The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-26
Topeka STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, D. c.
MORE MAPLE SUGAR.

and most exclusively American indus
tr:es-+-the making of maple sugar and
maple syrup
This is the time of year when the
maple bush," which gave America
its first, AID for long time its only
sugar supply. pours out its sweet sap.
In New England and New York, Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois ana
Michigan the farmers are tapping
their sugar bushes, as-the groves
are called, hanging up their buckets.
overnauling their apparatus, Settns
ready for the boiling of sap and the
making of sugar. The department of
agriculture has helped them by send
ing rlen into the field who have maze
a CAREFUL study of the industry, ana
have learned just how each step IN
the business, from developing pay
ing grove to marketing the producl'
ma, best be taken.
1t cannot be claimed that any great
relief of the sugar shortage is to pc
expe cted from this source; but at the
present time every pound o. sugar
and every gallon of syrup count me
statistics do not show maple sugar
as a ve.,y important factor in COM
mercc but neither do they give any
prope- idea of he size of the INDUS
try A large amount of the maple
sugar and syrup made in this country
is consumed by tn farmers VINO
r1ah it, and n great deal is sold by
them to friends and neiGhbors or re-
ta:.ed il n.ignboring towns, and does
not reach interstate trade or get into
the census reports. At the same time,
the production is much limited by
crude and unskillful methods OF tap
ping the tee and making the syrup
and sugar. while many groves that
migH. be made productive by proper
care arei neglected. The county
agents of the department are also
urging farmers and country dWeliers
to plant sugar naples in the regions
which are adapted to the production
CT sugar. Anyone who wants to plant
a grove or 20 develop a wild stand
of maple into a paying proposition
can obtain all necessary information
from. the department of agriculture
or one of its representatives.
From the abundance on the market
of so-called maple syrup the unso-
phisticated consumer would be led to
believe that maple sugar was pro-
duced in enormous quantities. 1t has
been said that if all of the maple
trees in the world were cut down to-
morrow the amount of maple syrup
on the market would not be in the
least affected. Most of this maple
syrup has not the slightest family con-
nection with a maple tree. The Amer
! lean people always get what they
L.
eat on their pancakes. They will
always have it whether the maple
groves wax or wane. But there is
also a growing demand for the real
thing. and this is encouraging to the
man who can produce it.
In this day when maple sugar is a
highly priced CONNECTION hard to get
| outside of the regions where it is
| produced, it is strange to reflect. that
at one time it was the only sugar
available in large part of what was
! then the United States. The early
explorers found the Indians making
sugar out of the sap of maple trees,
and they also proceeded to make it by
much the same crude methods. AS
| far south as Kentucky and Virginia
maple sugar was the only sugar used.
1t was considered a very inferior pro-
| duct, and the captains of industry of
| that day spent a lot of time and ener-
gy trying to devise methods by which
| they could refine the crude sap sugar
and make it resemble the sugar which
was imported from the West Indies.
So the despised domestic staple of
that day is the rare CONNECTION if this.
But most of the maple sugar of early
America was dark strong stuff be-
cause of the crude methods used in
| producing it. Some persons, however
prefer these dark sugars and Syrups
because of their stronger flavor. and
same of the makers will not gather
| their sap in any other but wooden
buckets, like those used in the old
days. because the wood is supposed to
| have something to do with this flavor
Other purchasers demand the light
| golden and delicately favored pro-
duct. The industry is very much in
need of a system of grading. The de-
partment of agriculture is encourag-
and to cooperate in putting it upon
the market.
This is distinctly an American in
dustry, for maple sugar is not made
| anywhere in the world except in the
United States and Canada. At the
time of the Napoleonic wars the max
ing of sugar from maple trees was ar
industry of some Importance in b.
hernia, and was encouraged by the
government of that country Many
groves were planted and much money
spent. But the production from these
European trees proved to be small
and the development of the European
beet sugar industry proved fatal tt
the maple groves.
AS is often the case in very old in
dustries, the maple sugar business il
handicapped in many sections by an
tiquated methods. In some of tn,
more out-of-the-way camps, the sal
is still caught in birch bark buckets
or in receptacles made by hollowin,
out logs. Such methods are pictur
esque, but not clearly. The depart
ment of agriculture is teaching tn
, farmers to use metal buckets and t,
keep them clean; it is showing then
the best methods of converting tn
sap into sugar and syrup.
, In order successfully to produc
maple sugar. it is not only necessar
to have a grove of sugar naples, blu
they must be located in just the RICH
! kind of a climate. The spring weathe
of the New England states and north
ern Allegha MES, with its alternatio
of sunny days and frosty nights, /
what makes the sap flow. Befor
planting CT buying a sugar bush,
one should be sure that he is in re
| gion where sugar production is feast
BILE. In all such regions, however, tn
development of a sugar grove is an al
e tractive proposition. The maple is
i beautiful forest tree and in order [