The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-02-04
RECALLS SUGAR PARTIES
GLORIOUS MAPLE SEASON
ABOUT TO OPEN
United States and Canada Alone
Produce Much Priced
Delicacy
ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch. ]


Washington, D. c., February l.
Remember the days when you went
to the maple sugar parties, Well,
maple sugar time is here. The sugar
and syrup industry is American and
offers good commercial opportunities.
Only the United States and Canada
produce this muchprized product on a
commercial scale. which is at once a
delicacy and a highly nutritious ar
ticle of diet.
Warm days and cold nights are es-
sential to a satisfactory now, and the
sugar content may vary considerably
from day to day. Tapping of sugar
trees if done properly in no way in
jures the tree. Trees have been tap
ped for more than one hundred years
and are still in good condition. The
maple is well up among the leaders in
American Forestry associations vote
for a national tree.
Tap Early In Season
Tap early in the season, says
special bulletin to obtain, the earlier
runs, which are generally the sweet
est, and therefore the best producers.
Makers have lost and even more of
their crops by not being perpared for
the first run. In general, the asso-
citation points out, the season is ready
to open during the first or middle of
February, in the southern section and
later in the northern regions when
days are becoming warm-when the
temperature goes above freezing dur
ing the day and at night below freez
ing. If the days are very bright,
warm, and sunny the sap will start
with rush but soon slacken, or if
a high wind starts the flow is checked.
A thirteen thirty seconds of an
inch bit is often used. Its direction
should be slightly upward into the
tree, the slant allowing the hole to
the hole should not be over one and
one half to two inches deep at best.
Apparatus for syrup and sugar MAX
ing does not. necessarily represent a
large outlay. A number of sap
spouts, either wooden or metal, - are
needed: The syrup is usually gathered
in buckets.
The Yield of Trees
From ten to fifteen trees usually
will yield enough syrup for family
use TO make tapping worth while, and
in many cases will afford a surplus
which can be sold at renumerative
price. The flow of sap depends upon
the age, condition and habit of growth
of the trees, also upon the charact-
4 Sl VI "CoIhcl anu SOnlllllOu VI
the soil during the sap flowing sea-
son. In a good season a tree in fifteen
inches in diameter will yield suffi-
cient sap to make from one to six
quarts of syrup, which in turn can
be concentrated into two to ten
pounds of sugar Larger trees un-
der the same condition will produce
correspondingly large yields of syrup
and sugar. All hard maple trees,
eight inches of more in diameter
may be safely and profitably tapped
for syrup and sugar production
This industry is not confined to
circumscribed areas in New Englands
and New York. There are many
"sugar bushes" throughout eastern
and northeastern United States and
south to include North Carolina, and
Tennessee; west to northern Miss
ouri, Iowa and Minnesota. A con-
iderable number of maple trees of a
sugar yielding species are found in
Washington and Oregon.