The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-03-11

"A larger sap run tudu idS pCCA CA
perienced for years, with a better
quality of sap, containing a higher
percentage of sugar. is the report from
sugar bush camps" in the western
part of Wayne county where most of
the sugar naples are found.
The sap run this year has been flow
ing so freely that it has kept gather
ers busy emptying the buckets, and
evaporators have worked at full ca
pacity to keep ahead of the flow. In
many cases it has been impossible to
boil sugar water as fast as gathered
and with all storage tanks full, the
surplus has had to be sacrificed.
Possibly the largest camp is COM
bination one, west of Hagerstown,
handling the sap from the trees of
Harry Foulke and Charles Rinehart.
About 500 trees are pouring their sap
into the Foulke evaporation and 1874
gallons of syrup had been made by
Friday. March 10, the first sap having
been boiled on Saturday, March A.
This means boiling down of 1874 bar
rels or little over 10000 gallons of
sap or sugar water" as it is called,
barrel of water making gallon of
syrup ordinarily
Rich Sap Reported.
Testimony of sugar camp operators
is that sap this year is richer than
they recall for some time past. A gall
Ion of syrup is the ordinary yield of a
barrel of sap, but it is running well
over a gallon sometimes a gallon and
quarter to barrel this year.
A. H. Shafer probably has been op-
Grating the longest this season, hav-
! ing opened camp early He is hand
! ling the sap from George Cromer's
trees on the Five Points road south
| of Hagerstown, with the assistance of
| his son, Harry Shafer. They have
| tapped $50 trees, and there are rs in
the rear of the wood lot that have
never been tapped, making one of
| the largest plots in the country. The
evaporation on the Cromer lot is being
run every day from in the morning,
/ ar even earlier, when a heavy run
must be boiled down, until late at
| night On Friday, IA gallons were
! boiled out between 6 and o'clock in
the afternoon; while Is gallons were
made during Monday and Tuesday.
! The evaporation has handled 81 barrels
of sap this week. Mr.. Shafer now has
| 125 gallons of syrup on hand from this
Iseason's work
Some Trees Destroyed.
The Foulke sugar maple grove num-
bered between 1000 and 1900 trees a
few years ago, more than could be
! handled by force of twice as many
as worked it. However. the severe
| wind storm that went through several
years before, destroyed several hun
dred trees, including possibly 400 or
! 500 sugar naples in addition to the
other trees in the grove.
[ Stories of that wind are still told in
the neighborhood. 1t came through
just at sugar making time, and the
camp was in full operation. Sturdy
| trees, foot and two feet in diameter,
| were moved down like grass in d
broad swath which passed through the
| grove just little to the south of the
camp The operator who was tending
| the evaporation heard the wind and
hastily fastened one door, and held
! the other shut during the storm, which
he imagined was only severe wind
The only disturbance which the wind
exerted at the camp was to lift the
building about foot and let it settle
back. The wind passed, the operator
began tending the fire again. and knew
nothing of the damage until a quarter
| of an hour later when explorers hunt
ed him up to find if he were still alive
Several Camps
The banks of tributaries to the west
fork of the Whitewater apparently are
| well suited to sugar naples, several
camps being located along them. The
Whitewater River west fork runs
through the west part of the county
|. parallel and east of the Five Points
road. Nearly all its tributaries run ir
. from the west, crossing the Five
Points road, and it is along the little
valleys with their steep slopes, tha
many groves are to be found
Besides the groves mentioned, other!
are owned by their neighbors, as fol
! lows: Cassius Stout, 300 trees; Ra.
Warfel, small grove; Earl lookout
about 100 trees; Frank Hoover, lit
tie over 100 trees; Frank Meyers, 49,
: trees; Charles Dorstler, 800 trees
| Harley zimmerman, over 200; CiaI
ence Gebhart, $780, and Ross Leonard
200
The process of maple syrup MAXIM
is interesting to layman, especially t
: the many city residents, and farmer
of treeless regions, who have hear
) their parents tell of the process. blu
;! have never had an opportunity of see
ing it.
This is one of the few pioneer Gus
toms that have survived modern fat
tory production methods and the II
tensive specialization that is spread
! ing to many farm operations.
!, Memories Linger.
1.-The sap run" and "sugaring off
: in older days, were synonyms 70
;, community gatherings and snow fro
: les, memories of which still hinge
pleasantly in the memories of the ole
er residents. Sap running time is NOR