Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-04-18
THE PRODUCTION
OF MAPLE SUGAR
The Bureau OF Forestry Seeks to
Develop and / Extend the In


dustry
The Bureau of Forestry has been
studying the maple sugar industry
with the view of securing largre use of
the maple forests. Since 1850 the area
of maple sugar farming has greatly
changed and shrunk. In early days
maple sugar was commonly made, even
in many parts of the South, because
cane sugar was virtually unobtainab BILE.
No longer is there even limited
production in South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and
Arkansas. This is because cane sugar
can now be bought everywhere at a
low price, and is preferred to maple
sugar for sweetening. In Indiana,
Michigan and Illinois the maple trees
have been extensively cut for lumber,
thus reducing the opportunity for
tree tapping. In those states also the
markets are glutted with limitations,
which removes the incentive to extend
ing the industry. In other states, as
in western Maryland. West Virginia,
Ohio, New York and in New England,
the maple sugar industry has held its
own or been increased.
The best sap flow is secured in the
cooler northern states, yet good results
can be expected in most of Penn :
sylvania and West Virginia, in
western Maryland, all of Indiana and
Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and
western North Carolina. At present
the largest producers of sugar maple
products are Ohio, Vermont and New
York. The sugar and black naples
yield the most and the best sap,
although some other species of maple
may be worked to advantage when
neither of these is available.
The maple is hardy and vigorous
tree and readily reproduces itself, sc
there need be no fear of failure Of say
supply. For.sap production the al
important consideration is for the
tree to have full and heavy crown
Yet it should also grow under cOndl
| tions which maintain ground cover
of litter and humuS.
AS result of the study recently
made, definite directions for the
management and improvement Of
existing groves, and for the establish
ment of new ones in suitable localities
and under different conditions, have
been prepared and will soon be
published. Many valuable data re-
garding the profit in making maple
sugar were also collected. From these
| it appears that d farmer can easily
clear about So an acre from a sugar
grove. The expenses in this estimate
are placed at maximum; all the
labor and hauling are charged in al
market rates, though as matter OF
fact the sugar season falls at time
when the farmer has little other en-
ployment for himself Or his horses
In actual practice, for the farmer who
can do most of his own work the profit
should be considerably larger. And
the land thus utilized will yield little
or nothing under any other use.
| The old method of collecting the SAL
by making adiagonal cut in the tree
was abandoned long ago because il
injured the tree SO that it could bt
worked for but few years. The
approved practice now is to bore {
hole one inch deep and three-eighth'
of an inch in diameter into the sunny
side of trees over II inches ii
diameter, and to make but one hole
in each tree, except possibly where
the trees are especially large anC
productive. Vast Improvements have
also been made in appliances fOl
handling the sap and boiling it dOWr
to sugar and strip.
| Maple trees now furnish but {
small ger cent of the commercial
maple strip and sugar. While the
demand for both these commoditie.
has constantly increased, the Outpu,
from maple trees has decreased during
the last twenty years. The trade has
been supplied only by radically
adulterating the pure goods, or BY
manufacturing a product entirely
| from foreign materials. 1t is con
servatively estimated that seven
Fights of what is sold as maple SiruI
and sugar is spurious article. Most
of the fabricationS are entirely harm
less, but they are not the real thing
Those fortunate enough to have eater
the genuine article will always demand
it, and conditions should be such that
they may get it, if they are willing te
pay the price.
| The fault does not lie with the pro-
ducers, those who tap the trees and
reduce the sap to strip and sugar, but
with the middlemen who buy the
sugar and mix and adulterate it most
| proftably for themselves. The extent
of this adulteration is illustrated by
| the fact that while the amount of the
| raw product has decreased, the whole
quantity sold has largely increased and
its market price has been reduced.
Of late years the price has fallen in
direct relation to the decrease in the
price of cane sugar.