The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-03-29
As to Naples and Maple Sugar.

There are reports that farmers will
not undertake to make maple sugar
this season. The reasons commonly
assigned are the low price of sugar,
rendering the making Improbable, and
the matter of injury to the trees last
season by the worms. Speaking of the
existing condition of the market and
the trees to farmer and sugar maker
of large experience in the industry and
familiarity with the present state
of the supply, he said he intended to
make all the sugar he could and would
advise other farmers to do the same.
In his judgment the price of good sugar
will be fully sustained. There is no
reason in the matter of the probable
price of sugar why farmer should not
tap his naples. He regards the out
look as more encouraging than 1t was
last year. AT that time, he said, there
was large quantity of old maple sugar
on hand in the State. This old stock,
as we'll as the crop for 1898, has been
practically exhausted. In this partcu-
lar the conditions affecting price are
more favorable than they have been for
many years. If there is any difference
the price ought to rule higher. This
gentleman is considering, always, the
case of good sugar. Inferior grades
do not enter into his calculations at ali.
The owner of such sugar, in the matter
of price, is always at the mercy of the
buyer.
Respecting the reason relating to
the condition of the trees, our authority,
who lives in a region that has been
little infested by the worms that have
wrought so great havoc in other
localities, is of the opinion that no in
jury can come from tapping trees that
were stripped of their foliage by the
pests. There may be question as to
the probable effect of the spoliation Of
the worms upon the quantity and quail
ity of sap a tree would discharge, under
similar conditions of weather, as COM
pared with a tree that has escaped de-
vastation. 1t would seem to be reae-
enable that the sap of trees which
were deprived of all or large part of
their leaves during the summer would
suffer in quality. In the process
through which the crude sap passes,
and ia which its sweet is elaborated,
the leaves of the trees play vital part.
If these, by reason Of material injury
or destruction, are incapacited from
performing their function, there would
reasonably be loss of some quality in
the sap that is needed to make good
sugar, and possibly diminution of
the quantity also.
Very likely considerations of this
character have had more to do with the
decision of the question whether to tap
or not to tap, in case of persons whose
maple forests have been devastated by
the forest caterpillars, than any relating
to the probable price of sugar. But in
this matter an ounce of experience is
worth ton of theory. Farmers who
have given this subject practical test
will be guided by the results of their
experience, and their experience would
be interesting to any who are in doubt.
Her maple woods are material part
of the midsummer glory of Vermont.
The beauty of the landscape has been
infinitely marred by the depredatons
of the vile invaders. Their presence
here is an unspeakable offence. In all
this region people began to understand,
last summer, the nature of the punish
ment of the plaques let loose upon an
Gent Egypt.