HOUSE AND GARDEN 
Marci-i, 
1913 
191 
Ray carried a brace and bit, an ax, and a load of spouts; I 
as many of the pails as possible. Going to the crest of the ridge 
Ray started work on a tree on the outside of the sap bush, and 
gently smoothed the bark off with his ax at a point a little above 
waist high, taking care not to chip it. He tilted the auger up¬ 
ward at a slight angle and bored a hole .about two inches deep, 
carefully removed any shavings or chips and hammered in a 
spout, so that it just penetrated the outside bark. The hole that 
he had made was a trifle under a half inch in diameter and as the 
tree was a large one, I judged it merely penetrated the wood next 
the bark. 
“‘It's better to bore on the south or east side of a tree because 
you get a better flow,” he explained. “Guess the sun has some¬ 
thing to do with it. If I let you do any of the tapping, don't you 
go so deep on a young tree. An inch to an inch and a half is 
enough.” 
So we worked as rapidly as possible. Sometimes I noticed that 
he hung two buckets and occasionally three where the trees were 
especially large. Usually true to this belief about sun influence, 
he selected a spot unshaded by other growth. Since he saw that 
I was curious at the procedure, he volunteered: 
“Some says that two buckets kills a tree, but where the stock 
is full grown first growth I never see the tree done harm by two, 
and I use three on the big fellers, but they don’t want to be close 
together or one above another." 
The buckets were hung by slipping the spout through a hole 
near the upper rim. The little ridge on the spout held them from 
sliding off. They were of light tin plate, soldered on the outside 
and of about ten quarts capacity, and as the slope of the sides 
was but little from the perpendicular they, hung close against the 
tree and in this way took much of the strain from the spout. 
After a hard day’s work I had the satisfaction of seeing all 
the good trees fitted with sap buckets and nothing else to do but 
After the bark was smoothed and a small hole bored, Ray carefully 
drove in the spout 
wait for a slight thaw to start the sap running. We were none 
too forehanded about our preparations, for the next day found 
the temperature much moderated, and on excitedly visiting the 
bush we were delighted to find the sap issuing drop by drop from 
the little metal spigots. When I returned from a reconnoitering 
expedition I found that Ray and a gang of helpers were busy 
by the boiling house in fastening a big tank upon a sled that 
looked like a stone boat set on broad runners. A supply of 
gathering buckets—tin pails fitted with handles, but broader at 
the bottom than the top and of greater capacity than the tree 
buckets—was being distributed. The omniscient Ray informed 
me that this peculiarity of shape made the pails more stable in 
carrying; that they didn't slop over easily and were not apt to 
tip when the edge of the receiving bucket was rested upon them 
in pouring out the sap. 
It was a bright balmy morning toward the last of February as 
we started work. The snow melted rapidly beneath a warm sun 
and everywhere the ground covering of leaves appeared. Some 
suggestions of spring's awakening seemed to get in the blood as 
we worked and we felt atune to Nature’s throbbing back to life. 
You have seen a dog stretch; well, some of that animal ecstasy 
filled us. It was as though we ourselves were part of nature and 
the sap a new blood coursing through our veins. Muscles seemed 
to long for the strain of emptying the buckets and carrying the 
heavy pails. We all worked actively. My throat grew dry and 
thirsty, and I seemed to crave the clear, icy liquid in the pails. 
It tasted like sugared water with just a tang present, but was 
apparently as thin as water. It is a sort of superstition among 
the workers that the sap is a sort of potent, heady beverage, and 
whether due to unwonted exercise or not, when evening came I 
found my temples throbbing and my head light and buzzing. 
As the work progressed the necessity of the network of paths 
became apparent. The sled with its receiving tank passed along 
The tin receiving bucket he slipped over the metal spout, and a little 
ridge kept it from sliding off 
