The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-22

SUSnLly Q0WnWarQ, OLnerWloS' sAS s."F | reaching the end will follow down the
 underside of the spile and be lost' on
 opening sugar bush in the spring, the
 first thing done is to wash the puche.s
 and clean the pans. day suinces to
 complete this task. Tapping the trees
 is the next operation and generally put two or three men do this work. It IS
 no easy task, and the man Who has waded through deep, wet snow rom daylight till darkness, and tapped ms 800 trees, has earned nights repose' Sometimes the snow is so deep in the , woods that it becomes necessary lo
 wear snowshoes while tapping. Generally speaking, sugar weather commences when it is warm enough to | thaw In the shade. This condltloh should prevail at the time of tapplng' Often sap will flow from the sunny
 side of a tree and not a drop will now | from the shady side. To those Who
 have never seen or tasted sap, It may
 be described as resembling sWeetehea | water in both appearance ana taste
 Sap that has a yellowish appearance IS
 either sour or polluted with rainWater.
 Clean sap sparkles like crystal unoer favorable conditions, healthy tree VIII ylGlu IOuT SdllOllS ol Se1P HI N NNN''
 but this is not fair average. Many people have an idea that the sap m
 maple tree runs down the tree. rms
 impression is incorrect. Sap is drawn
 up the tree, from the roots to the
 branches. The opening buds of spring
 time draw their nourishment from the
 roots This nourishment is the sap
 which the sugarmaker coVets.
 wa a TOT in supposing that the continued
 tapping of trees spells them TOT luih- Der or will in the course of a few years
 kill them. Maple trees will stand sue cessive tapping during the ordinary :, lifetime of an individual. If 1t is ever desired to lumber them, four-foot butt cuts may be taken off and cut into . woods and the remaining timber Will g be pe1..srsc.tiy sound. The injury intilct-
 cd upon a tree by tapping depends up- on the size of the hole made and not upon the depth of the incision. The life
 of the tree is located immediately be-
 meath the bark. More sap will flow
 from hole bored two inches deep than
 from one bored but one inch. On the :" other hand, there is scarcely an apreci- able difference between the flow from a
  5 inch hole. The tap wounds close up in about three years and heal over, leav-
 ing only a scar on the exterior Of the
 bark and a dark streak on through
 the timber.
 [ After the trees are all tapped haste , is made to scatter the buckets and GOV CTS. When the trees run fairly well 5 it is necessary to empty the buckets 1 n,.a T ever, when trees will run two buckets ' full in day. At such times much val Il uable sap goes to waste in spite of tht rapid boiling process, which is pushet ' night and day without let up, until th' .,ss run is over. It seldom happens tha |, trees run continuously for more thai lu three days; they then dry up and vii is not run until there comes a freeze. N lo sugar bush has the capacity for hand !, ling the product of the trees withou ol waste for a greater time than this 'o Either the storage tanks will have bee
 filled and the sap overflow rom th ie buckets in the woods, or 1t will be i'm U possible to boil the fluid away fas ae enough. Summed up in a few words III favorable sugar weather consists ( Ve freezing nights and thawing days; bot
 
 The average maple tree will barrel ss'es yield a quart of syrup each year.
 III III The largest sugar bush in Maso he county. and it is probably the largest
 the state of Michigan, is that of Gi
 bert H. Blodgett, of this city M
 Blodgett's bush is located 10 miles frol be Ludington, and accommodates trif
 less than 5000 buckets, The trees a IT stand on 60 contiguous acres of groun ar so it will be seen that there can be Ii
 tie else beside maple in the woods. M in Blodgett is a prominent lawyer of Lut lat ington, who has each spring for tl -k- last 25 years, operated this bush. B tor fore him the Indians tapped the tre aes for many years, so that a portion las the bush at least, has been tapped ea' nd year for the last half century. v. an woods in which the bush is located lg- conceded to be the finest strip of har till wood standing in Mason county. Y the trees are tall and stately, and havil uct always been cared for, have attain
 to enormous proportions. All the ia re- en timber has been cleared away, and ern team may be driven anywhere in t rts woods. This beautiful grove is ma ted doubly attractive by the sparlng W lm- ters of Lincoln river, which surroun sts. it on two sides. The sugar making SC of son does not last long, from four to en- weeks being the average length of has season. Six men are employed in lal- BIodgett's bush and the annual outl 'ees of syrup is from 500 to 800 gallons. ne The boiling operation is by no mea 'i the least interesting of the sugar ms e@' ing industry. This may be acco ' oli- plished either by means of an arch e hey cred over with immense pans, or uiu' using the more modern appliance lust , evaporator. The latter is a unique e Ing ne trivance, which by reason of cor anu gated bottom. greatly economies ID heat. It is being very generally int guy duced into all modern sugar bust ID The question is often asked, Fl
 much does sap boil away before it e UT comes syrup?" The query can be 'nlo answered by stating that experie afeii has shown that barrel of sap, WI ing, reduced to syrup, amounts to but 'lieo a gallon. From one tree to the bri pe- tin cans the maple sap goes throl lpoii endless straining processes. The sec eaoh @ of making clear, pure syrup, is in Ike all ;r,cr # frae from d;rt Tn daternin rime =, .r.... s... zLa,1 Lo.,a 1,oae