St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1906-10-10
The Maple Orchard.

The naples have for many years been
looked upon as the best paying part OF
the farm. If this was the case twenty
years ago, it is doubly true now for
several reasons. Modern shallow-boil-
ing appliances and methods have great
Nv lessened the labor and cost of working
the camp and at the same time have
made it possible to produce amber
syrups and light colored sugar far superb
or in quality to the dark syrups and
sugar made by our fathers. Prices OF
maple products are much higher than
formerly and the tendency is toward still
higher prices, especially for the better
grades which are in growing demand.
The inferior grades of dark tub sugar
which once had to sell in competition
with cane sugar now go largely to the
wholesale dealers in the west where they
are used for mixing and sold under the
name of maple syrup but would not be
recognized as such in any locality where
the genuine article is known. The
exquisite maple flavor is inimitable and
the skill of the chemist in his efforts to
produce a satisfactory substitute has so
far been unavailing 1t is this maple
favor and this alone that makes our
best maple products command the prices
of our choicest luxuries. The maple
sugar maker who does not recognize this
fact and is still using the old style pans
with heaters and evaporators with deep
fues which are hard to keep clean, and
in which only the dark colored syrups
and sugar can be produced, is certainly
not making the most of his opportuni
ties. He is barely paying his expenses
and should discard his antiquated outfit
and by the use of modern methods ant
the shallow boiling evaporater, will
small interchangeable pans, shoulC
lessen his running expenses, increase hi
output, better the quality ofhis produc
and command better price. By Sc
doing he can with proper care largely
increase the income from his suga
camp. The lumbermen have made heav,
inroads upon our naples along witt
other forest trees and have thereby ad
ded largely to the value of the suga
camps which remain intact. In man
sections of Vermont there are man
dense thickets of young maple sapling
which, with little care for few year;
can be made profitable. The prope
management of such young map
groves is we'll illustrated and explaine
on pages IA to IS of Farmers Bullet
No. 252, which can be had by addres
ing a postal card request for same to II
U. S. Department of Agriculture {
Washington.
We no longer slaughter our mapl
with ak and gouge as was done he
a century ago, but are we taking all Il
care that we should by describing t
use of spouts which require rossing of t
bark and which have shoulders and spu
or anchors, all of which tend to crush t
bark and tear it from the tree in reno
ing the spout from the bore. The crus
ed and torn bark will rot and t
enlarged wound fails to heal the fiji
season as it should and win if the rig
style of spout is used. Examine yo
trees this month of October and comps
results in this matter of healing WI
different style of spouts used last spri1
Ifyou have yourself used none of
improved spouts for which SO mt
merit is claimed, some of your neighbc
may have them. If so, examine tn
trees and compare results. A little c;
in this line may add years to the life
your naples and at the same time a
largely to the income from your camp