The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1922-04-12
ONE GOOD YEAR IN THREE.
Vermont Sugar Makers are Thus Fa
vored.

Up in Vermont they are now having
about their last run of sap-depending
on the latitude, the lay of the land
and the situation of the trees. There
is a regular cycle about the running
Of the sap. In the first place it de-
ponds very much on the reason. The
ideal and successful season for maple
sugar making is neither early nor late;
it is the normal average. If warm
weather comes too early, the run
starts permaturely, and will probably
be checked by cold weather later, and
in that case the conditions run the
risk of being spoiled by warm rains.
1t is traditional with Vermont sugar
makers that the second run of sap is
not so good. A late season involves
a sudden flow of the sap "up the trees,
which means short season. After
the trees are budded, the sap is said
to be bitter and the syrup of poor
quality. Perfect conditions are those
of slow average northern spring,
with sunny days and frosty nights.
This means that the whole thing takes
place, so far as central and northern
Vermont and New Hampshire are con-
cerned, in the last week of March and
the first week of April. This favorable
condition occurs not oftener on the
average than once in three years; so
that when people talk about high
prices charged for Vermont maple
products, they should remember that
the product has only one godo year in
three.
Then again, the individual trees be-
have differently. On an old farm On
the Goshen road, or on several of the
sugar places on Taplin hill famous for
the quality of their syrup, the cycle
was about like this: The first tree
which began TO drip the sweet sap
through their spigots were the row in
front of the house and extending on
both sides of the road, down toward
the village. Those trees had a south
eastern exposure, and first felt the
touch of the spring. Boiling in the
sugar house began with their product.
Next the isolated pasture trees, in
colder ground but under the earliest
rays of the sun, felt the influence and
Old Bill and Emma had to pull the
traverse sled all over the pastures to
visit these trees. Good stuff No bet
ter quality Of syrup than that pro.
duced by the old pasture trees. Then
the regular sugar place pure
orchard Of nothing but naples on the
hill-tall trees, noble grove; they
feel the influence of the spring all ct
once, and now the campaign is rush
ing one, and Old Bill and Emma charge
wildly all day along the slopes, to the
accompaniment of shouts and the elat-
ter Of the tin buckets. The boiling at
the sugar house goes on night and day.
But last Of all there are some isolated
trees down in the cold woods, scattered
among the hemlocks and beeches. Here
the snowdrifts hang on longest, and
the sap runs slow and late. When the
buds cover their branches all Is over.
This. Of course, represents a rather
old-fashioned sugaring, but it is char
acteristic. Up-to date makers Of sug.
ar in Vermont run their sap through
tin tubes 10 the sap-yat at the sugar
house. This takes a good deal Of the
romance out of the business. In these
up-to-date places there IS modern ma
chinery Of every kind. But no maehia-
cry OF organization can make the
trees behave any differently from the
way they behaved for the Indian sugar
makers before Columbus discovered
America