer 
Loses No Time 
Causes No Trouble 
It represents the best value. Write 
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for spraying. Book Free. 
The Goulds Mfg. Company, 
Seneca Falls, N. Y. 
codling 
The Pump 
that Pumps' 
Glass 
Summer storms. The variation in 
amount of sunshine during the pre- istry or manufacture is so generally 
ceding Summer can be shown to infiu- liked as that produced by the maple, and 
ence tiie quality of sap. The excess '} he _ market for such products is limit- 
starch is stored in the wood cells, most 
abundantly in the outer layers near the 
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Barn Door Hangers 
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less. 
Tiie Mountain Laurel.— The fine pic- 
, . . .. ture on page 379, Fig. 161, shows a well- 
bark, and is changed to sugar by the grown chimp of mountain laurel or 
vital activity of the cells during late Calico bush, Kalmia latifolia, in bloom. 
Winter. In many respects this is one of the most 
attractive of our native evergreen 
What MakTis The Sap Flow? —There shrubs, and has been proposed, with 
has always been mystery in the eccen- better reasons than assigned to some 
trie flow of maple sap. During typical ? ther plaats ’ as our National flower - 
,, , „ , , , Its great abundance in our eastern high- 
gai weather bright sunny days i anc j s rather blinds us to its exceeding 
following frosty nights—the pressure of beauty as an ornamental shrub, but re- 
the sap reaches quite an astonishing de- S ard for choice native plants is increas- 
gree. The Station observers used re- aad ^ ie Plating of Kalmias and 
.. , „ ^ , -Rhododendrons is -rapijly extending 
coidmg gauges attached to the usual q"he Winter has been very severe on 
tapping holes, but so arranged that the broad-leaved evergreens. Kalmias are 
direction of the greatest pressure reported as injured about Boston and 
whether upwards, downwards or side- °^ er A polats in Ne ™ England. Most 
. . , . _ „ Rhododendrons except those of Cataw- 
\vays, could be determined. They found biense parentage are frost-bitten to 
that on good sap days early in the sea- greater or less extent. It may be long 
son the greatest pressure is from above before we are called on to again endure 
downwards, and may amount to more Tf 1 a tv , yin Z sea ?° n - and we should not 
,, OA . , . „ defer planting these charming ever- 
tlian 20 pounds to the square inch in the greens if they are procurable. In many 
best part of the day, from noon to 4 localities young clumps of Kalmia may 
P. M. During cold nights and until the be found in woodlands that can be 
tree is well warmed by sunlight in the transplanted to the door yard or lawn 
. , _ . „ 6 at this season with perfect success, 
forenoon the pressure is often reversed, When digging them try to save a good 
and a positive suction or vacuum oc- ball of earth about the roots. Wrap 
curs. There is only slight lateral pres- the ball in moistened fertilizer sacks or 
sure at any time. It is concluded that £f rry ^ on l e ! n ^ basket of sufficient 
_ . size and plant out at once, settling the 
the sap flow or pressure, aside from that earth about the roots well with water, 
needed for the growth of the buds, is The color of Kalmia blooms varies from 
due to the expansion of the gases and w bite to clear pink, and in form they 
liquids contained in the tissues of the ar o e w J“ ong the most symmetrical^_ofall 
tree caused by temperature fluctuations 
above and below the freezing point. 
The water of the sap gets in at the 
roots, and can only get out through the 
leaves when they grow, unless the tree 
is wounded as in tapping, or by the 
breaking of roots, limbs and twigs. 
When the tissues are thus broken sap 
will escape with rapidity proportioned 
to the extent of the injury and the in¬ 
tensity and duration of the pressure un¬ 
til the cessation of night frosts and the 
starting of leaf growth brings about 
something of an equilibrium in the sap 
movement. The various questions as 
ito the best location of the tap holes, 
their size, depth and number, have been 
worked out and found to agree closely 
with the results of practical experience 
as determined by over two centuries of 
maple sugar making. 
How Much Sugar in a Maple Trek? 
—Apparently about as definite a query 
as the famous problem “What is the size 
of a piece of chalk?” The Station peo¬ 
ple, however, estimated a certain small 
tree to contain 135 gallons of sap, carry¬ 
ing three per cent, or about 35 pounds 
of sugar. Such a tree would yield in an 
ordinary season about three pounds of 
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The Auto-Spray 
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| Great new feature in Auto-Pop at- 
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I, 268 Sfto St. t Rochester »N. V, 
Leggett's Dusters 
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JUMBO C’SSfiF’). $25.00 
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301 Pearl Street, New York. 
USED FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN FOR 20 YEARS. 
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Saves Currants, Potatoes, Cabbage. Melons, Flowers, Trees and 
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The Ohio Carriage Mfg. Co., (H. C. PHELPS, President) 5539 Sixth St., Cincinnati, OhioT 
